THE OUTDOORS : Outdoor Notes : Local Anglers on Guard After Two Swordfish Are Caught
The first marlin of 1988 has yet to be caught off the Southern California coast, but two swordfish have been caught off the east end of Santa Catalina Island.
Jerry Austin of Huntington Beach landed one of the prized broadbills Saturday, about 10 miles from the island.
Using live mackerel for bait while fishing for striped marlin, Austin spotted a swordfish sunning on the surface. He slowed his 25-foot sportfisher and cruised alongside the large billfish.
“I dropped a mackerel over the side and the fish charged, hitting the bait with his bill,” Austin said. The hook then became lodged in the fish’s rib cage area, which gave it the ability to swim less encumbered.
“He dragged us about four miles during the fight,” Austin said. The fight, which began at 8:30 Saturday morning, didn’t end until 7:25 p.m. “My hands, forearms, legs and back were aching,” Austin said. “I thought I would never want to go through that again, but now that I’ve recuperated, I’m ready.”
Austin, who used 80-pound monofilament during the fight, brought his swordfish to the Avalon weigh station at 9:30 Saturday night, where it weighed 240 1/2 pounds.
On June 19, Bob Rundell of San Pedro caught a 136-pound swordfish while fishing aboard the Outer Limits, an L.A. Harbor Sportfishing vessel.
Meanwhile, John (J.D.) Doughty of Bisbee’s Tackle in Newport Beach, said that spotter planes--used to locate swordfish for commercial fishermen--have reported sightings of striped marlin in the waters off Catalina. Normally, the first marlin of the year is caught off the island’s east end in early July.
Baja update: The waters of Cabo San Lucas recently took a turn for the worse, according to Doughty, and fishing for striped marlin has slowed almost to a halt.
“It’s cold and windy off the tip of Cabo and on the Pacific side,” he said. “But as you go up into the gulf past the Gordo Banks area, it progressively gets warmer.”
Doughty, who maintains radio contact with sportfishermen in the Cabo area, said the local hotel boats are catching a few striped marlin, but the action has slowed significantly in recent days. The water is an off-color green--caused by upwelling currents--and the temperature has dropped to the low 60s just off the cape.
Whereas many of the boats last week were catching two or three striped marlin a day, Doughty said: “They’re now catching fish one out of four days (of fishing).”
Farther up the gulf, in the waters around the Midriff Islands, the fishing has vastly improved as increased water temperatures have brought the long-awaited arrival of schooling yellowtail.
A recently completed government study in Alberta has concluded that the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics contributed to a decrease of 54 bighorn sheep from a population of 297 animals.
Vivian Pharif, president of the Alberta Wilderness Assn., said in an interview with Field & Stream magazine that it was primarily “the increase in helicopter activity and human contact that put a stress on the wintering wildlife, especially bighorns.”
Pharif said the bighorns like to spend the winter near Mt. Allan--site of the Olympic Alpine skiing events--because of the relatively light snowpack. Before the Olympics, officials compensated for that lack of snow by installing snow-making machinery along the ski courses, despite biologists’ warnings of the effects the additional snow and crowds might have on the sheep.
Anglers who participate in the Eastern Sierra’s golden trout season opener this weekend at the Cottonwood Creek drainage system should find larger fish but lower water levels than in previous years, according to the Department of Fish and Game.
Bob Grider, DFG assistant manager at the Mt. Whitney Hatchery at Independence, Calif., said water levels were slightly lower than last year--also a low water year--and could become crucial “if we don’t get some precipitation soon.”
Golden trout, California’s state fish, normally range from 9 to 12 inches--with smaller fish in the nearby creeks--and should be slightly bigger this season if the DFG’s preseason samplings are an indication.
The Cottonwood drainage system is at the 11,000-foot level about 30 miles southwest of Lone Pine.
The DFG completed aerial trout plants at 243 high mountain lakes in six northern California counties last week, marking the completion of the northernmost phase of a program that will deliver between 3 and 5 million fish to at least 850 state waters.
Without the annual plants, the DFG says, many of the high lakes would have little or no trout fishing because of limited tributary spawning and nursery habitat.