Jessica Klein, of Salt Lake, and 16 other family members turned out in pursuit of the crafty catfish yesterday at the Nu'uanu Reservoir as they worried about the status of their favorite fishing hole.

As grandparents, parents, kids and grandkids lined the bank tossing their hooks into the choppy water, Klein said,"We heard the fishing was ending so we definitely got out here today."

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply says it must soon make repairs to a sluice gate in the reservoir dam. To perform the work, the water level will be lowered from 26 feet to 10 feet, BWS deputy director Dean Nakano said yesterday.

When the work is done, the board does not plan to refill the reservoir to 26 feet. Keeping the water level around 10 feet will make for cheaper maintenance.

"We're in business to provide drinking water," Nakano said, "not the recreational, fishing business. We don't think it's fair for our rate payers to pay for maintaining the freshwater fishing program."

It costs $300,000 to $500,000 a year to maintain the reservoir, he said. The money goes for silt removal, vegetation removal and other routine maintenance and operation costs. A lower water level will reduce those costs, he said.

Nakano stressed that the dam was safe.

"Lowering the reservoir level is definitely not a safety issue," he said. "Our spillway and sluice gates are operational except for the lower one, which needs to have silt removed. That's the reason we're doing this work."

After the 2006 Kaloko dam failure that killed seven people on Kaua'i, the Nu'uanu dam was inspected as part of a statewide program and declared safe, Nakano said.

Nakano said planning and design for the work will begin this year. Until that is completed, he could not say when the work would begin or how long it would take.

He also said that the BWS had asked the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to consider taking over maintenance of the reservoir. But the DLNR has said it does not have the money to do so at this time.

DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward confirmed that yesterday.

"We can't take on that additional expenditure with the budget situation we have now," she said.

Nakano said he hopes that might change in the future.

Joe and Easter Almuena of 'Alewa Heights certainly hope so. They were among a party of seven fishermen, fisherwomen and fisherkids at Nu'uanu yesterday.

They said the fishing trips are a way for a family to have fun together.

"It's a great thing," Joe Almuena said. "It's one of those things that make you say 'Lucky you live Hawai'i.' It's cheap and fun."

Their son Joseph, 12, yesterday caught six of the family's 12 catfish. They used 'opelu for bait.

"The kids get hooked into fishing," Easter Almuena said. "I'm hoping they open it back up to the public for things like this."

Byron Saito, 6, of Salt Lake, was showing off three catfish in a bucket.

"Guys in a different family were nice enough to let me reel them in," Byron said. "I love fishing. I've been fishing since I was 3 years old."

Byron wore a T-Rex dinosaur T-shirt.

He pushed out his chest. "The T-Rex," he said, "was a gigantic carnivore."

"Don't get him talking about dinosaurs," warned his grandfather, Skip Kawakami of Hawai'i Kai.

"Did you know fish were around in the dinosaur times?" Byron said. "Some dinosaurs even ate fish."

Farther down the shore, Eileen Chun and Jasmin Yim were part of three Nu'uanu families taking part in the fish fest. They both said they hoped the reservoir fishing would continue.

"What a sad thing if this is going to end," Chun said, while watching her 9-year-old son Matthew, who was complaining that the fish nibbling at his line were smaller than the bait.

Yim, who was with her son Dillon, 6, said: "Especially in economic times like these we need something like this that doesn't cost a lot. Kids can learn about nature."

"They're so happy," she said, watching the children. "We have to keep this."