Fish Overboard!

There’s something about a barracuda bite that brings out the best in fishermen.

On second thought, there’s something about a barracuda bite that brings out the beast in fishermen.

Take the other day aboard the Southern Cal, a popular half-day boat running out of Long Beach Sportfishing.

The passengers were civil enough on the way to the fishing grounds, arguing the strengths and weaknesses of the Lakers over cups of coffee, discussing previous angling conquests while rigging their gear, or merely basking in the morning sunshine, watching freighters go by.

But as soon as skipper Arnie Searing informed them there was a large school of fish beneath the boat, nothing else seemed to matter and chaos ensued.

Large iron lures whizzed out over the ocean in all directions, raining down on its choppy surface and dropping like depth charges before the fishermen began their brisk retrieves.

And with each hookup came a maniacal yell and an even faster retrieve.

“Don’t pump and reel, just put your rod against the rail and coffee-grind him in,” deckhand Ryan Carino told one of the passengers.

He chose to play his fish instead and eventually got it to the boat, whereupon he started acting more like the rest of the passengers, “bouncing” his fish over the rail with a hearty cry, hastily unhooking the slender game fish and leaving it to flop on the deck while casting again to catch another.

“The big thrill is the strike,” Searing explained from the wheelhouse, monitoring his electronics to make sure he was still over the school of fish. “Getting them to strike the iron is what it’s all about.”

Indeed, to a serious barracuda fisherman, using light line to get the most out of the fight is never part of the plan. Getting the fish onto the boat, in as fast and macho a fashion as possible, and being the first to fill a 10-fish limit, is what this game is all about.

“First, it’s something you can do with a barracuda because it’s long and slender and it’ll go through the water like a torpedo,” said Philip Friedman, a Torrance fisherman, after launching his third or fourth silver torpedo over the rail. “It’s so thrilling to get that first strike that you want to get that fish onto the deck and get out and get another strike.

“Plus, with barracuda, you usually get them in flurries and have about a 15- to 20-minute window before the bite dies and the [skipper] has to go find another school. So if you play your fish and goof off, you may not get your limit.”

Friedman, owner and voice of the 976-TUNA fishing information hotline, said his lines have been lighting up in recent weeks as fishermen have been wondering when and where the “gar” were going to show.

So nicknamed because of their elongated profile, their canine teeth and protruding lower jaw, the “gar,” or barracuda, have indeed showed en masse off the L.A. and Orange County coast.

And with their arrival, a different breed of fisherman also has surfaced, one that can be very intimidating to the run-of-the-mill angler seeking a relaxing day on the water.

“Barracuda bring the fishermen who like to fish, and by that I mean casting jigs and feathers and not just using a sinker and dropping a bait to the bottom to catch something for the table,” said Don Ashley, owner of Long Beach Sportfishing.

“The barracuda also brings out the adrenaline that you see during an albacore bite. It brings out their animal instincts.”

It seems to have the same effect on marine mammals.

California sea lions, every skipper’s worst enemy, seemed to dog the Southern Cal wherever it went the other day, often stealing five-pound barracuda right from the anglers’ hooks.

“This year has been really bad so far,” Searing said of the sea lion problem, explaining that the haul of 137 barracuda easily could have been larger. “We get into schools of fish like this, normally we sink the boat [with heavy loads] and we’re fat and happy. We just have a really bad fur problem here.”

That, it seems, is a story for another day.

MAD ABOUT MARLIN

Grant Hartman, a conservation-minded fly-fisherman who runs the BajaAnglers fleet in Cabo San Lucas, apparently saw one too many dead marlin this past week.

A few segments from a two-page e-mail he fired off in haste to selected friends and media:

* “All you anglers who choose to fish with other services, please insist that your captains release all of the marlin and roosterfish! Let your captain know that he will not be getting a tip if he kills a marlin or roosterfish. It continues to make me sick to my stomach every time I go out and watch someone gaff and kill a marlin or roosterfish.”

