OUTDOOR NOTES : Call It a Day? Not Before a 1,070-Pound Catch

Mack Padgett began last Wednesday doing what many other tourists in Cabo San Lucas were doing--catching one dorado after another. But, unlike the others, Padgett ended his day in grand fashion.

Padgett and his wife, Carol, and Alain Smith and his wife, Kathy, decided to go farther offshore in search of larger game. They found it. Or rather, it found them--all 1,070 pounds of it, in the body of a 14-foot blue marlin. It was one of only a few “granders” ever caught in Mexican waters--locals say Padgett’s is the third. It was also the second-largest marlin ever caught off Cabo San Lucas--the largest is a 1,110-pounder--and a possible line-class world record.

The catch transformed the bustling Cabo marina into a near mob scene. Hundreds gathered to see the fish and the man who had caught it.

“I took pictures with every man, woman and their dog,” Padgett recalled from his home in Anchorage, Alaska.

And to think that Padgett had nearly returned to the docks, merely another sunburned fisherman with a mess of dorado.

The Padgetts and Smiths had been trolling for hours in what seemed an empty sea. Four miles out, there were no other boats, no birds and, seemingly, no fish. They finally gave the signal to return to the marina.

They didn’t give up, however, as the lures were still cutting through the water off the stern of the Juanita 10. Mack Padgett and Alain Smith were cleaning dorado on the deck.

“We were cleaning these dorado and all of a sudden Tico (the captain) starts screaming,” Mack Padgett said. “We look back and there’s this fish going after the center bait. We could see its bill and its fin. He was swatting the hell out of the middle lures.”

The fish then turned right and set upon the lure dragging behind the left outrigger. The reel sang. Trino, the mate, grabbed the rod and handed it to Padgett. Tico punched the throttle to make sure the hook was set, and the fight was on.

“Once he felt the hook he came out of the water and shook his head,” Padgett said. “If it was a lion, it would have been roaring.”

Padgett, 34, fought the fish for an hour standing up. As it ran, the boat gave chase, but Padgett was running out of line. The crew estimated its weight at 500-600 pounds. Padgett managed to gain some line and positioned himself in the chair, where he struggled for another 1 1/2 hours. When the fish got closer, the crew revised its estimate to 800 pounds.

When the fish was worn out, Trino grabbed the leader. Padgett, out of admiration for the fighting fish, instructed the crew to let the marlin go. They said he was loco and talked him out of it.

The marlin will soon have a place on the wall of Mike Grzanich’s Latitude 22 restaurant-bar. Padgett said he will submit papers to the International Game Fish Assn. to try to have his catch registered as a world record for 50-pound test line--the record is 1,062 pounds. Since the mate handed Padgett the rod, however, there is some question whether it will be approved.

“All he did was pick up the rod and hand it to me,” Padgett said. “We were trolling at a good clip, so the fish set the hook itself. But if the IGFA doesn’t want to play the game, then I’ll just have to go back and catch another.”

The 15-pound largemouth bass he caught at Castaic Lake on Monday reinforced two of Allan Cole’s beliefs about fishing: “Big lures for big fish,” and, “The worse the weather, the better the fishing.”

The Lancaster painting contractor discovered only recently that his homemade rainbow trout look-alike “AC Plug” lures not only fooled big German browns and striped bass, but largemouth bass as well. So on Monday, despite the rain, he was at Castaic, where experts believe someone will catch the fish to break the 60-year-old world record of 22 pounds 4 ounces.

Cole caught the fish shortly before dark, then weighed, photographed and released it.

Joel Morgan at the Country Store near Silverwood Lake, where Cole and others fish for big stripers says, “The AC Plug’s been knocking them dead.”

With the painting business slow, Cole is trying to market his lures. Price: $35.

“If this takes off, I’m giving up painting,” he said.

One attraction of bass fishing is the $250,000 first prize, including $200,000 cash, offered in Bassin’ magazine’s ongoing national tournament ending next summer.

Briefly

MEXICAN FISHING--Cabo San Lucas: Besides the 1,070-pounder taken by Mack Padgett, several other blue marlin were hooked but lost. Sailfish are scarce but dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo are still around. San Jose Del Cabo: Tuna 15-20 pounds and dorado 15-40 pounds biting from Cabeza de Ballena to inner Gordo Bank. Some marlin and sailfish hookups. Loreto: Strong winds kept most boats in, but some took small yellowtail and dorado. Mazatlan: Tuna, dorado and sailfish biting, in that order. Rick Stoneberg, Downey, 103-pound sailfish. San Diego long-range: Weekend storms upset schedules, but Royal Polaris returned from Baja waters with yellowtail and wahoo. Dave McBride, a Huntington Beach fireman, caught a 90-pound wahoo. The Polaris Supreme found yellowfin tuna and wahoo at the Morgan Bank.

BASS FISHING--Pros Larry Nixon, Denny Brauer and Jay Yelas will appear at the sixth annual Winter Bass-A-Thon Saturday and Sunday at Angler’s Marine, 3475 E. La Palma Ave, in Anaheim. Doors will open at 9 Saturday and 8:30 Sunday. Admission is $3.

FLY-FISHING--An all-star group of anglers including Steve Abel, Stu Apte, Dan Byford, Nick Curcione, Terry Gunn, Lefty Kreh, Ed Rice and Dave Whitlock returned to San Diego on the Royal Star Tuesday after targeting a flock of world saltwater fly-rod records at the Thetis Bank. They claimed 17, pending official weigh-ins.