Outdoor Notes : L.A. Anglers Catch Big Yellowfin Tuna Off Mexico

Giant yellowfin tuna in the offshore Mexican waters generally become active this time of year, and anglers aboard San Diego’s long-range fishing boats have found 1988 to be anything but an exception.

The Royal Polaris returned to Fisherman’s Landing Jan. 12 with a load of fish that included two yellowfins, each weighing more than 300 pounds, after a trip to the Revillagigedo Island chain, roughly 400 miles south of Cabo San Lucas.

“They always get some (giant tuna) at this time,” said landing operator Denny Schrader. “They’re always in the area at this time of year.”

Clarion Island yielded the biggest fish, a 338-pound yellowfin caught by Steve Miller of Los Angeles. Another Los Angeles angler, Butch Green, caught the other monster yellowfin, which weighed 333 pounds.

The 27 fishermen aboard the 100-foot boat, skippered by Steve Loomis, brought back 305 yellowfin tuna, 112 wahoo, 2 marlin, 2 dorado, 116 grouper, 46 pargo, 3 amberjack and 8 rainbow runners.

Another long-range boat, the American Angler, returned to San Diego the same day with 204 yellowfin--some weighing more than 200 pounds--and similar numbers of other species. Skippered by owner Dan Sansome, the American Angler fished mainly at Socorro Island, also part of the Revillagigedo chain.

Wildlife officials are watching carefully as outbreaks of avian cholera threaten waterfowl throughout much of California.

Bill Clark, head of the Wildlife Investigations Laboratory for the Department of Fish and Game, said that more than 15,000 dead ducks, geese, swans, coots and other waterfowl have been reported through the first week of January. Average annual waterfowl losses due to the disease are about 20,000, he added.

“What especially concerns us is such high losses so early in the winter,” Clark said. Avian cholera normally strikes in mid-December and continues through March.

Most losses have ranged from the Tule Lake-Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge on the Oregon border to Kern County. The heaviest toll so far occurred at the Tule Lake-Lower Klamath area, where an estimated 10,000 waterfowl, including 2,500 geese, are dead.

For the last five years, Richard Criddle, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UC Davis, and J.M. Al-Hassan, a Kuwait University biochemist, have been collecting catfish in the Persian Gulf, scraping off and analyzing their body slime.

Apparently the gel-like substance secreted by the venomous saltwater whiskerfish has unique healing abilities.

“I used it on me and it works great,” Criddle told the Associated Press. “If you put it on a wound, you can actually see the wound start to close over in the next two or three minutes.”

Criddle doubts the slime itself could be marketed for human use, however, because of the difficulty in catching enough fish, but he is analyzing the makeup of the slime in hopes of developing a similar substance that could be used on humans.

Research was begun after the scientists had heard of Arab fishermen rubbing catfish on their arms to speed healing.

The recent high tides, large waves and strong winds caused severe damage at many harbors and piers along the coast, so anglers might want to check for closures before heading for their favorite locations.

King Harbor in Redondo Beach was one of the hardest hit by the storm, which sank the fishing boat, City of Redondo, at its mooring and damaged the pier, forcing the closure of Redondo Sportfishing. The landing plans to reopen on full schedule Saturday.

Briefly

Erwin W. (Wally) Steucke, a fisheries biologist and manager with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has been appointed deputy regional director for the agency’s western region, headquartered in Portland, Ore. . . . State Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) has been named recipient of the California Waterfowl Assn.’s 1987 legislator-of-the-year award in recognition “of his outstanding contributions to the conservation of waterfowl and preservation of wetlands.” . . . Downey Fly Fishers will hold a fly fishing seminar and fly casting clinic Jan. 30 and Feb. 6 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Downey Wilderness Park in Downey.

Mountain climber Jeff Lowe will present a show on Alpine mountaineering Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Sequoia Athletic Club in Buena Park. Tickets are available at most Recreational Equipment, Inc. stores. . . . Showtime: Don Bullock’s Gun, Knife and Collectors’ Show, Jan. 30-31, Anaheim Convention Center; Southern California Boat Show, Feb. 5-14, Los Angeles Convention Center. . . . Lake Casitas in Ventura County has changed closing time from 5 to 5:30 p.m.