Corday Adds Another Grand Story to His Marlin Memories

When we left Ken Corday, it was the summer of 1996. He was vacationing in Madeira, a small island 300 miles west of Morocco, living a billfish angler’s dream: battling one gigantic blue marlin after another, nine in all, including his first “grander,” an Atlantic blue estimated at 1,160 pounds.

The executive producer of NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” couldn’t have scripted a better fishing expedition: In only three days, he caught and released three blue marlins of 500 pounds or

more, three of 600 or more, two or 700 or more and, of course, the grander, which he had notched just past noon on June 26.

“Those three days were just amazing,” Corday said after returning home to Toluca Lake.

We now move to June 26, 1997. Corday is back at Madeira, back aboard the Pesca Grossa, rocking gently under a gray sky on a grease-calm sea, toasting the anniversary of that fateful day a year ago with a bottle of cheap sparkling wine.

The fishing has been anything but amazing. The fleet of six or seven boats has recorded only six catches in seven days. Corday, the lone angler on the Pesca Grossa, has tagged and released one blue marlin, a mere 550-pounder--mere by Madeira standards.

He surely isn’t expecting another grander. Serious fishermen who travel the world in pursuit of 1,000-pound billfish will tell you you’re lucky if you catch one in a lifetime.

Corday, 47, is just happy not to be stuck home watching one of his soaps, to have the means and good health to be back at this newly discovered gathering place of enormous marlin, a place many believe will soon serve up an Atlantic blue heavier than the all-tackle world-record 1,402-pound marlin caught off Brazil in 1992.

He takes notice of the time, of the fact that exactly a year has passed since he joined the elite 1,000-pound club. With Capt. Kevin Nakamaru and crew gathered around the fighting chair, a bottle of Lancers in his hands, he proposes a toast to commemorate the anniversary of his landing “the greatest fish any of us had seen.”

After the toast, as if on cue, there is a strike on the outside lure. The crew springs into action. Corday takes his place in the fighting chair. The marlin isn’t fazed by the sting of the hook. It swims in and tries to eat another lure, which is being reeled in hurriedly by crewman Steve Haygarth.

The marlin chases the lure all the way to the stern, at which time it becomes obvious that Corday has another monster on his hands. It is also obvious that the fish, a big female, has been through this before, a gaping hole in her side telling the tale of a probable previous battle in which she used her might to straighten a gaff and win her freedom.

Haygarth grabs the leader, making it an official catch, but before he can pop the lure from the mouth of this magnificent billfish, she senses the danger and makes a mad dash for freedom.

Sadly, things don’t work out in her favor. With Nakamaru constantly backing down on the marlin, Corday, his reel spooled with 130-pound test and his drag buttoned tightly to ensure a quick fight, gets it back alongside the boat in only 50 minutes.

And the struggle proves too much for the marlin, which is unable to right itself, despite help from the crew. Perhaps the gaff wound from the previous battle has weakened her. Perhaps the half-digested 50-pound white marlin in her gullet is a factor.

In any case, the decision is made to bring the marlin back to port and donate its flesh to the children’s hospital in Madeira. At the marina scale, it tops out at 1,170 pounds.

Corday can hardly believe his eyes. And he still shakes his head in disbelief every time he thinks about what he has accomplished.

“What are the chances of anyone catching a 1,000-pound marlin, let alone two, let alone two exactly a year to the day apart, almost to the exact hour?” he asks.

The chances are poor indeed, but as sure as the world turns, Corday will be back in Madeira, trying for his third grander, June 26, 1998.

GRANDE, BUT NO GRANDER

It’s no Madeira, but Cabo San Lucas has produced a few granders over the years, and one angler has already come close in this early stage of the summer season.

Ed Kilwien flew in from Courtland, Wash., and flew home with a tale to tell of a 3-hour 15-minute battle with a blue that tipped the Cabo marina scale at 910 pounds.

A 427-pounder was landed by Albuquerque’s Scott Karsten. His catch is noteworthy because it was the top fish in the annual Big Brothers-Big Sisters tournament, a charity event that raised $100,000 for the Orange County chapter of the organization.

ALBACORE GALORE, AND LOTS MORE . . .

It’s finally safe to say that everyone--from the skeptical fisherman to the logical scientist--was wrong in predicting a short albacore season.

Not only are the treasured tuna still here, despite forecasts that a warming ocean would drive them elsewhere, but there seem to be more around now than when they replaced yellowtail as the life of the party six weeks ago.

