While fair weather is still far away,
make your fishhooks. (Be prepared.)

Ancient Hawaiian fishhooks or makau had a wide range of shapes and sizes. There were two types; simple hooks made from one piece, and composite hooks made of two pieces joined by lashing. Various materials were used such as shell, bone or ivory, turtle shell and wood.

Fishermen used bones to make hooks. Small hooks were made of dog bone while a very large hook was made from a whale bone. The bones were carved into shape using an opihi or limpet shell. Sometimes human bones (thigh bone) were used for fish hooks and it was the bones of a fisherman that were considered to be the best hooks.

The halsbill turtle shell was used to make tortoise shell fishhooks in several different shapes and sizes. They had inner curved points and their lengths ranged up to 1" and about 1/2 inch widths.

The fish hooks were made of two pieces lashed together. The edges of the bone hook were smoothed off with coral rasps.

Large hooks were made of wood such as a composite shark hooks. It is said that they were made of hard wood such as uhiuhi, walahe'e, koai'e, and 'aweoweo. Another ty pe of large hook was made from whale ivory. Very large hooks were made from whale bone.

Shell hooks were commonly more circular in form and usually made of pearl shell in small and medium size. The small hooks were used for catching opelu or makcerel.