Wild Bill Spectacular Tops Southland Marlin Roundup

You put in the time, eventually you’re rewarded. Or so the saying goes.

But 14 striped marlin in one day?

Such a feat in local waters is almost unbelievable. In fact, it probably would be were it not for the reputation of the fishermen who accomplished it last Saturday off San Clemente Island, or for the dozens of witnesses who watched in awe as it was happening.

“Catching two makes for a good day; catching three makes it special. To catch 14 is simply unheard of,” says Stan Ecklund Jr., in a report on his Web site, https://www.marlinnut.com.

In southern Baja it isn’t, but in Southern California it certainly is--or was.

“We just thought we were due,” says Bill Kingsmill, nonchalantly.

Kingsmill, 56, is owner and captain of the 36-foot sportfisher Wild Bill, which runs out of Dana Point. With him were his son, Jim, and Dave Herrera and Brian Schultz, all from the San Clemente area and all but Schultz die-hard anglers of considerable repute.

Team Kingsmill, as it is called, spends most of its summer weekends in the bluest water it can find, searching for signs of life but often trolling for hours over what often seems a desert ocean.

On Saturday, the desert sprang to life.

The four had anchored Friday night at San Clemente Island’s Northwest Harbor, having received a tip from Doug Daniels aboard Pescador that there had been jumpers close to the nearby Mackerel Bank.

Before first light, Wild Bill was already patrolling. In the gray light of dawn, Jim Kingsmill, 34, a detective with the Westminster Police Department, spotted five “tailers” on the surface through his gyro-stabilized binoculars, an effective and necessary tool for serious fishermen.

Once the boat was in the area, two live mackerel were cast, both were bitten and one was promptly spat out and reeled in.

“We got the bait back on one and lost the other [marlin] after a couple of jumps,” Kingsmill recalls. “At that point we looked at each other and said, ‘What’s going on?’ ”

It had been that kind of summer.

After losing the first two, Kingsmill piloted the vessel down swell and within 10 minutes they had a jig strike, and while that fish was being fought another was hooked on bait.

After those two fish were released, the lures were let out again. There were no takers, but lots of followers. Two more baits were cast, and two more hookups ensued.

“Basically, we were hooked up the rest of the day,” Kingsmill says, adding that during one 3 1/2-hour battle, on 20-pound test line, between Herrera and a marlin estimated at 180-plus pounds, three other fish were hooked, two of them landed and one “sawed off” by a nearby vessel.

The marlin ranged from about 120 to 190 pounds.

“Then,” Kingsmill says, “at the end of day I was sitting there, running the boat and I said, ‘Time out!’ I hadn’t caught a fish yet because I had been running the boat all day.

“Well, within five minutes we spotted a bird fluttering over something and I threw a bait and released my marlin after about 30 minutes.”

That was No. 14. The next-highest score--by mid-morning several boats were on the scene--was three marlin aboard No Excuses.

Says Ecklund: “In a lot of ways, these guys aboard Wild Bill are like Tiger Woods. Most of us are just going for second.”

*

Second to nobody in a recent catch-and-release tournament off Kona, on the big island of Hawaii, was Team Humdinger, with noted captain Jeff Fay at the controls and Bakersfield’s Jerry Scotton in the fighting chair.

Scotton enjoyed one of the best days of his life, catching five blue marlin in one day--including a 720-pounder--to rout the field.

Ken Corday, producer of the soap, “Days of Our Lives,” sponsors the tournament every year to promote catch-and-release.

He told West Hawaii Today, “It was like pitching a shutout and hitting a grand slam home run in the same inning to blow everyone away.”

KINGS OF THE HILL

If you’re traveling to the Eastern Sierra this weekend, you might want to know that the five-member U.S. Olympic mountain bike team will be at Mammoth Mountain competing in the Chevy Trucks NORBA Championship Series finals.

Sydney-bound riders Alison Dunlap, Ruthie Matthes, Ann Trombley, Travis Brown and Tinker Juarez, making their last U.S. stop, will compete in cross-country, the Olympic discipline, today. Some might also compete in the short-track cross-country criterium-style event. A few international Olympians also will be on hand.

The four-day event also features downhill, hill climb and dual slalom competition. Details: (800) 626-6684.

GAME FOR THE GAMES

The pronghorn antelope of Arizona’s grasslands won’t win any medals, but they’ll be stars in their own right during the Sydney Games.

The four-legged speedsters will be featured on Australian television, during the Olympics, on a program titled “Animal Olympians: Gold Medalists of the Animal Kingdom.”

The program, expected to be picked up internationally by other stations, including National Geographic Explorer, compares the feats of human Olympic athletes to those of several wild beasts “in their daily quest for food and survival.”

Arizona Game and Fish Department biologist Richard Ockenfels, who worked with the Australian film crews, noted in a recent news release that although Olympic sprinter Donovan Bailey has been clocked at 23 mph, pronghorn antelope and cheetahs can reach 60 mph in a 100-meter dash.

“The fastest humans might clock 9.8 to 9.9 in the 100-meter dash [at Sydney], but pronghorn do it in under four seconds,” Ockenfels said. “That’s really amazing when you think about it, and antelope do it routinely, often over broken country rather than on a nice, smooth race track.”

QUICK CASTS

* Sailfish: There were the billfish bonanzas featured above, and there is the one in progress off the west coast of Costa Rica. “Skippers with 20 years experience in Quepos and Golfito waters on the central and southern [west] coast say they have never seen anything like the action there at this time in those areas,” reports Jerry Ruhlow of Costa Rica Outdoors. Ruhlow adds that fishermen are releasing up to 20 sailfish and a few marlin every day. Ruhlow can be reached via e-mail at jruhlow@sol.racsa.co.cr.

* Albacore: The Southland bite is all but over, but the Central and Northern California bites are just getting underway. Virg’s Landing in Morro Bay reports increased action this week, with the daily catch averaging two per rod and with fish to 45 pounds. There are some larger bluefin mixed with the longfins. Virg’s can be reached at (800) 762-5263.

* Bears: The National Park Service reports that a public awareness program aimed at keeping bears in the wild by keeping human food beyond their reach at Yosemite National Park is paying off. Officials say that, through mid-August, property damage caused by black bears--mostly car break-ins--totaled $81,580, compared to $140,000 through the same period in 1999.

* Hunting: With fall and winter seasons approaching, the California Department of Fish and Game, through its Game Bird Heritage Program, is announcing a series of special pheasant and quail hunts, free of charge, geared largely toward women, children and families. Dates, applications and deadline information can be obtained by calling (559) 243-4005, Ext. 132 or 133.

* Hunters: License sales rebounded nationally in 1999, topping 15 million for the first time since 1996, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Hunters bought 15,143,375 licenses in 1999, an increase of 251,520 (or 1.7%) over the previous year. California’s numbers dropped, however, from 316,815 in 1998 to 309,236 last year.

* Mountain biking: The Mountain Dew National Championships will be held at Mountain High Resort in Wrightwood Sept. 16-17. It’s the final stop of the Vans Triple Crown of BMX and it should be a hit for spectators. Eight riders at a time will race down a course featuring triple jumps, table tops, rhythm sections and high, banked turns. Details: (760) 249-5808.

WINDING UP

Clarence P. Calhoun, a 25-year member of the Sierra Pacific Fly Fishers and a noted tier of flies, died Monday after suffering a heart attack. He was 83. Calhoun is survived by wife Edith, sons John, Jeff and Kevin, daughter LaVonne and three grandchildren. Services will be held Saturday at Hope Christian Church in Northridge. Expressions of sympathy can be mailed to Edith Calhoun at 7357 Jumilla Ave., Canoga Park, 91306.