You Had to Be in Cabo San Lucas to Believe Billfish Catch

If Southern California marlin fishermen are so crazy about Cabo San Lucas, where have they been the last week or so?

Judging from reports filtering in from various landings at Land’s End, Southlanders have suddenly become lousy fishermen or have gone elsewhere in pursuit of billfish.

In any case, they have been missing some of the wildest times the briny Baja blue has ever served up.

Not only have striped marlin reappeared after more than a month’s absence, they have done so in a ravenous mood.

And not only are broadbill swordfish--among the wariest, most powerful fish--still hanging around, they seem to have increased in numbers and are putting on a show.

“We are having the wildest week on the swordfish that I have ever seen in recent Cabo history,” Tracy Ehrenberg, owner of the Pisces Fleet, said the other day. “I hope the fishing world is paying attention, because something very unusual is happening here.”

That is, fishing couldn’t be more explosive if anglers were trolling dynamite.

A sampling from the latest Pisces report:

--”We had three anglers from New Jersey that fished Saturday and Sunday on Rebecca, and they released 10 striped marlin as well as boating nine nice dorado. Not bad for two days of fishing.

--”On March 12, Glenda Thomas of Dodge City, Kan., boated a 180-pound [swordfish] aboard Andalaya and Alton Williams from Frenso captured a 150-pounder on Dorado III.”

--”Pisces boats landed two swords on March 13, the first aboard Rebecca that weighed 185 pounds. These lucky anglers also released a striped marlin and boated two 30-pound-plus dorado. The second [swordfish] was on the Ruthless, weighing in at 210 pounds, caught by Jim ‘Simo’ Simington of Hawaii.

“Ruthless went on to fight a huge sword the next day, which was estimated at 600 pounds, but was disappointingly lost at gaff. March 14 saw four swordfish making it back to the dock weighing 165 pounds and 180 pounds, by Dick Bernard from Las Vegas, and [a 210-pounder] by angler Robert Lavis from Austin, Texas, and [a 215-pounder] by Gordon Walk, from Ceres, Calif.”

Similar reports have been coming from Jeff Klassen’s office at Los Cabos Fishing Center:

--”John Davis from Campbell River, B.C., had five marlin, one on his 20-pound salmon outfit, which broke in half at the boat. His fishing partner that day, Fred Latour from Missoula, Mont., had four of them on the Rosalita, all in one day.”

--”Another mega-fish day went to Chris Justice and Rodney Pullman from Orem, Utah, who released nine marlin fishing the Angelina with [Capt.] Jose.”

And, it seems, not all Southlanders have been missing the action. From the Gaviota fleet comes word of Al Pacheco of Coronado, Calif., catching and releasing three stripers in one day aboard the Gaviota VII.

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The reason most of the recent catches were by people from faraway places, probably, is that they don’t have the steady flow of information coming out of Baja that Southern Californians do.

In other words, they didn’t know enough to stay away.

Serious fishermen from these parts had apparently lost interest in Cabo San Lucas, at least temporarily, after reading reports, week after week, telling of terrible fishing in water as unseasonably cold and green as the Santa Monica Bay.

The baitfish had fled to more productive waters and with them, naturally, went the marlin.

Swordfish, which prefer slightly cooler water than marlin, had filtered into the region, presumably to feed on an abundance of jumbo squid in the area. An occasional broadbill was being hooked, providing lots of excitement, but nobody could count on hooking one.

And then suddenly, in a period of about two days, conditions changed dramatically, “as if somebody flipped a switch,” Klassen said.

The dull, green sea gave way to beautiful blue. In came the baitfish, followed by waves of striped marlin. Surprisingly, the swordfish not only remained but seemed to be joined by more.

“Swordfish do prefer cooler water than marlin, but fishermen, up here anyway, generally find them along the blue-green break,” said Dave Holts, a billfish expert with the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla. “They’re usually found in the blue water, but they’re certainly not afraid to go into the green water, particularly if there is squid in there, because that is one of their chief prey items.”

The good news is, with conditions returning to normal, the marlin figure to stick around.

The bad news, for those hoping for the rare opportunity to hook and possibly land a swordfish, is that although bands of green water still exist in some areas offshore, they are slowly dissipating and the ocean is slowly warming, which means the swordfish could high-tail it out of the region.

Meanwhile, everyone seems to be taking advantage of their presence.

Said Baja Anglers, a fly-fishing publication: “Swordfish are the baddest of all billfish, with the mako shark and man as their only known enemies. To the best of our knowledge, nobody has ever taken a swordfish on a fly rod, so this is your best opportunity to blaze a trail.”

SALMON CIRCUS

Those wondering how popular this seasonal visitor from the north is had only to check out the line of cars and trucks, boats in tow, snaking out onto Harbor Boulevard outside Ventura Harbor in the hours before dawn Saturday.

By the time the sun began lighting the sky, marking the beginning of salmon season, hundreds of eager fishermen were making their way out to the fishing grounds a mile or so offshore.

“There had to be 1,000 boats out there, at least 500,” said Louie Abbott, owner of Harbor Village Sportfishing. The same scenario unfolded in the Santa Barbara area.

And if opening weekend success is any indication, these ought to be a productive few months.

“It was an excellent opener,” Abbott said. “Particularly for the small boaters. All of them had fish averaging between about 10 and 18 pounds, I’d say one to four fish per boat for most, and maybe more for others.

“We did pretty good too. The Lenbrook had 28 people and they caught 10 salmon. The Tracer had eight people and 10 salmon. Our six-pack boat, Pacifica, had six anglers and five salmon. Not bad at all.”

AROUND THE SOUTHLAND

Bob Kahn’s seminar on medical emergencies at sea will be held Thursday at the Del Rey Yacht Club, starting at 6:30 p.m. Kahn is a practicing physician, a clinical professor at UCLA and an experienced sailor. Details: (310) 271-2703.