A report from Eric for mikescatchreport.com
I went out on March 29 in the morning and caught one bonefish that weighed around 5 pounds. And when I went out again this morning, around 6am, I saw one person standing in the water.
I thought it was someone dunking bait on the reef for some big fish but then I looked again and he had no rod. I stopped on the beach and was watching what he was doing. He started to walk back towards shore and he was dragging something big in the water and it looked really heavy.
Then I saw another guy come out from a drainage ditch, walk into the water, and start to pull up a lay net that must have been 50 to 75 feet long. They must have had a lot of fish in the bag because it was huge. They left through the beach right-of-way along the drainage ditch.
I went out anyway and managed to catch one bonefish that weighed 3 pounds. And this was while fishing in the rain!
Note: It is illegal to use a gill net in the area Eric was fishing, which is the southern shore from Hawaii Kai to Pearl Harbor (bottom portion of the map). The shaded areas indicate the no netting zones on the island of Oahu.
Hawaii gill net rules
Lay nets may not be used during the period from 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise.
Unlawful to fish with more than one lay net at a time.
Unlawful to leave a lay net unattended for more than 1/2 hour.
Lay nets must be inspected completely within 2 hours after the beginning of the set. All threatened, endangered, prohibited, or unwanted species must be released.
Lay nets may not be used for more than 4 hours during any set. After the end of one set, the same lay net may not be used again within 24 hours.
No person may set another lay net within 24 hours after the end of a set.
Lay nets may not be used in water more than 25 feet deep, except that commercial marine licensees may use lay nets in water up to 80 feet deep.
Unlawful to use a lay net within 250 feet of another lay net.
Multi-panel lay nets are prohibited.
Unlawful to retrieve a lay net in a manner that causes any stony coral to break from its attachment to the bottom, or in smaller pieces. No stony coral may be brought to the surface in the net.
Unlawful to discard, abandon, or leave any lay net, or portion thereof, in the water for longer than 4 hours.
Lay nets may not be used in freshwater streams or stream mouths.
From a 2011 YouTube video
Stop the netting
Petition Hawaii’s governor to end the gill netting of bonefish--sign the petition now.