Many Happy Returns for These Fishing Boats

If catching a marlin is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as many consider it to be, then four anglers from Minnesota can get skunked from now till eternity and still consider themselves among the luckiest anglers around.

Or at least in Minnesota.

Harvey Lovejoy and three friends from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, aboard the Tracy Ann of the Pisces Fleet, recently caught and released nine striped marlin in one day off Cabo San Lucas--and were back at the docks by 12:30 p.m.

This kind of fishing is unusually good even by Cabo standards.

“It’s the best striped marlin bite we’ve had in years,” said Tracy Ehrenberg, who with her husband, Marco, owns the popular Pisces Fleet.

Since the Lovejoy bonanza Feb. 9, the billfish activity has ranged from fun to furious, with very few boats returning skunked and many coming in flying three to five marlin flags.

What has made the fishing even more phenomenal is the proximity of the marlin: as close as half a mile offshore, though most of the action is taking place two or three miles out.

Arm-weary anglers are coming in so early, they don’t know what to do with the rest of the day. Well, some have a pretty good idea.

“I talked with a guy who couldn’t remember the name of his boat, captain or probably his own name or where he was, who claimed to land six before 10 a.m.,” said Jeff Klassen, a noted Cabo surf fisherman. “There must have been some bad tequila floating around this week as most of the people I talked to couldn’t remember their boat names or captains.”

Roberto Castro, Gaviota Fleet owner, told fleet representative Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters in Lemon Grove that the marlin are so plentiful that they’ve actually become pests for those seeking to pack ice chests with fillets of tastier game fish.

“You can’t get past the marlin to catch a tuna or dorado,” Castro said. “Larry, it’s just like the old days . . . with fish everywhere, all directions, but we are very slow on anglers and people in Cabo.”

Yet, apparently, plenty high on spirits.

RISKY BUSINESS

This e-mail was delivered Wednesday morning by Bill Sharp, contest director for the K2 Big Wave Challenge, which is offering $50,000 to the surfer who rides the biggest wave this season:

“Monday’s surf at Todos Santos [Island, off Ensenada] for the ISA Reef contest may have been the biggest waves ever ridden on the West Coast.

“Taylor Knox’s epic wave may be close to 50 feet on the face. (The photos are unspeakable.) Peter Mel [who had previously caught what was believed to be the biggest wave at Mavericks], watching from a boat, just shook his head and said, ‘There goes fifty grand. . . .’

“Naturally, there’s no end to the classic tales that day.

“And now comes word from [photographer] Rob Brown that [Wednesday’s] surf was just as big with Evan Slater and Dan Malloy catching beasts on par with Knox’s. And get this, the session was delayed for two hours while the boys waited for a 20-foot shark to leave the lineup.”

Classic tales indeed.

PASS THE DRAMAMINE

The whale-watching season is half over and most of the big lugs are already enjoying the warmth and company of other whales in Baja’s sprawling lagoons, though there are still some southbound stragglers and even a few northbound grays that can’t wait to get home.

It has been a rocky season, with El Nino whipping up the ocean enough to force cancellation of several trips up and down the coast. Boats that have gone out on rough days have encountered plenty of whales, but passengers were too queasy to enjoy themselves.

High and dry on the Palos Verdes peninsula, however, whale-watchers have had a wonderful time watching the goings on beneath and beyond the platform of the Point Vicente Interpretive Center.

As of Wednesday morning, volunteers for the American Cetacean Society’s census project had counted 1,189 southbound and 131 northbound grays. The southbound count at this point is the most since 1986-87, when 1,231 were logged.

More noteworthy, though, is the record number of southbound cow-calf pairs this season: 106, which represents about 9% of all whales spotted. Last season only 44 southbound cow-calf pairs were spotted.

The reason for the increase, many believe, is that the Bering Sea stayed warmer longer this season--thanks to El Nino--which caused many whales to stay put longer than they normally do.

This hasn’t been an ideal situation for pregnant females and their calves, which lack the blubber to stay warm and the strength to survive an often stormy sea. A dozen baby grays have washed up on California beaches, well above the norm, and many more probably perished at sea.

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, who runs the census project, said the second half of the season, which starts peaking in mid-March, ought to be at least as good as the first half, as northbound mother-calf pairs typically stick even closer to shore as they pass by the peninsula.

Those interested in spotting whales for the project merely have to show with a pair of binoculars and introduce themselves to whomever happens to be there that day. For directions: (310) 377-5370.

THE CHUM LINE

Noted fisherman-author Charlie Davis of Huntington Beach reports that R.T. “Dick” Shaver, one of the last of the “old gang” of skippers from the days of Pierpoint Landing, died recently at his Reno home after a long illness. He was 70. . . . Cabo San Lucas anglers are experiencing a phenomenal marlin bite, but so are East Cape anglers 60 miles to the north--when the wind isn’t blowing. Top boats are reporting up to five marlin per day, according to a spokeswoman for Hotel Palmas de Cortez. Trouble is, northerly winds have been raging over the region practically every day, forcing the fleet in by 10 a.m. The windy period generally ends in late February or early March.