OUTDOOR NOTES / PETE THOMAS : Tuna Appear, Frowns of Skippers Disappear

Those in the sportfishing community have to be pinching themselves.

The showing of albacore south of San Diego is a dream come true for landing operators and the thousands of fishermen who, during the last six years, have found the popular longfins all too elusive.

The fish have been anything but since Saturday when skippers on 1 1/2-day trips began reporting sizable schools of albacore, bluefin, yellowfin and bigeye tuna.

“There’s a lot there,” said the Cherokee Geisha’s Bill Stevens, who returned to H&M; Landing Tuesday morning with one of the biggest albacore taken in years, a 38-pounder. “Plenty of steady action while we were down there,” he said. “We didn’t go for too long without getting jig strikes.”

Such has been the case for most boats fishing between 110 and 130 miles south of Point Loma. At 9:50 a.m. Sunday, the Big Game reported 30 albacore in the sacks. It returned Monday evening with 102. The Daiwa Pacific reported taking 50 albacore on a single stop Sunday.

Similar reports were filtering back to the landings from boats in the area Monday and Tuesday.

Stevens, who predicted fishing would improve after sighting schools of tuna 130 miles south of Point Loma a week ago, said they have been moving north at about 10 miles a day and should soon be within range of the one-day fleet. Bluefin tuna have already been taken fewer than 30 miles from the landings.

“Once the fish move within 100 miles and we start running one-days, I’m sure it’s going to break loose down here,” said Ollie Patrick, assistant manager of Point Loma Sportfishing. Said Stevens: “The phones are really starting to ring, which is good. (Business is) still not good yet, but it’s a lot better than it was. Right now is a golden opportunity for somebody to get out in good fishing with light (passenger) loads.”

Yellowjackets are buzzing in Avalon, and to old-timers on Catalina Island that can only mean one thing--marlin season has begun.

Sure enough, no sooner have the insects begun swarming on land than the marlin have started feeding offshore.

Jim Madden of Rancho Palos Verdes was the first to check a marlin at Avalon, according to Rosie Cadman, who has been weighing fish at Avalon Sea Food for 44 years. Madden, fishing Saturday aboard the Ono, landed a 124 1/2-pound striper he caught between the 14-mile bank and the east end of the island.

Jim Sieminski of Santa Monica brought Cadman another marlin Sunday, a 151-pounder taken nine miles out of Dana Point.

“He said there was other fish around, and (Madden) said there were six feeders around and he threw a bait out and the fish took it,” Cadman said. “The fish are all popping up now. We’re getting quite a few yellowjackets. When you get the yellowjackets, that means the marlin are coming.”

A stretch of more than 40 miles of the Sacramento River affected by the massive herbicide spill earlier this month has been closed to fishing indefinitely at the recommendation of the Department of Fish and Game.

The closure extends from the northern reach of Shasta Lake upstream to the spill site to take pressure off native wild trout. Two miles above the spill site to Siskiyou Lake will be open to catch-and-release fishing only.

Pete Bontadelli, the department’s director, has been given authority by the Fish and Game Commission to reopen the river, or sections of the river, when conditions warrant.

Briefly

BAJA FISHING--There are few complaints from anglers at Cabo San Lucas, where “fishing is great for nearly everything,” according to Darrell Primrose of the Finnistera Tortuga fleet. Blue and striped marlin, sailfish, large dorado and tuna are regulars at the scales, Primrose said. Rich Regula of Agoura Hills fished three days, catching and releasing six striped marlin, 12 dorado to 60 pounds, three sailfish and more than 40 tuna. Top catch: Walt Johnson’s 528-pound black marlin, taken aboard the Gaviota Fleet’s No. 8 boat.

East Cape: Similar reports, with Michael Alberts’ 554-pound blue marlin, taken after a four-hour fight, and Wisconsin’s Tom Stark’s 440-pound blue, after a four-hour battle, highlighting the action.

Loreto: Calm seas and “lots of small dorado,” according to Gordon Prentice of Baja Fishing Adventures in Long Beach. Prentice said dorado upward of 40 pounds also are being caught, and the bait situation has improved with the showing of mackerel. A black marlin topping 500 pounds was included in last week’s count.

INSTRUCTION--Prime Ticket’s Fish-On crew will film and provide instruction during a trip aboard the American Angler Thursday through Sunday. Cost: $600, includes bunks, license and tackle pack. Information available at Point Loma Sportfishing in San Diego or (805) 296-5422.

MISCELLANY--American Boating Jubilee ‘91, with more than 400 pleasure craft and discounted parasail rides, will begin a 10-day run at Shoreline Village Marina in Long Beach Friday. Hours: Noon to 8 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekends. Cost: $5 for adults; children under 12 free. . . . The Federation of Fly Fishers is offering a revised free booklet describing and illustrating proper methods of reviving and releasing fish. Information: (406) 646-9541.