OUTDOOR NOTES : Yellowfin Tuna Become a Giant Success Off Mexico

Imagine a fish so big and powerful that your highest level of skill, your best tackle and all the strength you can muster aren’t enough to subdue it.

The fisherman aboard the Royal Polaris experienced such fish during one of the most successful trips to Mexico’s Revillagigedo Islands in years, one during which giant yellowfin tuna were the rule rather than the exception.

“This is probably the best trip we’ve had in four years on big fish,” Skipper Tim Ekstrom said in a radio transmission. “I would say the majority of the big fish we hooked were better than 225 pounds. Most of them are between that and 300.”

Ekstrom emphasized hooked because most of the fish were too much for the fishermen.

“You don’t know how many of those big fish you can go through just to get a few,” Ekstrom said. “You can have the perfect tackle, the best line, the best hooks, the best pole--the best gear you can get and you still land roughly 20% of what you hook. I know for a fact we lost two fish that were close to 300 pounds . . . that were 10 feet away from gaff.”

Frank LoPreste, owner of the Royal Polaris, said the voyage was Ekstrom’s first to the Revillagigedos as main skipper of the vessel.

“Believe it or not, I had two guys who wanted to get off the boat just because Steve (Loomis) or I weren’t running it,” LoPreste said.

They were lucky they didn’t, for they turned out to be part of a contingent that battled the huge yellowfins for four consecutive mornings, boating at least two fish weighing more than 300 pounds and several between 250 and 280 pounds.

“I had a trip last year where we had 10 over 200 and two over 300 (pounds), but we had a lot of the 80- to 125-pound fish also, whereas Tim had pretty much straight action there on big fish,” LoPreste said. “They lost a lot of fish. The guys really got ate alive.”

The Royal Polaris is scheduled to pull into Fisherman’s Landing in San Diego at 7 a.m. Saturday.

While the Marines of Camp Pendleton are in the Persian Gulf, the sportfishing business at nearby Oceanside is being hit hard by their absence.

“We depend upon Camp Pendleton for a portion of our business throughout the year,” said Blaine Hughes, a captain at Helgren’s Sportfishing, who now spends much of his time doing office work. “There’s very little troop activity here anymore. We’ve definitely felt the crunch here.”

Business was good enough before the war--about 30% of the Helgren’s business was coming from the military--to allow the landing to base one of its boats in a Camp Pendleton harbor.

“It’s no longer able to stay there because there’s nobody over there,” Hughes said. “Right now, our basic customer is in the retired senior bracket, and that’s basically all we’re getting on the boats on the weekdays.”

Briefly

CONSERVATION--The state has authorized $390,000 to underwrite a steelhead restoration project in Malibu Creek. The funds will reportedly allow the Department of Fish and Game to build four fish-passage facilities, which will allow steelhead access to more than four miles of historic steelhead habitat currently blocked by the 100-foot high Rindge Dam and the smaller barriers. Malibu Creek, in Los Angeles County, is the southernmost Pacific Coast stream that still supports a viable run of steelhead.

“After almost a decade of work to restore these native fish, it’s particularly gratifying to have reached this plateau,” said Jim Edmondson of California Trout, one of the groups involved in the project.

DROUGHT--It stinks! Such are the sentiments of packers and hikers in the Mt. Whitney Ranger District. Ron Kyle, a spokesman for the district, told the Inyo Register: “We allow 50 people on the Whitney trail per day. Averaging three days out, that’s about 150 people a day. That’s a lot of impact. We need the rains to flush out the area.”

Kyle said that because of the accumulation of human waste, the area “is not a pleasant place to be.” Meanwhile, possible contingency plans in the area include fire restrictions and cutbacks at fisheries and campgrounds. Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, as well as Yosemite, already have drought contingency plans, which include restricting water use and the closing of some public facilities.

FLY-FISHING--Alaska guide and author Tony Route will sign his latest book, “Fly Fishing Alaska,” and demonstrate tying techniques at Bob Marriott’s Irvine and Burbank stores, Feb. 28 and March 1, respectively from 1-6 p.m. On March 2 at Marriott’s Fullerton Education Center, Route will autograph and tie from 9 a.m., and present a slide show at noon. Details: (714) 525-1827.

INSTRUCTION--Rock cod jig-fishing, the latest techniques and gear selection, at Art’s Fishing Tackle in Gardena this Saturday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Details: (213) 327-4171; Baja yellowtail, tackle and techniques, by Kit McNear at Fenwick’s new facility at 5242 Argosy Ave. in Huntington Beach, Feb. 26 from 7-9:30 p.m. No cost. Details: (818) 762-5873.

MISCELLANY--Those interested in viewing bighorn sheep and learning about their history can participate in a population survey of the animals March 9-10 in the Lytle Creek area of the San Bernardino National Forests. Information: (213) 590-5158. . . . California’s free fishing days--when anglers can legally fish without a license--will be June 8 and Sept. 21.