THE OUTDOORS : Outdoor Notes / Rich Roberts : A Real Rarity Off Newport Beach Coast--King Salmon Make Big Run
Northwest anglers passing through Newport Beach the last couple of weeks might have wondered about the excitement caused by a run on king salmon, generally weighing from 15 to 20 pounds.
“These are bait fish for them,” said Eddie DiRuscio, landing manager for Davey’s Locker. “But for the local angler, it creates a frenzy. This is real rare for us.”
DiRuscio said sportfishers and small private boats have been coming from as far south as Dana Point and as far north as San Pedro to fish the Newport Canyon trench, where the salmon have been hitting, about half a mile offshore from Newport Harbor.
“Just that one spot,” DiRuscio said. “Some days you can almost walk from boat to boat. While they’re there, we’re going to sit on ‘em. If we had more bait, there’d be a lot more (taken).”
The Freelance three-quarter-day boat reported before 8 a.m. Monday that it already had nine salmon but was running out of bait. The boat also encountered some thresher shark mingling with the salmon. One estimated at 150 pounds was hooked but lost.
DiRuscio and marine biologists attribute the salmon phenomenon to cool and murky waters.
“It’s not dirty, just full of nutrients,” DiRuscio said.
A similar run in Santa Monica Bay occurred last year, but this one seems to be more localized. The upwelling of cold water from the bottom of the trench has dropped the temperature to 55 degrees, about 7 below normal.
The salmon have been hitting on anchovies.
“But there’s no certain depth, time of day or setup,” DiRuscio said. “If your bait is within sight of the salmon, they’ll probably take it. They’re not a real game fish to fight, except when they get close to the boat. You think you have something small, like a tom cod. They just nibble. You’ve got to let ‘em swallow (the bait) and then set the hook.”
About 40% of the hookups are lost, DiRuscio said. The limit is two, but no tags are required south of Pt. Concepcion.
DiRuscio said boats are operating at about 90% of capacity, 40% above normal.
A honeymoon couple from Toronto went out one day, but “They’d never been fishing,” DiRuscio said. “They each caught their limit and said, ‘Don’t you catch these all the time?’ ”
Mac Oliphant, a marine biologist from the Department of Fish and Game, returned recently from Northern California, where he said the commercial fishers from Eureka and Crescent City filled their quotas in only three days--they needed 19 days last year. The salmon fishing is so good that the sportfishers are suffering. Anglers quit once they get their limits.
“In San Francisco Bay, they’re filling limits in 1 1/2 hours,” Oliphant said.
Oliphant said salmon have prospered under improved management policies enacted 11 years ago.
But he and DiRuscio think the local event has about run its course. DiRuscio noted an increase in migratory sand bass this week and said: “That’s a good sign that the water’s warming up.”
And that should lead to yellowtail and barracuda.
“That’s what we’ve been waiting for,” DiRuscio said.
Briefly
Curt Bilbey of Vernal, Utah, was trolling at Flaming Gorge Reservoir in northeastern Utah early this month when he hooked a 51-pound 8-ounce lake trout. It was the largest fish caught in the state and the third-largest trout caught in the United States, according to Glenn Davis, record keeper for the state’s Department of Wildlife Resources. The fish was 45 1/8 inches long with a 31-inch girth. The world record is a 65-pounder taken by Larry Daunis at Great Bear Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories in 1970.
The North American Versatile Hunting Dogs Assn. has scheduled an open house for July 16, at the Prado Dog Recreation Area in Chino. Information is available by phoning Andy Hewitt at (714) 956-9627. . . . The San Gabriel Valley Flyfishers will conduct a free beginners’ fly casting clinic next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Legg Lake-Whittier Narrows visitors’ center, 725 South Santa Anita Ave., El Monte.
Minnesota has approved the use of an electronic landing net to immobilize fish during the catch-and-release procedure. . . . The California Department of Water Resources has issued a dry-year recreation guide to 83 major lakes and reservoirs, providing current information on launching ramps, campgrounds available and water activities allowed. The guides may be ordered by phoning 1-800-952-5530.