hawaii

[bglaeser]

I'm thinking about taking a vacation with my family to hawaii this winter (February). I was wondering about the feasibility of going spearfishing there. I am NOT interested in going deep.... or going after monster fish... just smaller fish that I can fry up afterwards.. What are the regulations regarding this? Anyone have any experience with this? Liscence? Taking a speargun on an airplane?
~Brian

 

[fleshy]

This needs to be approached with delicacy. All of the things you want are easily accomplishable, its just that the Hawaiians are very fond of their "We grew here, you flew here." attitude. What I would do is get an account on Hawaii Skin Diver » Home, and then make a post that you are a spearo from Wisconsin hopping to take a family trip to the big islands and you are on the site to learn as much as you can. If you start posting and interacting with them, it wont be long before a couple of them line up to take you diving. Make sure that you have a time open on one of your weekends, as this is when they can go because you may be on vacation, but they are not. I made the mistake of just comming out and asking where I could go. They are not big on spilling their fishing locations, but a couple weeks later (once I was on oahu :head) people were pming me to see if we could arrange a dive. If you list your skill level in your first post, the people that will contact you will expect diving of that caliber. In regards to the fishing license, NONE IS NEEDED ! Hawaii's natural resource management is.... well... some people think it is questionably run, however as it stands right now, you dont need to buy a fishing license. Get associated with the names of hawaiian fish, and the rest you will learn from reading the others post. Hope this helps!

 

[Whopperhead]

Brian- I have a pamphlet of hawii fish that you can shoot- I will get it to you sometime. If we can ever meet up to go spearfishing. I agree with fleshy - on go to 'Skin Diver' forums- not as active as DB - but post a few times and people will start to get to know you. OR...........Buy a 'Daryl Wong' Speargun and tell him you'd like to buy it from him PERSONALLY in his boat out in the "O-chin".

 

[allhunter]

well i do it in the bahamas and there are several rules there are no spearguns it must be done freediving etc. i would just try to find something with the hawii dnr

 

[Hugh.]

Fish in Hawaii are UNBELIEVABLY spooky. You will either need to dive very deep, or have 2 minute bottom times in 30 feet calling them in. It's extremely fulfilling shooting small reef fish in Hawaii though. Damn things are spookier than you can imagine.

 

[bglaeser]

anyone here ever fly (recently) with a speargun? Looking at AA website, it doesn't look like it'll be a problem. I suppose I'll have to call the airline....... I don't look forward to being on hold for an hour though.

 

[Hugh.]

anyone here ever fly (recently) with a speargun? Looking at AA website, it doesn't look like it'll be a problem. I suppose I'll have to call the airline....... I don't look forward to being on hold for an hour though.

Yes, no big deal. Check it and mark it as fishing gear. I used a snowboard case to check my guns and it worked perfectly.

 

[bglaeser]

Thanks Hugh....

Whopper.... is that pamphlet you have the same one that is on the Hawaii DAR website: Regulated Species - Marine Fishes and Other Vertebrates or is it a different pamphlet?
~brian

 

[Whopperhead]

it's slightly different- it's also has a 15" ruler- I think i may be a sticker- I got a bunch of them from HammerHead.

 

[bglaeser]

Whopper, Fleshy or anyone else who's been to Hawaii.... I'm going to the big island... it looks like you can do recreational spearfishing pretty much around the whole island right? It looks to me like the restricted areas mostly restrict feeding and commercial fishing. Am I right?