Kawalea

I don't get kawalea too often, but I like them.  They look cool hovering around in that big school, plus I always seem to find them in clean water... and I really like clean water.
I took a photo before filleting, and I wanted one after I cooked it.  Unfortunately, once I served it up I lost focus on the picture thing and just feasted.  Sadly, there is no more poached kawalea and avocado remoulade left to photograph.  I'll make a roi with the same sauce tomorrow or Thursday though.

Valentine's Day

I wanted to write a blog about last weekend's spearfishing tournament, but I never typed more than a sentence or two before erasing it and starting over.  I could probably write a whole novel on each tournament, with all the scouting and planning, then the things that run afoul, and sometimes maybe even a chapter for things that go right.  I don't know how to attack that in a blog, so I decided to write about something I have a clear stance on: Valentine's Day.

There are a few holidays that I especially like.  Valentine's Day sticks in my head as one of them.  Memorial Day is another.  New Years Day is also a good one.  I can remember many good dives on all these days.  The weather always seems to be good on those days.  This Valentine's Day is no exception, with the forecast being variables or at most light trades.  My birthday usually has good weather.  There are a lot of days in between that I can't quite recall that have been pretty good too.  I guess any day is a good day for diving.

Spear Points

I'm pretty neglectful when it comes to keeping my spear sharp.  I've even shot through fish with a spear that had no tip, just a flat end.  Still, I know a sharp tip helps.  Here's a good article: http://ultimatespearfishing.com/spearfishing-articles-stories/spearfishing-how-to/spear-maintenance/item/spear-maintenance.html

I wish HSD would run some articles like these, rather than 80 pages about shooting dogtooth tuna in Indo or ahi in Costa Rica.  Does anyone have any copies of Ultimate Spearfishing Mag?  I wonder if it's any good?

Progressive Spearfishing

Cruising 11' planks, to skating by on twin-fins, to busting airs on paper thin shortboards- this is the evolution of surfing in just the last 50 years.  Bring Gidget and Greg Knoll in a time machine to the modern area, and they wouldn't even recognize the sport.  It's like they'd be looking at the same field and a similar ball, but the rules of the game would be entirely different.  Spearfishing, too, has undergone some changes over time (as chronicled by Sonny Tanabe's new book- which I still haven't seen).  Yesterday, while commuting home from Kahana, Mike Hatcher and I had an introspective and insightful discussion of just what progress has been made in the sport, and where it's headed in the future.

The conversation precipitated from a comment Mike made.  We were diving a relatively rarely visited spot, and he said something to the effect of, "Man, imagine if we could have been diving this spot years ago.  It's too bad, we just came along in the wrong era."  I countered, saying that we're simply doing what everyone else currently does (catching uhus at a fairly hard area to dive).  There are miles of coastline and a literal ocean full of deeper ledges that we don't explore.  Fifteen years in the future, after someone has paved the way at these spots, someone will probably come along and make a comment like, "Man, if only we were here fifteen years ago..."

But we began to discuss what is "progressive" in diving.  What will the future be?  Is it visual media, like photos and video?  More competitive spearfishing?  A return of active dive clubs?  Deeper diving?  Bigger fish?  More bluewater?  Better reef divers?  Truthfully, I'd like to see advances in all these areas.

In the end, I think I came up with the answer.  Although my answer is patently obvious, don't mistake it for sarcasm.  The answer is, the future of spearfishing lies wherever the best spearfishermen take it.  So where are you headed?

I Love Deep Spearfishing

126ft and 2:15, all it took to get a 21 pound uku.

The spoils of deep diving.  The 2.6 pound kali just gets lost in the shuffle.

Opelu kala jerky.  Even the rubbish fish are better below 120.

Roi of the Week

A 2 pounder from Oahu's South Shore, poached in shoyu and ginger water, thrown on a salad, and topped with Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce and pepper.

Today's Special: Invasives

How exactly they chose these fish for introduction, I'm not sure.  But they couldn't have picked easier fish to spear.

Ono Recipes

I'm trying to get more kinetic on posting on here.  I'm already falling slightly behind on my roi diet, but I'm diving tomorrow, so I'm sure I can grab one and catch up.  I want to make ceviche with it.  I think it will be the perfect texture for that.

The reason I haven't eaten roi this week, is because I have so many other fish to go through already- most notably some ono.

I mentioned to Mikey the other day that ono is one of my favorite fish.  "For what?" he asked.  "To shoot, to eat, to see?"  The answer is: all of the above.

The ono looks like a good sports car, sleek and refined but still somehow mean and dangerous.  It moves nonchalantly, like a master predator should.  You'll never see one having a panic attack like an uhu, or hovering about brainlessly like a roi.  They're so cool, but most of all, I just like to eat them.  I really like eating them.

I have some steaks to cook this evening.  I haven't thought about how I'll cook them yet.  You don't have to think about it.  If you've arrived at this article to learn an ono recipe, quit wasting time.  Just put it in a pan and shake some pepper on it.  Or don't even do that; just go raw.  Anyway, we should both get going... every second we spend here is a second of ono hunting lost.

Roi Diet

I've always thought that the hysteria around roi was a witch hunt.  I've read studies claiming that half the roi population is ciguatoxic.  Yet, not only do they continue to show up in markets and restaurants, people continue to buy and eat them.  Granted, someone could get sick from roi and we wouldn't necessarily hear about it.  But literally thousands are eaten, and we never read of an episode like this: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2009/Nov/09/ln/hawaii911090324.html  And even if ciguatera hits don't make mainstream news, word gets around among divers.  I know of several people who have had ciguatera.  I can think of two cases from tableboss, one from uku, several from knifejaws (don't eat them), but only one possible case of cig from roi, despite the fact that I believe many more roi are consumed than the previously mentioned fish (maybe not uku).
To my knowledge, the studies done on ciguatera in roi have all used tests that have proven faulty (i.e. the discontinued product "Cigua-Check").  In an effort to conduct an experiment of my own, I'm going to eat a roi every week in 2012.  If only 2% of roi are hot, I'm statistically likely to get hit from my 52 roi at some point during the year.  So far I've eaten one from the south shore and one from the east side.  Out of laziness I baked both with only garlic salt.  I also ate the head of one (reputedly the most toxic part).  One was slightly overcooked, but still far superior to uhu.  Stay tuned for 50 more roi recipe reviews.