OUTDOOR NOTES / PETE THOMAS : Wayward Swordfish Haunts King Harbor

A four-foot long swordfish apparently has found a home far from home--in Redondo’s King Harbor.

The wayward broadbill, according to locals, has been swimming inside the small marina since at least late Saturday, creating a stir wherever it goes.

“There’s about 20 people watching it on and off throughout the day,” said Scott Tuttle, a Hermosa Beach bank officer who spent 20 minutes videotaping it underwater on Tuesday. Tuttle added that the swordfish appeared healthy, despite a few small gouges in its flesh.

The small billfish spent Monday and Tuesday swimming around a small fleet of commercial harpoon boats in the southeast corner of the harbor. The vessels’ owners, whose livelihoods depend on the health of the swordfish fishery, have been keeping protective eyes on the juvenile fish while hoping it can find its way back to the ocean.

“We went down and looked at it this morning,” said Rocky Post, owner of the Rocky Point Marine Fuels in the harbor. “It’s just swimming around. It’s healthy, its color is good, it’s got tons of energy. It’s just cruising around and can’t find its way out.”

Marine biologists were made aware of the swordfish on Tuesday but said that because of the species’ tendency to become aggressive when trapped, there was little they could do without jeopardizing its life.

“If you threw a net on that fish, it would probably take off and take the net with it,” said Larry Fukihara, director of the Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro. “It would do it more harm than good.”

Dove hunting begins next Tuesday, and wildlife officials are predicting considerable improvement compared to last season, thanks to a wet winter.

“There are a lot more birds because there are a lot more wheat fields,” Joe Brana, a lieutenant warden with the California Department of Fish and Game, said in a news release.

More than 100,000 hunters are expected in Southern California for the opener, the state’s most popular hunt. The season will continue through Sept. 15 and reopen Nov. 14 through Dec. 28.

Productive mourning dove locations in the Imperial Valley include the desert between East Mesa and the Highland Canal; along the West Side Main Canal; fields adjacent to the New and Alamo rivers; along the All American Canal below Highway 8 and the fields of Westmoreland, just south of the Salton Sea.

Along the southern Colorado River, white-wing dove numbers are “significantly” higher than last season, according to the DFG, and good results are expected in most desert wash zones that lead to the river. A permit is required to hunt on Colorado Indian Tribes land below Parker Dam. Details: (602) 669-9285.

Beware: Quail season does not begin until Oct. 17, and penalties for shooting the birds early begin at $130.

Additional warning: Temperatures for the dove opener are expected to reach 115 degrees.

The worst of the Mammoth Lakes fire is past, says Bob Tanner of Red’s Meadow Pack Train. The fire, now confined in Mammoth Pass between the lakes basin and Devil’s Postpile, is expected to be contained by Saturday. Fishing and other activities continue at most sites.

The fire caused evacuation of some campgrounds and singed the edges of Tanner’s pack station but burned no structures, thanks to 35 volunteer firefighters from Bridgeport to Lone Pine.

“The locals saved us,” said Tanner, who also credited the 900 state firefighters on the lines and out-of-town companies--including two rigs from Beverly Hills--with keeping the fire out of the town.

The back country and the ski area have been unaffected, Tanner said. No pack trips have been canceled, although some may be rerouted.

Briefly

SALTWATER--Schools of tuna continue to enhance the Southland sportfishing season, showing regularly off Catalina and San Clemente islands. The First String turned in one of the most impressive counts of the week on Sunday, returning with 79 yellowfin tuna and one dorado. Earlier in the week an 18-pound albacore was caught aboard the same vessel by Becky Conrad of Long Beach. San Diego-based sportfishers continue to return from Mexican waters with impressive numbers of tuna and dorado, though the counts have dropped.

CONSERVATION--The California Waterfowl Assn. says that February rainfall and prime habitat conditions tripled the wild duck population in California’s largest historic wetlands area--the grasslands of western Merced County. The significance, said Ed Smith, a California Department of Fish and Game biologist, is that 73% of the 75,000 grassland acres, including ponds owned by Tri Valley Growers near Los Banos, are privately owned but managed for waterfowl. The U.S. Department of the Interior reported that last spring’s breeding duck populations in the United States and Canada were up 11% from 1991 estimates, but still were 8% below the long-term average for 1955-91. . . . Volunteers are needed for Trout Unlimited’s annual stream conservation project Labor Day weekend on the Peppermint and Nobe Young Creek tributaries of the Kern River, north of Kernville. Details: (310) 823-8747 or (714) 557-2826.