Big Tuna Taken Near Revillagigedo Islands

Bobby Yokoi has enough tuna to feed a small army--one fish.

Yokoi, a Los Angeles angler fishing aboard the Royal Polaris on the first trip to Mexico’s Revillagigedo Islands in nearly a year, caught one of the largest fish since Mexico reopened the islands nearly two weeks ago: a 250-pound yellowfin tuna.

The largest, by an unidentified angler aboard the Qualifier Excel, is a fish estimated at 275 pounds.

Still, Royal Polaris owner Frank LoPreste said the big fish--the 300- to 400-pounders--have not yet cooperated as hoped.

“They got into a lot of tuna between 70-150 pounds, and they spent the last 2 1/2 days cutting off anything under 125 pounds (so they can fill their limits with bigger fish),” LoPreste said.

The Royal Polaris left Clarion Island on Tuesday for nearby Socorro Island because several large sharks had moved in to prey on hooked tuna. Both the Royal Polaris and Qualifier Excel reported excellent fishing for wahoo. They are due back in San Diego on Feb. 7.

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They’re not concerned about big tuna north of the Revillagigedos at Cabo San Lucas--they’re too busy with billfish.

This is shaping up as another fantastic season for striped marlin--last year the fish were caught in what were believed to be record numbers--at an area off the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula called the Golden Gate.

The Gaviota III reported five hookups and releases in one day last week, and virtually every boat is returning to the harbor flying at least one marlin flag, indicating a catch.

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Withering syndrome, a little-understood but fatal disease first detected in Southern California black abalone years ago, now is destroying red abalone.

“Green, pink and white abalone populations are really in a bad way . . . commercially they’re extinct,” DFG biologist Pete Haaker said. “And preliminary commercial red abalone landings (in 1994) indicate a decrease of about 53% from (1993).”

The mysterious disease attacks the mollusk’s “foot,” the fleshy part of the body that extends from its shell. An infected abalone eventually withers away, leaving behind an empty shell. The disease so far has primarily affected abalone at the Channel Islands and along the Southern California coast and has not spread to Central and Northern California.

To give an idea of the poor shape of abalone statewide--from pollution, over-fishing and disease--only 461,376 pounds were harvested by commercial divers in 1993. In the 1960s, annual landings often surpassed five million pounds.

Haaker said divers encountering abalone that appear sick, or loosely attached to the bottom, are asked to provide as much information as possible--the abalone species, how and where found, and other data--via fax at (310) 590-5193.

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Not everybody knows it, but the nation’s first marine sanctuary is a ship.

The ironclad USS Monitor, famous for its battle against the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack) on March 9, 1862, at Hampton Roads, Va., during the Civil War, celebrated its 20th anniversary as a marine sanctuary on Monday.

The ship, constructed in response to reports that the Confederates were building the ironclad Virginia, was built in about 100 days. Ten days after its historic and successful battle against the Virginia, the Monitor sank during a fierce storm and came to rest in 230 feet of water 16 miles off Cape Hatteras, N.C.

It wasn’t found until 1973, more coral-clad than ironclad. The oldest of 12 national marine sanctuaries has become a haven for amberjacks, manta rays, eels and anemones.

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Instruction: Sav-on Tackle in Santa Fe Springs is offering a free seminar on fishing for shallow-water rock cod and rockfish Friday at 6 p.m. . . . A class on offshore game fishing is being offered at Glendale Community College on Wednesday nights from 7-9 beginning Feb. 8. The instructor is Al Zapanta. Details: (818) 548-0864. . . . Gary Tomovich is teaching an “Introduction to Fly Fishing” class for Classes Unlimited in South Pasadena on Feb. 14 and Feb. 21 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Details: (310) 652-9024.

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Showtime: The 39th Southern California Boat Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center begins a nine-day run Saturday. Hours are 1-9 p.m. on weekdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays.