FISHING NOTES : Size Minimums Established for Shark Derby
The fourth annual Venice Anglers Shark Derby will be held Saturday and Sunday.
According to Bill Tittle of the Venice Anglers, this year’s event will have size minimums of 150 pounds for blue sharks and 30 pounds for makos.
Prizes for this year’s derby will be judged on a point basis per pound, one point for blue sharks, four points for makos and eight points for threshers.
Grand prize for the largest fish caught is a week’s stay in Cabo San Jose to fish the Venice anglers wahoo tournament.
Fishing, which will start Saturday at 12:01 a.m., will be restricted to the area from Palos Verdes to Point Dume.
All fish caught must be weighed in at the Windjammer Yacht Club at Marina del Rey before 5 p.m. Sunday.
All entrants must comply with fish and game regulations and all fish must be caught with rod and reel.
Information: Bill Tittle (213) 392-6227 or Jack Baily (213) 306-0475.
With squid once again available for bait, the South Bay sportfishing fleet is returning from trips off the east and west end of Catalina Island with catches of white seabass and yellowtail.
The 22nd Street Landing’s Islander and Grande have been returning daily with limits.
Carson fisherman Stan Drake, 71, caught a limit of white seabass and missed winning the jackpot by ounces with a 26-pound fish. Drake said this was one of the best seabass trips he has had in years.
Ed Sanders of Gardena caught a limit of white seabass. The largest weighed 23 pounds.
Paul Byers of San Pedro caught a 21-pounder. Jeff Perry of San Pedro returned with a limit, the largest fish weighing 20 pounds.
L.A. Harbor’s Outerlimits and First String, with 20 anglers aboard, returned Tuesday with 49 white seabass and 10 yellowtail. The white seabass averaged 18 to 28 pounds and the yellowtail averaged 16 to 20 pounds.
Jack Webster of San Pedro caught a yellowtail that weighed 27 pounds to win the jackpot.
Conrad Dorsey of Hermosa Beach caught a 25-pound yellowtail and Tim Dorsey of San Pedro landed a 23-pounder.
James Cooper of Harbor City caught a 21-pound white seabass and Susan Lee of Long Beach caught her first seabass. Her fish weighed 20 pounds.
West Los Angeles fishermen Mark Wheeler and Miguel Telamura each landed a 20-pound seabass.
The First String fished Catalina with anchovies for bait and anglers caught limits of barracuda.
Captain Pat Conklin had the anglers change over to halibut rigs and light sinkers and he moved down the island to a spot that is seldom fished.
For 45 minutes, it was a wide-open bite as anglers brought up over 65 of the flat fish with 25 legal fish being sacked.
Conklin said all the small fish that were released were under the 22-inch size minimum, but he was impressed with several anglers who also put back fish over the limit size.
Marl Larsen of Long Beach caught a 17 1/2-pound halibut on the trip.
Rosie Cadman of the Avalon weigh station said conditions remain perfect for the start of marlin season.
The first two marlin of the season were landed and weighed over the weekend.
Santa Monica fisherman Jim Sieminski, fishing from his boat off of Avalon, caught a 151-pound marlin.
Jim Madden of Palos Verdes fished the Avalon Bank and caught a 124 1/2-pound marlin.
King Harbor Marlin Club members fished Santa Monica Bay for corbina and rated the bay fishing good. Jimmy Gong and Ray Hawks each landed a four-pound corbina.
Bob Stevens was fishing for corbina and caught a 43 1/2-pound thresher shark.
South Bay Catches--Bob Jones of Long Beach, fishing aboard the Freedom off San Nicholas Island, caught the whopper of the week, a 36 1/2-pound halibut.
Gary Nush of Torrance, fishing aboard the Pacifica off Catalina, caught a 32-pound white seabass.
Frank Hanoguchi of Long Beach, fishing aboard the Toronado off Catalina, caught a 33 1/4-pound halibut.
Mike Garson of West Los Angeles, fishing aboard the Spitfire off Ocean Park, caught a 33-pound halibut.
Tom Bohn of Culver City, fishing aboard the Phantom at horseshoe kelp, caught a 20-pound white seabass.