* “A few captains in town will say there is no problem to releasing the fish, but when it comes time to do so they will gaff it anyway. Don’t let them get away with that! We all have to take responsibility. If the mate gets the gaff out and you think the captain is going to kill the fish, cut the line once the fish is near the boat if you have to.”

* “I have picked on the Cabo skippers and mates. Now it’s time to pick on some of the ‘sportsmen.’ You know who you are: the guy who has never caught a marlin and wants a macho picture of himself with a dead, ugly, shriveled marlin hanging on the docks. Yet, at home you will release a trout or bass without even thinking twice because [you] want to preserve [your own] fishing grounds.”

* “I used to go down to the main dock every day to get a feel of what the other captains were catching. When the marlin are in, 30 marlin on average were killed daily. That’s 210 fish a week! I stoped going down to the docks. The smell was horrible.”

Seeking a voice of reason, I sent an e-mail to Tracy Ehrenberg, owner of Pisces Sportfishing, which boasts an 87% release rate on billfish, asking if Hartman was perhaps going a bit overboard in his assessment of the situation off Cabo San Lucas, where a thriving marlin population is vital for the resort city’s economic survival.

Her response: “What Grant is saying is probably true. Not only some of the independent [fleets], but some of the largest fleets are still killing marlin.

“Many businesses try and jump on the catch-and-release bandwagon, to sell a boat [trip], but when it comes down to it, the skipper will ask to keep the fish, because they want the meat.

“However, if 30 are being killed, that’s a small percentage of what is being caught. I have figures from a government-sponsored agency in La Paz that keeps track of all the fish killed and as a whole a little over 70% are released for the Cabo fleet, where our release rate is 87%.”

Still, she suggests, if you don’t want to kill your marlin, make that doubly clear before you book your next vacation.

MONSTERS OF MIDWAY

Midway Atoll is beginning its third season since opening to the public--after 50 years of isolation--under a public-private partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Georgia-based Midway Phoenix Corp.

And for fishermen, it’s still a time of discovery.

Zeke Wigglesworth, travel editor for the San Jose Mercury News, recently caught a 70-pound ulua (giant trevally) on a fly in the sprawling lagoon, which is teeming with the powerful “GTs” and already has produced several line-class world records.

Offshore, a 750-pound mako shark and an 84-pound wahoo were caught by Midway Phoenix general manager Mike Gautreaux. The wahoo was Midway’s largest to date, but the resident barber caught an 85-pounder a day later.

David Itano, a biologist from the University of Hawaii, recently tagged and released 374 yellowfin tuna up to 100 pounds in only a week, which tells you something about the possibilities for tuna aficionados.

Midway Sportfishing can be reached at (888) 244-8582.

PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS

* George Griffith, founder of Trout Unlimited nearly 40 years ago, died recently at his Michigan home, the conservation organization announced. Griffith was 97.

“Every trout angler owes a debt of gratitude to George for his dedication to the protection of our wild trout resources,” Trout Unlimited President Charles F. Gauvin said in a news release. “At the same time, we must not forget the work he started is far from finished; trout and salmon fisheries nationwide are still at risk, and each of us has a responsibility to do his or her part.”

* This weekend’s opening round of the National Off-Road Bicycle Assn. Chevy Trucks National Championship Series at Snow Summit is going on as scheduled, despite the recent winter storm that muddied up the courses. Competition in cross-country, downhill and slalom began Thursday and will continue through Sunday. Details: (909) 866-4565.

* The Los Angeles County Fish and Game Commission is requesting volunteer “fishing buddies” for children’s events scheduled May 30 at Cerritos Lake, July 9 at Kenneth Hahn Lake in Los Angeles and Sept. 12 at La Mirada Lake. Details: (213) 974-1431.

* The 17th 552 Club Benefit Shoot (formerly the Invitational Stag Shoot), one of the Southland’s premier clay target shooting events, will be held June 10 at Pachmayr International Shooting Sports Park in El Monte. Competition is open to the public in skeet, trap and sporting clays events. Cost is $225 per shooter, with proceeds to benefit Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach. There is also a team competition. Details: (949) 574-7208.