MILOLII — The secret to fishing, said Tirahlyn Samoa, is “to stay really still.”
“You have to pull up really slowly,” she said, explaining how to pull in a line should a fish bite. “Don’t yank it out.”
Within seconds of getting a hook in the water, there was a bite, and Samoa added one more fish to her catch.
By the end of the morning, Samoa came away with the top prize for the largest fish in the 10-12 age group — a popaa, rock fish, measuring more than 9 inches long.
Samoa was one of 57 children to catch — and release — an estimated grand total of 100-150 fish as part of the inaugural Milolii Holoholo Derby hosted by the Hawaii Police Activities League, or HI-PAL.
“We definitely have one of the best positions in the department,” said HI-PAL Officer Chere Rae Kalili. “I mean, this is fun just continuing to make that community connection through our keiki.”
HI-PAL works to get officers out into the community, particularly reaching out to at-risk youth and offering activities, like sports, in the neighborhoods. Recent events in West Hawaii have involved officers going into public housing developments and offering crafts and snacks for the kids as a way to connect with them.
Kalili is also a school resource officer at Kealakehe Intermediate School, so for her, events like the Holoholo Derby offer a way for children to see officers out of uniform and connecting with the community in a positive way.
“I know that it’s been really helpful with me in school continuing to make these contacts with my students or even just kids in the community outside of school,” she said.
For many parents of those who took part in the event, the event was a way to get the kids outside and meeting the police in the community.
“I’m just grateful that they have something like this for them,” said Adriane Kuahuia, who brought her grandchildren to the event. “It beats being at home being on the electronics.”
It’s also, she said, good for the kids to see police “are willing to give their time to help out with the kids and events.”
Kaina Lee, who brought his son, Chevy, to the event, said the 4-year-old “just loves fishing.”
They came as part of Living Stones Church, which held an event immediately prior to the Holoholo Derby’s kickoff, and said Chevy was “asking the whole time we were here to take him fishing.”
Chevy himself said he was having a good time at the event, eagerly announcing, “I caught a fish!”
But in addition to being a fun event for the kids, Lee said it was also important that events like this take place.
“It’s just a reassurance to the community that they’re doing a great job for the kids and stuff,” he said. “That outreach is always welcome by everybody.”
And for the kids, the Holoholo Derby offered a great opportunity to get out of the house and have some fun, like Kaikoa Baniaga-Reyes, 11, who said he was thankful to police for putting the event on.
“If not,” he said, “I would be at home just sitting down, not doing this.”
And Chris Llanes, whose puhi, eel, netted him the prize for largest catch in the 13-17 age group, said he likes the challenge that comes with fishing.
“I guess how the fish fights,” said the 13-year-old. “You really gotta put a lot of muscle into it.”
The event also offered a lesson in stewardship, teaching children how to responsibly take care of the ocean and the life within it.
The Holoholo Derby was entirely catch-and-release and participants used barbless hooks, which make hook removal easier and less risky for the fish when it’s returned to the sea.
Earl Miyamoto, coordinator of the Marine Wildlife Program under the Department of Land and Natural Resources, was promoting the use of barbless hooks with a “make-and-take” table where children could use pliers to smash the barb on fish hooks and take barbless hooks away with them.
And kids, Miyamoto said “truly are the agents of change.”
“So we’re trying to influence the next generation to be aware, one, of the animals that are in the sea, two, a more pono way to do things,” he said.
Parents, too, noted how the derby taught students to malama.
“This is a positive, life-giving event,” said Lima Lopez of Milolii, whose daughter, Nazzy, hooked the largest fish and most fish in the “5-and-under” age group.
And events hosted by police like this one are “totally important” and “totally necessary,” Lopez added.
“It helps to allow our keiki to feel comfortable around them and to make them feel like we’re all one ohana,” she said. “They are malama-ing the people. They take care of the people, the land and that’s their responsibility, along with ours, to take care of each other.”
