Yap Seawatch
Phil Chavez
Hawaii Fishing News
The Pacific Rim, May 2003

Fishing's Great on Yap!

    Mogethin from Yap. What a great month of fishing it was! Lots of fish were caught, and lots of happy people were catching them. The weather improved and allowed many islanders to go fishing and be happy. I can’t think of a better way to make life a little better during this time of war and politics than to fish and appreciate what God has given us to use and enjoy as citizens of the world.

     Fishing outside the reef was very productive for trollers. Most of the boaters found lots of birds and logs after the recent weather fronts and cashed in on two to three coolers full of fish. As I have mentioned in past articles, many of the islanders prefer the smaller yellowfin and skipjack tuna. Two to three coolers may sound like a lot, but everyone gets their share. Many have been eating sashimi, barbecued or smoked and dried fish. Nothing is ever wasted.     

    Recently I was sent a lot of different lures from Live Bait Works and have given them to several of my fishing friends. They all reported that the squidstyle lures were catching a ratio of 3-to-1 over the normally used small plastic squid bodies.      I

    was invited by the good people at Beyond the Reef Fishing and Diving Charters to fish with them one afternoon, so I decided to check out the Live Bait Works squid lures for myself. In about two hours we hooked at least 80 fish. It was fun, but I wanted to get some bigger fish.

    I contacted Arthur Trentnoff, probably the best and most knowledgeable fisherman in Yap waters. We went out on his boat. Let me tell you, this guy has some kind of magic for finding the bigger fish, including yellowfin from 25 to 40 lbs and wahoo weighing about the same. His fishing style is very similar to mine in that we both change lures about every 20 minutes to find the right one that the fish like. On his boat we don’t chase after the birds. We approach them and circle them about 1/8 mile away to pick up larger fish.

    I put on a 12-inch iron Tandy jig to troll, much to the disbelief of Arthur. He harassed me for about three minutes before the lure got slammed by a 35-lb wahoo. He didn’t say much after that, but we laughed a lot and continued to question each other’s choice of lures. When the fishing got slow, Arthur said he was going to use his “special weapon” to get the fish. The next thing I knew, he was urinating over the side. I asked if that were his special weapon, and he said, “Just watch and see.” The next 30 minutes produced a fish about every four minutes! I suggested he bottle it and sell it. I wasn’t sure if I should write about this, but I could not believe how many fish we got after he did what he did. Island magic? Could be!

    On another day, Arthur and I went out casting for ulua outside the reef. I put on my Super Lolo lure and cast for about 20 minutes. I rested for a little bit and then resumed casting. I got hit, and two seconds later Arthur got hit. We had hooked a pair of ulua weighing 22 and 20 lbs. The Super Lolo was broken in half by the powerful jaws of the fish. I was using 30-lb test Ande line on a Daiwa BG60 reel. When the fish hit, I could feel the lure break.

    With both of us hooked up at the same time, it made gaffing an adventure. We landed a few smaller ulua and a barracuda. A few red snapper hit our lures, but none of them got hooked. This type of fishing is my favorite. I can’t describe the feeling of seeing a fish come up and hit the lure, and then the fight. Those of you who have experienced this know what I am talking about.

    Pastor Daniel Sick was with us from Germany. I wrote about him in the March “Yap Seawatch.” His first fish was a 1-lb red-lip emperor. The second fish of his life was a 33-lb wahoo. His face after landing that fish brought smiles to all of us. That’s what fishing is all about. Good thing we don’t have self-serving people trying to impose MPAs on us!

    I hope that I am not out of bounds speaking about the MPAs that I have read about in HFN. Being a Native American Indian and seeing what the government has done to the Indian lands and resources, in the interest of the people, of course, I can’t help but wonder why they haven’t learned from the past. They took the islands away from the Hawaiian people, in the best interest of the people, of course, until former president Clinton made a formal apology to the people of Hawai‘i. The first people who came to Hawai‘i, almost 1,000 years ago, fished to survive. Many people today, with the cost of living in Hawai‘i, depend on fishing to supplement their income and provide food to eat. People who do this do not abuse the environment but respect it more because of its importance to their lives. Politicians like to make the contributor and their resume look good by doing these projects and miss the basics of island living. Enforce the existing regulations, and allow people the Godgiven right to live off the land and sea. Imposing new MPAs will not solve their paranoid speculation of the future of the environment. Listen to the people who voted them in, not the people who contributed lots of money to their campaigns. Fight the MPAs.

    Now that I’ve said my piece, let me say that this will probably be my last article for HFN. Soon I will move to Las Vegas to help my mother, who is ill. I hope to return to the islands soon. I have enjoyed telling about fishing in Yap and hope that many of you get an opportunity to visit Yap and enjoy its fishing and beauty. Take someone new fishing, and let them enjoy the brotherhood of fishing that comes regardless of whether you catch a fish or not. God’s blessing to all of you. Safe fishing, and tight lines.