The Fisherman Strikes Back

    Before beginning, I guess I need to apologize to my loyal readers.  I really should have put together a blog before now.

   A few interesting things have happened since we last met, we have seen a few good fish and taken at

Fishing Doesn't Have to be Confrontational

least one good picture.

   Perhaps the most interesting thing that has occurred involved your humble correspondent getting attacked by a fisherman.  Ten days ago I went snorkeling at the pier.  I didn't see much of interest on the way out.  Thinking of the barracuda that Sandra and Kim saw a week or so before, I swam into the shallows.  As I swam I was aware of a number of fisherman on the sea wall.  They were fishing for a large school of big eye scad that is locally known as the bait ball.  The bait ball usually hangs outside the fourth swim buoy, so when it comes near shore, for whatever reason, the fisherman come out to try their luck.  I didn't see the barracuda, but there was a quartet of barred jacks that were harassing the scad.   While I was watching the ulua, I sensed something flying over my head.  Immediately there after a shiny weighted lure with a treble hook went whipping by my face, no more than two feet away.

   Suffice it to say, this got my attention.  I looked up and a fisherman yelled at me.  He yelled, "Back off!"  Ever the diplomat, I replied, "I'm calling the police!"  I had the chance to appraise the geography of this encounter from both the seaward, and later, the land perspectives.  I'm sure that I was no closer than 25 yards to that fisherman and I had no idea they were fishing that far out into the bay.  Obviously I was wrong about that.  Since then I have wondered if that guy

Which of those fish is Sunny and which one is me?

was skillful enough to put the hook in front of my face or if he would have been equally happy to skewer me.  Now I know what its like to be a scad.  And I don't especially recommend it.









    The next day Sandra and I went swimming with Sunny and Kim from the Methodist Church.  Even though my assailant was not present on the seawall, I warned Sunny to stay away from the fisherman, lest she become a variant on the loaves and fishes story.  On the way out she followed Sandra, and I went searching for something special.  I took note of a wrasse that seemed a little different

There should be a sign for the ultra-plain disappearing wrasse

schooling with some immature belted wrasse.  I dove down and got a quick look before the fish swam under a rock, never to return.  Before he vanished I saw a couple fine blue streaks beneath and behind his jaw. When we got home I was pleased to note that this is the major field mark for the disappearing wrasse.  I didn't get a picture of this fish (he was too spooky) but even if I had it wouldn't be worth showing.  This is one exceedingly plain fish; a trout shaped fish colored a uniform washed out pink with no other markings  When I told her about it, Sandra said that the disappearing wrasse, in his plainness  must be Amish.

   We were able to show Sunny a turtle hanging out on the bottom and bore her half to death with a brief, on the spot lecture on sea turtle respiratory physiology.  As you will recall, sea turtles are unique among vertebrates in that they tolerate an incredibly low brain oxygen tension, buffer their accumulated CO2 to an amazing extent and restore their oxygen and dump their carbon

What?  No Warning Label?

dioxide with two quick puffs.  I'm surprised Sunny didn't fall asleep, lose her grip on the noodle and drift down to join the turtle on the bottom.

   And where was Kim Davison?  How did she get out of the lecture?  As we started our swim, Kim was showing off her copy of John Hoover's fish book rendered in water resistant paper.  As we were swimming out, Kim was attempting to use her new fish identification tool and made herself seasick.  Hence, by the time the lecture started she was halfway back to shore.  Perhaps John Hoover should include a warning in the forward to the book.  Don't read while swimming if you are prone to motion sickness.

    Four or five days later we received an emergency text from Peter...the threadfin jack was back at Mahukona.  As you will recall, this is the juvenile of the African Pompano, a large member of the jack family.  These relatively small diamond shaped fish develop long streamers that trail back from their dorsal and ventral fins.  It is thought that these fringes may imitate the tentacles of a Man of War jellyfish.  Sandra will tell you that the Man of

Sunny (under the halo), Sandra and Kim

War is not actually a jellyfish, but rather a different class of Cnidarian, a siphonophore. Unlike a normal jellyfish,
which is a single multi-cellular animal,  a Man of War is a collection of specialized individual animals.  And there goes Sunny falling asleep again.  


   At any rate,  the next morning Sandra and I left really early and met Peter at Mahukona around 8:30.  In the water, which was high and peaceful, Peter first directed us to a rocky area at the end of the pier where he found a leaf scorpionfish.  As you can see, this guy was a light gray and sufficiently cooperative for us to get a picture.

   We then went looking for the threadfin jacks.  About ten minutes into our search a snorkeler nearby made a hell of a commotion.  He had seen the jacks and chased them, I suppose to get a better look.  Peter interrogated the culprit and there was little doubt that this was what had transpired.   Try as we might over

So you tell me,

the next 40 minutes, we were unable find the jacks. Sandra did find a blacklip butterflyfish which hid under a rock before she could get me onto it.  It was a solid identification in as much as she reported the field mark, a blue forehead, as opposed to saying she saw a Klein's or blacklip butterfly.  If any of you are keeping track, she is now up two fish on me for 2017 (counting the barracuda).  Back ashore, Peter was impressed, as he and Marla had thought that the blacklips were no longer at Mahukona.

    Two days ago Sandra and I went down to Ho'okena.  It is a testimony to how lazy I have become, that this was our first trip to that wonderful bay in 2017.   We got there early and had the beach pretty much to ourselves.  In the water, which was warm and calm,  we saw the four fish we needed in short order.  (flame angelfish, gilded triggerfish, Hawaiian garden eel and bridled triggerfish)  We also saw three

Does a Threadfin Jack really remind you of a Man of War?

species of starfish: linkia, cushion and crown of thorns.  Or is it Game of Thrones?  Those  four fish bring the year's list to 151, which for some reason reminds me of a zombie that one of my friends ordered at a bar back in 1968.  Ancient memories aside, it was noteworthy that as we found ourselves leaving at roughly 10:30 on a Friday morning, the parking lot at this out of the way beach park was brimming with cars.  So much so that the couple that sidled into our spot thanked us profusely for leaving.  Not the first time I have been thanked for leaving.

   I guess if you're gonna go snorkeling in Kona, you gotta get up early.  And watch out for the fishermen.

jeff

Leaf Scorpionfish,  Mahukona  July 2017