993-Pound Blue Marlin Leaves These Anglers Seeing Green
Baja’s biggest and the world’s richest billfish tournament has come and gone, but for some, the memories are sure to linger.
One fleet operator called this year’s Bisbee’s Black and Blue marlin tournament off Cabo San Lucas “the most successful, nerve-racking and productive” in its 14-year history.
Jeana Medina, a Bisbee’s employee, went a step further.
“Humongous, unbelievable . . . I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said. “But then I’ve never been there. This is my first one.”
It was also Joe (Rocky) Gentile’s first tournament, a profitable one at that. Gentile, a Chatsworth resident fishing aboard the Picante, landed the biggest fish the tournament has ever produced--a 993-pound blue marlin that took only 25 minutes to boat--on the first day last Thursday. The fish earned his team--one of 135 in the event--$321,510 in prize money and, for being the first fish weighing more than 750 pounds, a $280,000 boat.
Considering that only a few fish that size have ever been caught off Land’s End, Gentile’s was considered a sure winner until it was learned that a few miles offshore, an angler aboard the Juanita VII was battling one estimated at more than 1,000 pounds.
But at dusk, 10 hours into the fight, his fish broke free.
Said Pisces Fleet owner Tracy Ehrenberg: “It was rumored that you could hear the anglers crying from the Solmar (Hotel) beach.”
They weren’t the only ones. A team aboard the Jonathan IV brought a large marlin to the boat, but the crew accidentally backed over it, mutilating the fish and disqualifying it, costing the team a chance at some of the more than $1 million in prize money.
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In the name of conservation, only marlin of 300 pounds or more qualified for the tournament. And only 19--17 blues and two blacks--met that requirement. More than 100 were released. And although 19 marlin died so a few fishermen could profit, they at least played a part in raising $40,600 for charities and giving a much-needed boost to the Cabo economy.
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A baby tiger shark was caught off the Manhattan Beach Pier late last Thursday night--the second in six weeks. That would seem to indicate that there are more of the little beasts around.
This, of course, brings up a troubling question: Are their mothers, which can measure 25 feet and bite a swimmer in half, still around?
Probably not, considering that tiger sharks--commonly found in sub-tropical and tropical seas--prefer water temperatures well above the low 60s currently off our coast.
Jeff Seigel, an ichthyologist and shark expert at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, said it was possible that the mothers “pupped” off the Southern California coast during last year’s El Nino or this summer--when temperatures were slightly above normal--and moved out when the water cooled.
“You would think the young sharks would be trying to find warmer water, too,” Seigel said. “Maybe that’s why they’re staying in the shallows and being caught from the pier.”
Both sharks were about three feet long.
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The lowly buzzard?
No bird has ever flown higher, says Outside magazine, citing an incident more than 20 years ago, when a vulture collided with a commercial jet at 37,000 feet over Africa’s Ivory Coast.
Experts said the bird probably got caught in a strong updraft and froze to death in the icy heavens.
Perhaps, Outside’s Patrick Clinton says, but “whether he was a visionary or just a frozen ball of feathers tossed in the path of destiny, he still got there.”
Some birds do actually fly above the clouds. In 1967, 30 whooper swans were spotted by a pilot flying at 27,000 feet off western Scotland. A mallard was recorded at 21,000 feet over Nevada in 1962.
Avoiding duck hunters, no doubt.
Briefly
SALTWATER--The Oceanside and San Diego fleets continue to find large schools of tuna south of the border. Anglers are averaging about three fish per rod, with yellowfin in the 10- to 25-pound class making up most of the catch. Farther down the Baja coast, there is an abundance of tuna--and other fish. The American Angler returned from a 10-day trip Tuesday with 390 yellowfin, 156 dorado, 50 yellowtail, 32 wahoo, 25 marlin (16 released) and four sailfish. All the way down, off Cabo San Lucas, billfish remain the focus of attention, in large part because this is tournament time. But anglers can’t help but notice the dorado. The colorful dolphins are striking feathers up and down both sides of the peninsula.
FRESHWATER--The 61.8-pound catfish pulled from Irvine Lake by Westminster’s Le Hai last week was determined by biologists to be a blue catfish and thus it becomes a new state record. The previous record was a 59.4-pounder also caught at Irvine, in 1987.
HUNTING--A drawing for two new pheasant hunts in the San Joaquin Valley will be held Nov. 9. The hunts--at the state’s Los Banos Wildlife Area and near Merced on the weekends of Nov. 19-20 and 26-27--are geared for the family. If a hunter is drawn, he or she may take a family member along. Details: (209) 222-3761.
