Large Fish Bites Man to the Bone

A Fountain Valley angler whose arm was bitten to the bone by a fish called a wahoo south of Baja California was airlifted from a Mexican island by a Coast Guard jet Sunday to be flown to a San Diego hospital, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

Lou Wiezai, a 71-year-old diabetic, suffered deep cuts when the 50- to 100-pound wahoo bit him in the left forearm, said Lt. Mike Parks at the Coast Guard’s Long Beach Rescue Control Center. Wahoos are members of the mackerel family that can weigh up to 140 pounds and resemble a cross between a tuna and a barracuda.

Parks said Wiezai was reaching for his jig, after reeling in his line, when the sharp-toothed fish that apparently had been chasing the lure jumped out of the water after it but grabbed the fisherman’s arm instead.

“It was bleeding severely, but we don’t know how much blood he lost,” Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Joseph Hartline said. “He’s 71 and diabetic, so there were numerous concerns for his health.”

The Falcon jet rescued Wiezai about 5:30 p.m. from Socorro Island, about 200 miles south of Cabo San Lucas and 1,000 south of San Diego. The jet was expected to return to San Diego just after 10 p.m., said John Owens, a Coast Guard chief in that city.

The small island contains a Mexican military installation, but it did not have adequate facilities to treat the injury, Parks said. Doctors there contacted the U.S. Coast Guard to arrange for medical help for the injured angler.

At the time of the accident, Wiezai was on a recreational fishing trip on the 92-foot charter boat Royal Star out of San Diego’s Fisherman’s Landing, Coast Guard officials said. It was not immediately known whether the huge fish landed in the fishing boat or fell back into the ocean.