THE OUTDOORS : Outdoor Notes / Pete Thomas : Biggest Blue Marlin of Year Landed at Cabo
Fishing for blue marlin in the waters off Cabo San Lucas generally begins picking up this time of year, since the bigger billfish--the females, the “granders”--become increasingly active as winter approaches.
As if to signal the arrival of such trophy-sized fish off the southern Baja Peninsula, Lawrence Siegel, visiting from Wilton, Conn., caught what is believed to be the biggest marlin of the year last Wednesday, a 746-pound blue taken 22 miles east of the Red Hill area. He got a 2-hour 15-minute fight on 80-pound test line.
But besides the increasing size and quantities of blue marlin being weighed in, other exotic species are making this fall a season to remember.
According to John Doughty of Bisbee’s Tackle in Newport Beach, striped and black marlin, dorado and wahoo have also been testing anglers’ abilities, though less regularly.
“There was even a swordfish caught,” said Doughty, who monitors the area regularly.
Dave Lyles, a spokesman for the Palmilla Hotel, said last week: “There are more species here (at the same time) than there have been in many years.”
Doughty said that before Monday’s full moon, conditions were excellent, with water temperatures averaging about 84 degrees.
“During the (actual) full moon there was not as much activity, especially with striped marlin,” he said. “But there is usually an increase of bigger blues (the females) moving in prior to and after a full moon.”
Some of the world’s foremost billfish authorities have determined that the fishery faces a serious decline in the near future if current harvests continue, and called for international cooperation to conserve stocks of marlin and swordfish.
The International Billfish Symposium, a gathering of 160 experts, was held in August at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, where 60 papers were read, describing trends in billfish populations and the fisheries that harvest them, research needs and priorities, economics and management strategies.
The scientists, managers and conservationists concluded that fishing pressure is rapidly growing on what is already an overly exploited resource.
Besides calling for global cooperation in obtaining more information on how billfish can be better managed, the symposium strongly encouraged recreational anglers to assist in tagging studies by releasing marlin and sailfish.
The Big Bear Municipal Water District may miss the deadline for fixing the Bear Valley Dam, but it will be close enough to avoid draining the lake, according to Debbie Maggio, spokeswoman for the district.
The state Division of Dam Safety last year ordered the district to repair the 76-year-old dam by Oct. 31 or drain all water away from it, reducing the lake to a puddle.
“We plan on, if not meeting the exact deadline, coming close enough,” Maggio said Tuesday. “They have less than 2,000 cubic feet of concrete to pour, and that takes a week.”
Maggio said the DODS has told the district that if the project extends beyond the deadline just a little, there will be no problem.
Scott Francis, the master falconer from Escondido featured in a Times article this month, reported that the peregrine falcon he was training for a breeding clinic was attacked and killed by a golden eagle during a recent outing.
“It doesn’t happen very often,” Francis said. “Around San Diego, I don’t know of anybody that’s lost a bird to an eagle. It was a real shocker.”
Briefly
United Anglers of California, a Berkeley organization, has demanded a halt to the processing of a permit for the city of Redding to dam the Sacramento River north of the city with a hydroelectric plant “that would cause severe damage to the state’s salmon and steelhead resources.” The group is supported in a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission signed by 25 California congressmen.
The world’s only known population of black-footed ferrets is being divided, with some animals being moved from Wyoming into zoos in Nebraska and Virginia this week. The purpose is to prevent a catastrophic loss of the entire colony of 58 at the Sybille Wildlife Research and Conservation Unit near Wheatland, Wyo., through disease or other cause. Breeders hope to attain 500 ferrets by 1991 and reintroduce them into the wild.
Six elk have been shot at night near Lund, Nev., but it’s OK with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. In fact, wildlife officials were called in to kill the animals after a farmer complained that elk were eating his alfalfa, and non-lethal means to chase the animals had away failed. The elk would emerge from thick cover to graze only after dark. The meat was donated to charitable organizations and the state prison system.
The American Fishing Institute of Indiana University has canceled its 1988 Fall National Bass Institutes in California, scheduled for Oct. 29-30 in San Jose, and Nov. 5-6 in Riverside, because of lack of interest. . . . The Eastern Sierra fishing season closes Oct. 31.