OUTDOOR NOTES / RICH ROBERTS : Working Up Excitement Over a Big Catch

Wes Working of Long Beach figures he has caught hundreds of calico bass, but claims to have never kept one.

“They’re delicious eating, but to save the fishery I’ve always released them,” he said.

Last week Working made an exception when he hooked a 14-pound, 2-ounce calico--properly known as a kelp bass--near Catalina Harbor on the backside of Santa Catalina Island. It surpassed the all-tackle world record of 13-4 listed by the International Game Fish Assn., taken by Larry Skiles off Laguna Beach July 1, 1991.

“I would have drowned before I let go of that one,” Working said.

Strangely, Working’s catch didn’t quite beat the California record of 14-7, taken by C.O. Taylor off San Clemente Island in 1958. Taylor also holds the state record for California barracuda at 15-15, caught in 1957.

The reason for the confusion is that Taylor caught his fish before the IGFA, based in Pompano Beach, Fla., started bringing order to world record claims in 1978. Anglers are now required to submit extensive certification, including photographs and witnesses--not to say that Taylor’s fish were not legitimate.

Working, 58, grew up in Long Beach and remembers his father catching an albacore off Rainbow Pier, which once fronted the shoreline in the days of the Pike amusement park. Last week, he was fishing on Al Walsh’s private 34-foot boat, the Speculator, when they tired of slow-trolling for marlin and decided to go inshore after white sea bass and calico.

“We weren’t 50 feet off shore,” Working said. “Backed the boat in there, got the anchor set and got two small white sea bass . . . turned them loose, got a couple of bass, released them.

“Then I put a 10-inch sardine on, and the minute that hit the water, probably within two feet of the beach, it exploded. I put on the clicker so the reel wouldn’t overrun, and the fish went right into the kelp.

“Once it got out of the kelp and came over, from the side view it looked almost like a halibut. Of course, a halibut wouldn’t jump like that. Then when it turned up I said, ‘Gee, this is the biggest fish I’ve seen in my life.’ ”

Working was using 20-pound-test line and a No. 4 hook, which held the fish tentatively through the nose. He landed it in 30 minutes.

“I let it run a little because I thought it was a white sea bass,” Working said. “We’d lost a couple by not letting ‘em run. Then it took off. I couldn’t put any pressure on him. This thing really had some fight in him.”

Working had the fish weighed at the Queen’s Wharf Fish Market in Long Beach and saved 60 feet of line, with the hook and 1/4-ounce sinker still attached, to send to the IGFA.

The fish was 26 inches long with a 23-inch girth.

Briefly

BAJA FISHING--East Cape: Gil Garciacano and Orange County friends Brian Hadley, Rick Ngo and Alex Godinez collected 90- and 80-pound sailfish, two bullhead dorados and lost a 50-pound wahoo on a two-day trip to La Paz that Garciacano called “the best time of our lives.” The Mosquito Fleet reports an abundance of sierra, good dorado fishing inside the bay and at the south end of Espiritu Island, and sails west of Partida Island. Hotel Buenavista reports five sails, 200 dorado, six wahoo, three striped marlin and one blue, plus many sierra, caught last week. Cabo San Lucas: Dave Miles, Van Nuys, fishing Tortuga No. 3 with Capt. Manuel, landed 310-pound blue marlin and released two striped marlin. Gary Davis, Rancho Palos Verdes, landed a 285-pound blue marlin, with 43 boats averaging seven fish, topped by a continuing strong run of dorado 12-40 pounds providing good sport on light line. Winds on the Gordo Banks eased for the wahoo anglers. Yellowfin have gone shy. San Diego long-range: Despite bad weather the first day of a three-day trip, Steve Giffin’s Holiday, with 13 passengers, took 28 yellowfin to 45 pounds, 78 dorado and 105 yellowtail. “The tuna were considerably bigger than recent trips,” Giffin said. The Bob Burns-Jack Slater Red Rooster, 10 days to Thetis Bank and Potato Bank with 17 anglers, took 192 yellowfin, 162 wahoo to 78 pounds and yellowtail, grouper, dorado and pargo. Jackpot: Paul Robles, La Puente, 114-0 yellowfin. Dan Sansome’s American Angler, 10 days to Uncle Sam Bank with 23 anglers, took 235 yellowfin to 78 pounds, 133 wahoo to 60 pounds and 36 dorado.

BOATING--The Recreational Boaters of California brought pressure to remove a $2.5 million raid on boater fuel taxes from a bill to fund the state parks department. Maybe that will help fix an inequity that shows California, with boat registrations second only to Michigan, eighth nationally in the number of launching ramps with 644, far fewer than Minnesota (2,231), Washington (898) and Oregon (801).

HUNTING--With five weeks remaining in the season that closes Dec. 27, the bear kill was down 28% from the same time last year, according to the California Department of Fish and Game. The 1991 hunt was stopped with six days to go when hunters passed the quota of 1,250, finishing with 1,493. With only 594 tags returned this year, the DFG was projecting a final tally of about 1,000.

FLY-FISHING--Dr. Robert Middo will discuss medical precautions and cures for fishermen at the meeting of the Streamborn Fly Fishing Club Thursday, Dec. 3, 7:30 p.m., at the Pomona First Federal Savings building in Rowlands Heights.