NOTES : 53 Marlin Landed in Contest

Plying the waters off Cabo San Lucas last week were 109 sportfishing boats, each carrying anglers who were hoping to catch the largest black or blue marlin they could find.

They came from around this country and Canada to participate in Bisbee’s ninth annual Black and Blue Marlin tournament, which has developed into one of the biggest spectacles on the southern Baja Peninsula.

The townspeople were there in force, more than 400 gathering on the beach each day, according to Wayne Bisbee of Bisbee’s Sportfishing Headquarters on Balboa Island.

Francois Chevrier of Laguna Niguel set the pace on the first day when he landed a 465-pound blue marlin, which would end up the event’s biggest fish.

Chevrier’s fishing partner, Loren Deniger, made it tougher on the competition when he caught a 345-pounder to seal first place--and a prize of $79,950--for the four aboard the Dorado III in the team category. David Ordway took individual honors with two blue marlin totaling 480 pounds.

By the time the three-day tournament ended Saturday, 52 blue marlin and one black marlin had been brought to the scales. Since the rules stated that anyone keeping fish under 200 pounds would be penalized, more than 70 marlin were released, Bisbee said.

More than $20,000 was raised for Camino del Estrella elementary school.

“All the fish except two, I think, went to the orphanages and retirement homes,” Bisbee said. “The Department of Welfare was there and was trucking the fish away as fast as we could bring them up the beach.”

Said Darrell Primrose of Tortuga Sportfishing: “It’s the biggest deal of the year. The mayor and everybody comes down.”

Blue marlin remain active, and wahoo are starting to appear more frequently off Cabo San Lucas, but the 90-degree water temperature appears to have slowed the striped marlin bite, according to Primrose. The most productive area has been the Gordo Banks, where yellowfin tuna and dorado are also being caught.

Farther north, in the East Cape region of the Baja Peninsula, the marlin bite is being described as “slower than normal” because of an abundance of giant squid, many weighing more than 30 pounds.

The squid have been hitting iron lures, however, and have made for an interesting change of pace.

One blue marlin that apparently hadn’t had its fill of squid hit two trolled marlin lures over the weekend and was fought by La Mirada’s Fred Cotrell and Don Robertson, who after 1 1/4 hours landed a 561-pounder.

Meanwhile, dorado fishing doesn’t seem to be affected by the squid, and Castaneda said light-tackle fishermen “are catching all the dorado they want.” Most boats are averaging about eight a day, between 15 and 45 pounds.

Briefly

Bald Eagle tours narrated by naturalist Neal Taylor begin Saturday at Santa Barbara County’s Lake Cachuma. Reservations: (805) 568-2460. . . .California’s fall turkey-hunting season opens Nov. 11 in all but San Diego County. Hunters may take one turkey--either sex--daily with no more than one bird in possession. . . .The West Coast Bass tournament, with 32 professional bass fishermen seeking to become the Western U.S. 1989 bass champion, will be held on the Sacramento River near Old Sacramento Nov. 9-11.

Regulation proposals for the protection of steelhead and winter-run salmon on the Sacramento River, a change in the statewide trout limit and boat fishing restrictions on the South Fork of the Eel River will be on the agenda at the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Redding next Monday and Tuesday. There is concern that historical winter runs of more than 100,000 spawning salmon to the upper Sacramento dwindled to a record low of fewer than 600 fish this year.

The Lives of Ducks and Geese will be the subject of the Department of Fish and Game’s weekly 9 a.m. tour of the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve in Newport Beach. More information: (714) 640-6746.

The U.S. Agriculture Dept. has a hotline for foliage watchers, with a recorded message featuring areas of “especially beautiful fall colors” as they occur in national forests throughout the U.S.: (202) 475-3780.

Instruction: Ocean fishing, with emphasis on Southern and Baja California, by longtime angler-author Charlie Davis, Nov. 9 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. Registration information: (714) 891-3991 . . . How to catch inshore game fish, sponsored by California Angler Magazine, Saturday at Raincross Square in Riverside. Contact Kit McNear at (714) 762-5873 . . . Fly-tying, South Bay Fly Fishers, beginning Nov. 8 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Emerson Townhouse in Westchester. Information: (213) 412-7849.