OUTDOOR NOTES / PETE THOMAS : This Big One Got Away, but the Chase Was Worth It

Mark Lester of Costa Mesa felt like an old man on the sea last week after unsuccessfully battling a broadbill swordfish for almost 11 hours off the Orange County coast.

Lester, 24, and two others aboard the Reflection, of ATF Charters in Balboa, were geared for yellowtail when they came across a marlin jumping off their bow. It was 9:30 a.m.

Lester cast a live sardine and waited for the line to tighten.

It did, but what took his bait was much stronger than any marlin he had ever encountered. Almost two hours passed before the fish even surfaced.

“I thought it was a tuna,” Lester recalled. “Then he finally came up and we all kind of sat back and said, ‘Whoa!’ ”

The fish sounded again, taking all but 30 yards of Lester’s 40-pound test line with it before the crew decided to tie his rod off to another. The fish continued to dive, taking almost 1,300 yards of line--from both rods--with it.

Five hours passed and Lester was still on his fish.

“Nobody else wanted the rod, and I wasn’t going to let them take it if they did,” Lester said.

By about 7 p.m. the fish--which skipper Corby Jackson had followed for about 10 miles during the fight--had been brought close to the boat twice, but not close enough to gaff. It was estimated at 300 pounds.

Two other boats, with flying gaffs at the ready, had come to watch and assist, but the swordfish remained about 90 feet away, in a tug of war that lasted until about 8 p.m. Then, as the sun set, the line finally gave way. Jackson fell back and sighed.

The long battle occurred July 14. Jackson acknowledged that he was “outgunned from the beginning” and said he wasn’t too upset about losing what would have been a very rare and prized catch.

On Monday he added: “Up until two days ago, I couldn’t even write with a pen.”

Add swordfish: Many consider the broadbill the strongest game fish in the sea.

San Diego’s Mike Hurt, a former commercial fisherman, is among them.

Hurt once watched as a harpooned swordfish made short work of a small mako shark that had come in for a closer look.

“The swordfish went into a rigid defense stance,” Hurt recalled. “And as the mako came up, all you saw was a quick twitch and then there were two pieces of mako swimming around.”

San Diego: The phones at the landings are ringing and diesel engines roaring, as the summer fishing season shifts to high gear.

The daily yellowtail counts are approaching the thousands, and the tuna counts are rising steadily as the fish move north, within range of the overnight fleet.

“We have really good bait signs, whales, and 69-degree clear, blue water,” said Art Taylor of the Searcher, who has joined others making regular 24-hour trips to the fishing grounds, from 60 to 100 miles south of Point Loma.

Fishing began to improve last week after the passing of Hurricane Darby, which was credited with pushing warmer water north. His followers, Estelle, Frank and Georgette, continue to do so.

On Sunday, the Mascot VI, in one stop, picked up 64 bluefin tuna, ranging from 30 to 50 pounds. Similar reports were coming in Monday and Tuesday.

Albacore: No fish taken by recreational anglers yet, despite predictions last week that the first sport-caught longfin would be landed last weekend at the Davidson Sea Mount off Central California.

Bat Batsford of the S.F. Bay Area Tuna Club, a group that had participated in the first catch for the last four years, failed to produce any of the tuna in two days of fishing the Davidson.

Meanwhile, a commercial fishing boat picked up 140 albacore 150 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge.

“I was about 100 miles off,” Batsford said.

Briefly

SALTWATER--Water temperatures are pushing 70 degrees in some areas, and reports of exotics are surfacing well north of the border. Avalon weigh station reported its first marlin July 16 and has added four more to its count since. Schools of tuna have been sighted as close as eight miles off the L.A. Harbor light and a few dorado have been taken from beneath floating kelp paddies in San Diego County.

Cabo San Lucas: Blue marlin fairly abundant. Sailfish and wahoo steady. Air temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. Water 86 degrees. East Cape: A group of 12, fishing six days out of Hotel Palmas de Cortez, reported 12 blue marlin (one at 384 pounds), 14 striped marlin, 80 tuna weighing between 30-80 pounds, 20 sailfish, three dorado, two wahoo, two roosterfish and a 30-pound pargo. Michael Kirwin, Woodland Hills, 469-pound blue marlin. La Paz: Blue marlin taken as far north as Isla Partida. A black marlin weighed 517 pounds. Dorado biting inside the bay.

CALENDAR--The American Boating Jubilee begins a 10-day run Friday at Shoreline Village Marina in Long Beach. Cost is $6 for adults. No charge for children 12 and under with their parents. . . . Night bass and catfish tournaments will be held at Castaic Lake Saturday, with weigh-ins at 1 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Sunday. Sign-ups will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday at west ramp. Cost per team is $100 for bass, $60 for catfish. Details: (805) 297-2299.

FOR THE RECORD--San Clemente Island: The 24-hour phone numbers given by the U.S. Navy last week for sportfishermen and divers planning to go to San Clemente Island were incorrect. The correct numbers: Waterfront Operations, (619) 524-9222, and Island Security, (619) 524-9214. Waterfront Operations also may be contacted on VHF Channel 16. Visitors are advised to call ahead to avoid scheduled military operations.