OUTDOOR NOTES / RICH ROBERTS : Not All Is Perfect for Sportfishermen

The blessings of El Nino were considerable, but they didn’t solve the problems of the sportfishing industry in Southern California.

When the last yellowfin tuna and dorado are tallied, the barge and boat operators who survived the lean times to reap the bounty of 1992 will still be dealing with fish-stealing sea lions and an unwanted enforcement role pressed upon them by a new state law.

Starting New Year’s Day, they must check their customers for fishing licenses as part of a statewide effort by the California Department of Fish and Game to increase compliance.

“We’ve been penalized for being so visible,” said Bob Fletcher, a former DFG deputy director who is president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California. “The fact is, 80% to 85% of our customers are already in compliance, while Fish and Game’s own surveys indicate that the statewide average is less than 50%.”

In other words, it’s the freshwater fishermen who aren’t buying licenses, allowing the saltwater anglers to carry the load.

The sea lion problem “is going to get nothing but worse,” Fletcher said, but there is hope. SAC has an offer of assistance from the Hubbs/Sea World Research Institute to develop non-lethal means of control, such as acoustical devices and taste aversion experiments that could condition the creatures not to eat fish around fishing boats.

Also, the National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed changes in federal law to specify marine mammals that do and don’t need protection. Clearly, the fishermen believe sea lions don’t, judging by their numbers.

“We’d like to coexist with the sea lion and still make a living,” Fletcher says.

El Nino brought the best offshore fishing since 1983 “and the best dorado bite ever,” Fletcher said.

Boat owners were able to pay off debts from 1991, their worst year in memory, but El Nino is over. Now it’s back to relying on the albacore, which vanished in ’92 but should return with cooler water in ’93 at above-average sizes of 18 to 20 pounds after a year of growing in the northern Pacific.

“What we need,” Fletcher said, “is some decent local fishing as soon as we can get it.”

Briefly

SHOWTIME--A Southland tradition, the 28th annual Anaheim Sports, Vacation and RV Show opens a nine-day run Friday at the Anaheim Convention Center on the south side of Disneyland. Although the focus is on the outdoors, all 800 exhibits are indoors. They include new products, active but low-cost family vacations, exotic getaways, seminars on wildlife photography, RV maintenance, field kitchen camping and other subjects, plus casting demonstrations. Hours: noon-10 p.m. Saturdays, noon-6 p.m. Sundays, 2-10 p.m. weekdays. Admission: adults $6.95, ages 6-15 $2.25, under 6 free, and seniors $5 on weekdays.

WHALE WATCHING--Redondo Sport Fishing and Sea Landing in Santa Barbara started their annual tours this week. Redondo offers weekday trips at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for $8 a person, a two-for-the-price-of-one rate on weekday afternoons and a $6 rate with groups of 10 or more. Weekends at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. are $11 for adults, $8 for children under 12, with $8 rates for people in groups of 20 or more on morning trips only. Details: (310) 372-2111. Sea Landing offers all-day trips on Capt. Fred Benko’s 88-foot Condor into the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary to see not only whales but dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions. The boat will go inside the Painted Cave--the world’s largest sea cave--on the north shore of Santa Cruz Island. Cost: $55 for adults, $30 for children 12 and under. Details: (805) 965-1985.

MEXICAN FISHING--Cabo San Lucas: Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters assessed the year as producing “more blue marlin than we’d ever seen,” including a late-season catch of 528 pounds the day before Christmas by Richard Bailey of Seattle, aboard the Galeon. Roger Lamberson of San Diego got a 345-pound hammerhead shark. Striped marlin still haven’t arrived in the usual numbers. Overall, boats took 2,336 billfish, releasing 766, for an average of 1.4 per boat per day. There was a total of 6,664 fish caught for an average of 3.95 per boat per day. . . . San Diego long-range: The last trip of the year--17 days on Capt. Steve Loomis’ Royal Polaris--continued to produce big yellowfin tuna, topped by a 347.1-pound catch by Ron Nakamura of Garden Grove and 301 by Frank Matsuhara of Gardena. There were several others over 250.

HUNTING--Hubert Thummler of Mexico City has been awarded the Weatherby Big Game Trophy for 1992 in recognition of his prowess and conservation efforts on six continents. . . . The higher waterfowl counts at the California Department of Fish and Game’s Imperial Wildlife Area at Niland include what manager Cris Gonzales calls “the largest number of Canada geese I can remember hunters taking here in a long time.” The shooting stops Jan. 10. . . . Sixty duck hunters at Lake Barrett near San Diego last week averaged slightly fewer than two ducks, with five limits. The bag was a little less for 24 hunters at Otay, with six limits.

FRESHWATER FISHING--Arizona is offering a four-month non-resident license for $22, plus a $4 two-pole stamp for anglers wishing to use two rods at once. . . . The Pasadena Casting Club will start its annual seven-week fly-tying course next Tuesday, 7 p.m., at the clubhouse. A fee of $45 will include materials and textbook, but students must provide their own tools. Details: (714) 599-6319.

NOTEWORTHY--Fly Rod & Reel magazine reports that fly-fishing expert Lani Waller continues to recuperate from injuries he suffered when a float plane crashed at Alaska’s Bristol Bay Lodge last September. Waller, 52, was the only survivor among four on the plane, including the pilot. Despite a broken arm, leg and jaw, he pulled himself out of the plane and swam 12 feet to shore. . . . Wild game is healthier than domestic meat, advocates claim. A new cookbook, “Variety With Venison and Other Wild Game,” tells how to cook it. Price: $7.95. Information: (800) 626-4217. . . . People in the Salt Lake City area are invited to try the horse-drawn sleigh rides to view wildlife at the state-operated Hardware Ranch. Details: (800) 245-3131.