THE OUTDOORS : Outdoors Notes / Pete Thomas : Local Anglers’ Albatross of No Albacore Could Be Ending

Will the albacore, the popular tuna that have been frustratingly elusive for Southland fishermen in recent years, show along Southern California this summer?

Experts will say only that conditions appear better than last year.

“Basically, the conditions look good,” said Ron Dotson, a National Marine Fisheries biologist and albacore specialist in La Jolla. “The cold, off-color water extending from Point Conception to Ensenada should not block the fish from entering Southern California waters.”

Last year, Dotson said, the band of off-color water extended about 50 miles south of Ensenada and, for the most part, prevented the fish from making their way into local waters from the west. Albacore migrate from the mid-Pacific, west of Hawaii, to the waters of Baja, Southern and Central California.

Last year, fishermen off the Central California coast caught only a smattering of albacore, but those off the Oregon and Washington coasts experienced some of the best albacore fishing in years. In fact, northern fishing was so good that much of California’s commercial fleet spent the summer near Westport, Wash. By and large, the albacore have bypassed Southern California for the last three years.

A fairly large school of albacore was reportedly found this week by the skipper of a tanker at the Erben Bank, about 700 miles west of San Diego. According to Dotson, a commercial boat is at that location but has yet to report its findings.

Based on the reports made by the tanker’s skipper, the American Angler of Point Loma Sportfishing will make an exploratory three-day run for albacore June 22.

“We’re presuming that they’ll be in a little closer by then,” said the landing’s Judy Collins.

Otherwise, there has been no albacore effort made so far by the San Diego sportfishing fleet, which relies heavily on the albacore--and the following they generate--to pay its bills. The American Angler is going, according to Collins, “because nobody else wants to take the chance.”

According to Dotson there has been no commercial effort in the mid-Pacific either, primarily because the albacore fleet has been busy working the productive South Pacific.

“There’s no effort and no (concrete) information to go on,” he said. “All we can do is look at the conditions.”

For the record: It was reported here two weeks ago that there had never been a 1,000-pound marlin caught by a recreational fisherman off Baja Peninsula, but a blue marlin weighing 1,056 pounds was caught off Cabo San Lucas by John Conant of North Hollywood in 1977.

AeroCalifornia, a Mexican air carrier based in La Paz, is scheduled to make its United States debut Thursday when its fleet of DC-9s begins flying from LAX to Loreto, La Paz and Cabo San Lucas.

Resorts Airlines, which had been the only carrier from Los Angeles to Loreto, went out of business last month.

Tag applications for deer, bear, bighorn sheep, elk and antelope are available at sporting goods stores and DFG offices, which are reminding hunters that the applications must be filed before the annual tag drawing July 8.

A DFG spokesman said that X zone, special deer and special bear, antelope and elk hunters must have applications in to the DFG License and Revenue Branch office in Sacramento by 5 p.m. June 26 to be eligible for the July computerized drawing.

Deer tags for A, B, D, and archery-only hunt applications are available over the counter at DFG offices in Long Beach, San Diego and Fresno or by mail from the Sacramento license office.

Briefly

Grunion season has reopened after a two-month closing to allow the fish to spawn uninhibited. The next runs are expected to be during the late nights of June 20-23 along dark, sandy beaches. San Pedro’s Cabrillo Marine Museum will hold its final two grunion programs--with films, lectures and the actual viewing of a grunion run--July 3 and 20 beginning at 9 p.m.

Silvio Calabi of Rod & Reel magazine will present a show on the World Fly Fishing Championships, held last fall in Tasmania, at the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers’ meeting June 22 at the Odyssey Restaurant in Mission Hills. The program follows a 7:30 p.m. dinner. For details, call (818) 785-7306.

The eighth annual Invitational Benefit Stag Shoot for Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach will be held today from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Coto de Caza Hunt Lodge in Orange County. Olympian Dan Carlisle will give a shooting demonstration before the competition. . . . Hunting season for cottontail rabbits begins July 1 with the best prospects, according to the DFG, to be in “areas adjacent to agricultural lands where water and feed are generally available.”