Outdoor Notes / Pete Thomas : It’s the Right Time to Be Going After Blue Marlin
Though striped marlin are caught year-round in the waters off Cabo San Lucas, now is the time to stalk the prized blue marlin.
“This month and next month will probably see the best fishing all year,” said John Doughty of Bisbee’s Tackle in Newport Beach.
Doughty, who regularly monitors fishing conditions south of the Baja peninsula, said that since the full moon on Sept. 26, blue marlin have been very active and that several boats reported catches ranging from 200 to upward of 500 pounds.
The Randall Lynn, skippered by Robert Bisbee Jr., reported catching a 550-pounder last Friday after losing a similar-sized fish and catching a 250-pounder a few days earlier.
“There have also been many (black marlin) showing inside the gulf, at the Gordo Banks and San Jose Canyon,” Doughty said.
The Hana Paa, fishing in that area about 12 miles off Palmilla Point, reported several unsuccessful hookups with blue marlin. The 85-degree water, which the boat’s skipper said was becoming cleaner by the day, is also sporting yellowfin tuna in the 100- to 150-pound range, with scattered showings of dorado and wahoo.
Locally, Doughty said, there is “an excellent showing of striped marlin east of the 277-fathom spot.” Skippers in that area, about 13 miles off the east end of Catalina Island, reported seeing as many as 150 stripers in a single day.
Dredge dump site follow-up: Documents received by The Times since last week’s report about designating a spot near a popular coastal sportfishing area as a permanent dredge material dump site indicate that the Environmental Protection Agency knew of anglers’ concerns as early as last December, yet recommended the LA-2 site 6 miles south of Point Firmin, anyway.
In a letter to Patrick J. Cotter of the EPA’s Oceans and Estuaries section dated Dec. 18, 1987, W.F. (Zeke) Grader Jr. wrote: “ . . . the deep-water region should be the preferred site, as opposed to the LA-2 site.”
Grader is executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Assns.
Congressman Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) also wrote to Cotter on Dec. 22, 1987, stating: “ . . . the deep-water site would be greatly more appropriate. . . . The LA-2 site appears to be in the midst of a more ecologically rich marine environment, which should be given the opportunity to recover. . . . If disposal continues at the LA-2 site, not only will restoration be impossible, the concentration of contaminants will continue to increase.”
The EPA then issued a final environmental-impact statement in July of this year that read, in part: “Neither the LA-2 site nor the deep water site is important for sportfishing. . . . Impacts upon commercial fisheries at both the LA-2 and deep-water sites are expected to be minor and temporary.”
Bill Nott, president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California, says his organization was never consulted. Grader was consulted, but his input was apparently ignored.
The EPA’s final recommendation for a site is due by the end of the year.
What would have been California’s first tule elk hunt since the 1970s has been canceled, according to the Department of Fish and Game.
The hunt, originally slated for November, had been the target of a legal dispute between the DFG and the Committee for the Preservation of Tule Elk, which petitioned the Sacramento Superior Court in August to have the hunt halted.
Don Koch, of the DFG’s Wildlife Management Division, told the Inyo Register that the court’s decision to cancel the hunt was made because the department’s environmental documentation was not cohesive.
The courts, according to Koch, said that the DFG had failed to report the status of the herds to the legislature at the required 2-year intervals, that the DFG did not properly prepare the management plan for the herds, and that the environmental document regarding the hunt was not complete.
Hunting for tule elk was recommended by the Fish and Game Commission after studies indicated that the population had grown to about 2,500 animals.
Dr. George Bogen of Marina del Rey, fishing with 4-pound-test line off the Palos Verdes Peninsula on Monday, caught a 14-pound white sea bass, which, if approved by the International Game Fish Assn., will be the world record.
Bogen’s fish, which was weighed at Marina del Rey Sportfishing, took 15 minutes to land and measured 36 inches. The current record in that line category is a 6-pound 2-ounce white sea bass caught off Catalina Island in 1982.
Briefly
The Fish and Game Commission has voted to spend more than $10,000 to finance a study of the Piru Creek trout fishery. California Trout will conduct the study under the direction of the Dept. of Fish and Game. . . .Assemblywoman Doris Allen’s (R-Cypress) anti-hunter harassment bill (AB 3156) has been signed into law by Gov. George Deukmejian, making it a misdemeanor--effective Jan. 1--for anyone interfering with a hunter who is involved in a legal hunt.
Shellfish farmer, biologist and former environmental consultant Dr. Dick Glenn has been elected president of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation’s Pacific Region. Glenn, of Carlsbad, succeeds Johnnie Crean of San Juan Capistrano, who is now the chairman of the board.
California’s waterfowl season will open Oct. 15 and regulation booklets are available at DFG offices and most sporting goods stores. . . . The highest-priced item at the annual “Oliver” tackle auction in Maine was a Haskell fishing lure, which sold for $20,350. The copper and brass lures were made in the mid-1800s by an Ohio gunsmith, and it is presumed that only three or four remain in existence.