THE OUTDOORS : Outdoor Notes : Elusive Albacore Cast Some Doubt When They Will Arrive

A commercial fishing boat reported sightings of albacore off the backside of Santa Rosa Island last week, but sportsfishing boats searching for the tuna haven’t been able to find any.

In fact, few albacore have been caught by California’s sportfishing fleet, which has been busy looking.

The season’s first albacore was caught Friday by Indio’s Rolando Perez, aboard the sportfisher Tradition, 70 miles west of San Diego near the Cortez Bank. The same day, a commercial boat caught 10 albacore about 140 miles out.

The Spirit of Adventure returned Monday from a four-day trip with 37 albacore in the 12- to 20-pound range.

Those were caught about 200 miles west of San Diego, however, well beyond the range of one-day fishing trips.

Bob Nishimoto, a biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla, is not optimistic about the prospects.

“A commercial boat has been out there (about 200 miles) for the last few days,” he said. “He picked up 34 fish (albacore) on Sunday but has caught only a few since then. He went as far north as the San Juan Sea Mount (about 200 miles west of Los Angeles) and said the water there is cold and dirty.”

However, Michael Keating, skipper of the Spirit of Adventure, said the water just inside the San Juan Sea Mount is “optimum” for albacore, clear with 61- to 64-degree temperatures and plenty of bait, but not many fish.

“Normally the fish are already here (within range of the one-day boats) in late June and early July,” Nishimoto said. “But that hasn’t been the case for the last three years (when the highly sought-after fish have made only brief appearances).”

Nishimoto added that the migrating tuna can show unexpectedly. “You never know because they migrate so fast,” he said. “It’s anyone’s guess at this time.”

Steve Abel, a machinist from Camarillo who recently tried fly fishing for sharks, may soon possess a world record.

Using a fly he tied to resemble an anchovy, Abel and skipper Jim Baker proceeded to the deep blue waters of the Santa Barbara Channel, where several species of sharks are known to thrive.

They drifted toward Anacapa Island, chumming with ground bonito and anchovies until they noticed several sharks encircling the boat. After three hookups proved unsuccessful, Abel managed to land an 8-foot, 140-pound blue shark after a 3 1/2-hour battle.

If ratified by the International Game Fish Assn., it will break the current record for fly rod-caught blue shark, which stands at 116 pounds.

Abel used a 4 Abel fly reel (which he manufactured), a 12-weight fly rod with sinking line--30-pound backing and 15-pound test leader material.

Fishing facts from 1985, recently released by the Sport Fishing Institute:

--Of the U.S. population that is age 6 or older, 58,428,000 or 27% went fishing in 1985.

--Sport anglers age 16 or older spent $28 billion to go fishing in 1985, which generated $60 billion in industry output; $10 billion in wages and salary, and 800,000 jobs.

--The average angler aged 16 or older spent $607 to go fishing in 1985, or $29 a day.

Briefly

Beginning Aug. 1, anglers at Crowley Lake near Bishop will be limited to two trout daily, which must be 18 inches or longer and caught on artificial lures with single barbless hooks.. . .U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Frank Dunkle was presented the Sport Fishing Institute’s 1988 “Fisherman of the Year” award for his effort to develop a National Recreational Fisheries Policy. The policy outlines the national, economic and social importance recreational fisheries have achieved in recent decades and offers long-term common goals for conserving and enhancing the nation’s recreational fishery resources.

The San Francisco Bay’s annual leopard shark derby will be Sept. 10, with proceeds going to the California Striped Bass Assn. and United Anglers of California to aid fishery restoration efforts. . . .Hunters may submit applications through Aug. 15 for a proposed limited sage grouse hunt in Lassen County, which is expected to take place in September. If the hunt is authorized in August, the DFG will draw 400 permits. Bird counts are under way in Inyo and Mono counties to determine if similar hunts there would be feasible.