In fact, the bite is so consistent, and schools of fish are so widespread--from 200 miles south of the border well into Southland waters--that this is shaping up to be one of the best seasons in years, not only for albacore but for all the exotics.

“I’d rate this the best year I’ve ever seen [this early in the season],” says Paul Morris, 53, manager of Fisherman’s Landing in San Diego, where he has worked for 30 years.

Morris has been logging dock totals from San Diego’s three biggest landings--Fisherman’s, H & M Landing and Point Loma Sportfishing--since 1986. He points out that before he started keeping records, when albacore runs off northern Baja were as predictable as the sunrise, the season didn’t even begin until the first week of July.

Through last Monday the three fleets had already combined for 21,080 albacore, 36,773 yellowtail, 3,077 bluefin tuna, 1,708 yellowfin tuna, 94 dorado and five bigeye tuna.

The albacore catch has already eclipsed the 19,170 caught in 1989, the last decent season. And San Diego-based fishermen are fast approaching the 41,000 yellowtail mark set in 1990.

But yellowtail fishermen need only travel to the nearest landing to get their hooks into the strong-swimming jacks. They’re everywhere, from the Farnsworth Bank--site of tackle-grinding battles with 20- to 40-pounders--to Santa Monica Bay, where much smaller “firecrackers” are spicing things up for half-day boat anglers.

Add all this to the San Diego counts and the count is probably well over 50,000.

An impending El Nino, and the warm water it already seems to be pulsating our way, is being credited for sending us these exotics. And landing operators, their cash registers chiming all day long, are beside themselves.

“It’s pretty weird, man,” says Steve Phelps of Long Beach Sportfishing, echoing the sentiments of his peers.

THE HUMPBACK OF HALF-MOON BAY

A retired Pleasanton teacher got more than he bargained for while fishing for salmon recently out of Half Moon Bay.

Ron Mack and Vince Lazo were mooching for king salmon on a 22-foot Boston Whaler when a humpback whale surfaced just off their bow, nearly swamping the vessel.

“When the whale swam alongside the boat, I could have touched him,” Mack told Jerry Gandy of the Contra Costa Times.

Instead, Mack accidentally snagged it. The whale took off. As line spun from his reel, Mack did a little showing off in front of passengers on a nearby party boat, standing up and yelling, “I wish I had my 40-pound test instead of 20.”

Lazo failed to see the humor. Thinking the rod would be yanked from Mack’s hands when the line reached the end of the spool, he reached over and cut it.

The two went on to catch their limits of salmon and went home with quite a yarn to share with friends. The whale was left with all the monofilament.

TO THE HUNT . . .

To make things easier for waterfowl hunters this fall and winter, the federal migratory bird hunting stamp (duck stamp) will be sold at Department of Fish and Game offices beginning Sept. 1.

“It just doesn’t make sense to force hunters to stand in one line at the DFG for California duck stamps and another at the post office for the federal migratory stamp,” says Jacqueline Schafer, DFG director.

Sage grouse: The first of two seasons starts in September. A special permit is required and is available only by special drawing. Applications are being accepted via U.S. mail or on the Internet at https://www.dfg.ca.gov/lrb/index.html.

Applications for the northern hunts--east and central Lassen County areas, Sept. 6-7--must be received by 5 p.m. August 11. Applications for the southern hunts--north Mono and south Mono and Inyo counties, Oct. 4-5--must be received by 5 p.m. Sept. 8. For details, consult the Internet or call (916) 227-2244.

AROUND THE SOUTHLAND

Don Bullock’s Pomona arms show and sale will be held Saturday and Sunday at Fairplex Park in Pomona. Cost is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and students and $4 for children 6-12. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

More than 75 paddlers are expected to compete in the first annual Hennessey’s Cup paddleboard competition July 19. It’s a 14-mile mini-marathon from Cabrillo Beach to Torrance Beach. The race, put on by the Southern California Paddleboard Club, begins at 7 a.m. and is followed by a luau--complete with hula dancers and roast pigs--at 1 p.m. at Hennessey’s restaurant in Hermosa Beach. Cost is $60 for the race, luau and raffle. Details: (310) 316-5652.

The American Boating Jubilee, a show featuring more than 400 boats on display, will be held July 18-27 along the Shoreline Greenbelt and in the water at downtown Long Beach Marina. Cost is $7 for adults and free for children 12 and under. Hours are noon-8 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturdays, and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays.