CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Lealabaa Sei and Uini Motu, waited for the sun to heat up the water before going diving yesterday morning in Waikiki. Yesterday was the first day in a year that the fishermen were allowed to fish in the area that stretches from the Ewa wall of the Natatorium to the Diamond Head Lighthouse.

New Year’s fishing
is slim pickings
in Waikiki

Fisherman are left empty handed
at the even-year opening

---

By Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com

John Uchiyama and his friend Mike were among the lucky ones fishing off Waikiki yesterday -- they each actually caught one.

"Either we're lucky or we're better fisherman, or we have the better bait," said Uchiyama, noting that they each hooked a 5-pound 'o'io, or bonefish, using fresh octopus that Uchiyama had caught earlier. "The fish we caught love octopus legs the way Japanese love sushi. The fish couldn't resist what we had to offer."

Uchiyama and Mike, who did not want to give his last name, were among early arrivals at Sans Souci State Recreational Park yesterday morning welcoming the midnight opening of the Waikiki-Diamond Head Shorelines Fisheries Management Area, which has been closed to fishing for the past year.

The area restricts fishing to even-numbered years to let fish mature and replenish. It runs east from the Ewa wall of the Natatorium to the Diamond Head Lighthouse.

Although not everyone walked away empty-handed yesterday, spearfishers and pole fishers were mostly disappointed.

"I wasn't seeing as much fish as I expected," said spearfisher Todd Fuchigami, who came ashore with one palani, a surgeonfish, on his stringer. "Last year I saw guys coming out with stringers full of fish. That's what made me think I had to come early and beat the crowd."

The 20-year-old preschool teacher said he was looking to catch parrot fish, but did not see any. As for the palani, he said, he intended to "throw it straight on the grill and eat around the guts."

Hard luck yesterday was attributed to various things: not enough fish because of pollution, rough conditions making the water murky, and too many people spearfishing.

Eight years ago, even average spearfishers could walk away with a catch, but not yesterday, said Lewis Somera, who was empty handed after about an hour in the water.

"The fish are getting smarter," he said. "They probably get to know your tendencies as well as you know theirs."