Outdoor Notes / Pete Thomas : Norco Man Hooks Record Blue Marlin Off Cabo

Dale Lanyon of Norco, fishing this week off Cabo San Lucas from the charter boat Solmar I, caught what is believed to be the biggest blue marlin ever taken on hook and line in Mexican waters.

The 14-foot 10-inch fish weighed 957 pounds and might have topped the 1,000-pound mark had it not fallen off the scale twice, losing significant fluid weight in the process.

Lanyon, using 80-pound test line, fought the fish for 3 1/2 hours before getting it to the boat, but he and seven companions were unable to lift the fish aboard. They towed it to port, then had to summon a tow truck to hoist it out of the water and onto the scale at Cabo San Lucas Harbor.

The marlin bite in general has been excellent all week, according to Jim Donnelly, skipper of the charter boat Cabo Fever II, who reported seven hookups Wednesday. Although three fish were lost, Donnelly and customers managed to land three blue marlin and a black marlin ranging between 200 and 400 pounds.

The third phase of a $100,000 program to conduct preliminary research into the spawning and rearing of kelp bass will take place today in the kelp beds off La Jolla.

The program, initiated by the San Diego chapter of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, is designed to put thousands of kelp bass fingerlings into local kelp beds this fall.

Dr. Dick Glenn, science and research committee chairman for the NCMC, said Kelp bass that are caught will be turned over to the Pelican, a vessel operated by the Sea World Research Institute-Hubbs Marine Research Center.

The project began last December when 20 volunteer anglers turned over 14 bass to Hubbs Research. The fish were moved to the research arm of Occidental College, where more than a million fertilized eggs were spawned during a two-week period in June.

The first shipment of eggs was turned over to Hubbs in mid-June and Director Don Kent said his organization will hatch and raise the larvae.

The Department of Fish and Game announced that since deer tag application drawings July 9, all but three Zone X hunts and five special hunts have been fully subscribed.

Nevertheless, many deer tag options remain available for the 1987-88 season.

Zones and special hunts that remain open include the D zones, B zones, and Zone X1 in Siskiyou County and Zone X11, periods 1 and 2, in Tehama-Butte counties area.

The three remaining special hunts are S1, the San Diego Archery either-sex hunt; S2, the Los Angeles Archery either-sex hunt; S4, the Ft. Ord special buck hunt; S7 the Monterey Archery either-sex hunt, and S8, the Monterey Private Lands antlerless hunt.

Also, Zone A, the large coastal zone is open to unlimited subscription. So far, according to the DFG, about 12,500 Zone A tags have been issued to hunters who will participate in the first hunt of the season scheduled for August 8.

The International Angler, a publication put out by the International Game Fish Assn., lists world records recognized by the IGFA. California records recognized since the March-April issue include:

--Steven M. West’s 9-pound 4-ounce spotted bass caught at Lake Perris. West gets credit for both the all-tackle record and the 8-pound-test record.

--Arden Charles Hanline’s 19-pound 3-ounce largemouth bass in the 12-pound-test category, caught at Morena Lake in San Diego.

--Kevin G. Woodard’s 11-pound 8 ounce blue catfish in the 2-pound test category, caught at Dixon Lake, Escondido.

For the third consecutive year, Americans ate a record amount of seafood, consuming 14.7 pounds a person in 1986, surpassing the 1985 mark of 14.4 pounds, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced.