Outdoors, action and adventure

Alaska Airlines to stop distributing prayer cards to passengers

Frequent travelers who either appreciated or were offended by Alaska Airlines' practice of distributing prayer cards to passengers will be displeased, or happy, to learn that the 30-year practice will end on Feb. 1.

For the last six years, only first-class passengers were presented with the paper cards, usually at meal time.

A Seattle Times story states that Alaska Air Group CEO Bill Ayer, and Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden, delivered this email Wednesday to regular customers:

"This difficult decision was not made lightly. Some of you enjoy the cards and associate them with our service. At the same time, we've heard from many of you who believe religion is inappropriate on an airplane, and some are offended when we hand out the cards."

The email also contained this passage: "Our priority at Alaska is to fly our passengers to their destinations safely, on time and with their bags."

The airline began passing out prayer cards in the 1970s in an effort, an Alaska spokesman once told the Christian Post, to "fancy up the meal service since many folks like to give thanks before a meal."

Cabo San Lucas tournament marlin nets team $1.1 million

A 395-pound blue marlin caught on the first day of the Bisbee's Black & Blue marlin tournament off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, was not the heaviest of the event, but it was worth more than $1.1 million.

Local angler Luis Liera was credited with the catch aboard Tiger Spirit, owned by Ned Wallace of Newport Beach, Calif. It was second in weight to a 409-pound blue caught the same day aboard Bad Medicine, but Tiger Spirit had entered more daily jackpots and claimed more than half of a total purse worth $2,173,955.

"We've been fishing the Black & Blue since 1993," Wallace said Sunday. "We've placed in the money three of the last four years, but this is our biggest fish yet. I keep the boat here in Cabo and all of our success is due to my crew. They're local boys and they really know what they're doing out there."

The Black & Blue, which is the world's richest sportfishing tournament, began last Wednesday and winners were announced during a banquet on Saturday night. Tiger Spirit earned $1,162,842.50; it was the event's first $1-million payout since Hang 'em High won $2-plus million in 2008.

Tiger Spirit was skippered by a local captain, Sergio Cota, who earned a 10% share of the team's winnings.

Team Bad Medicine won $394,090 and Pegasus was third with a 329-pound blue marlin worth $283,752.50.

The competition featured 100 teams and 529 anglers from around the world. Only marlin weighing 300 pounds or more were allowed to be killed. Teams bringing in underweight marlin were penalized.

In all, 122 billfish were caught and only seven were brought in and weighed.  Of the seven three weighed less than 300 pounds. The billfish breakdown: 56 blue marlin, 52 striped marlin, 12 sailfish and two black marlin.

-- Image shows team Tiger Spirit, and some local eye candy, posing with its million-dollar marlin

Cabo San Lucas waters yield 746-pound marlin a day before start of big-money tournament

A 746-pound blue marlin was pulled from the waters off Cabo San Lucas on Tuesday, a day before the annual big-money Bisbee's Black & Blue marlin tournament was set to begin.

The massive billfish, which died less than an hour into the fight, was caught aboard the Tracy Ann out of Pisces Sportfishing.

Had the same fish been caught during the Bisbee's event, which is billed as the world's richest billfish tournament, it could have been worth a few million dollars.

According to the Pisces blog, the marlin was hooked less than two miles offshore on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula. A more specific location was withheld, presumably, because of the impending three-day tournament and a desire to keep top fishing locations secret.

Florida anglers Patrick Neville, his wife Jean, and Thomas Heinz and his wife Penny were credited with the catch. The 31-foot Tracy Ann is captained by popular skipper Julio Castro. 

It took nearly two hours to raise the marlin after it had sounded and perished. Oddly, the marlin lacked a bill.

Late last month, a significantly larger marlin was caught off Cabo San Lucas after a 28-hour fight.

The Black & Blue runs through Friday.

-- Image showing Florida anglers posing with 746-pound blue marlin caught Tuesday off Cabo San Lucas is courtest of Pisces Sportfishing

Giant marlin landed off Cabo San Lucas after 28-hour battle

Some reports stated that a blue marlin landed Sunday is the largest billfish ever caught off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, weighing an eye-popping 1,213 pounds. Others claimed the behemoth fell short of "grander" status, weighing only 972 pounds on a marina scale.

Whatever the weight of the billfish, it was an extraordinary catch, especially considering that the struggle played out for nearly 28 hours, giving this yarn a Hemingway quality that seems more like fiction than fact.

The angler credited with the catch is Richard Biehl of Traverse City, Michigan, but he had help from the crew aboard the 31-foot yacht, Go Deep, which was plying the Pacific Ocean north of the resort destination on Baja California's tip.

After an offshore marathon that began Saturday morning at 8:20 and ended close to noon Sunday, those aboard the yacht either resembled or felt like very old men of the sea.

"That was the hardest thing I ever did in my life by far," Biehl told Pisces Sportfishing general manager Tracy Ehrenberg, who on Monday evening published the first detailed account of the remarkable episode. "I’ve shot bull moose and trekked out with 200 pounds on my back and it doesn’t even compare."

Nobody knew what was in store when the marlin attacked a trolled lure at what is known as the 95 Spot, and sped toward the horizon. They were targeting much smaller striped marlin and using only 60-pound-test line -- far too light for giant blue marlin.

When the great billfish first jumped, about 400 feet from the boat, the crew guessed its weight to be about 700 pounds.

Word of the catch didn't spread until Monday, when many in town and in the billfishing community considered the catch to be a rumor. Then photos and sparse details began to appear on Facebook. One photo showed the weight at 972 pounds, but that did not tell the story.

Ehrenberg on Monday afternoon interviewed Capt. Luis Abaroa and his crew, and briefly spoke with Biehl. (Efforts to reach Biehl for this story, via cellphone, were unsuccessful.)

Abaroa told Ehrenberg that the marlin registered only 972 pounds because the hook of the electronic scale used to weigh the fish was not high enough for all of the fish to clear the ground, so a time-tested measurement formula -- using length and girth -- was used to determine the 1,213 pounds. The marlin measured 137 inches long, or 11.4 feet, not counting its bill or tail. It was 75 inches, or 6.25 feet around.

Weight records for marlin caught off Cabo San Lucas are not kept officially, but an 1,111-pounder caught in the 1980s is believed to be the heaviest.

More recently, in this era of high-speed reels and other technological advancements, overnight struggles with giant billfish have become increasingly rare.

Biehl, bemoaning the use of light line, fought the giant blue marlin by himself until about sunset, then  relinquished the rod to a deckhand. By then food and water had been exhausted and another vessel captained by Abaroa's brother, Frankie, was summoned via radio to deliver supplies.

The marlin leaped again, closer to the boat, as darkness fell. The weight estimate was revised upward to between 800-1,000 pounds.

A long night was fitful because to keep the line from breaking the captain and crew had to keep just enough pressure on the marlin, and constant maneuvering of the boat was necessary.

At sunrise a rejuvenated Biehl reclaimed the rod and resumed the fight. With the line and leader weakening, the crew aboard the other boat had devised a snag rig and managed to setting more hooks into the cheek of the wearying marlin.

Finally, the billfish tired and was brought alonside the boat, and according to Ehrenberg, Biehl chose to have it gaffed and brought to port. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime fish. I want to take him," he said.

Surprisingly, Biehl went fishing again Monday and caught and released a striped marlin, before himself succumbing to all he had been through by coming down with a bout of seasickness.

-- Images of giant marlin are courtesy of Go Deep Sportfishing. Top image shows angler Richard Biehl (holding rod) next to his prize catch. Click here to visit Go Deep's Facebook page

Hurricane Hilary could affect parts of Baja California

It's looking increasingly like Hurricane Hilary, which on Friday was a powerful Category 4 storm, will bring more than just large waves to Baja California Sur.

The major hurricane, which on Friday boasted sustained winds of 145 mph, is off the Pacific coast of Mexico tracking toward the west-northwest, away from land. But Hilary is expected to gradually veer more to the north beginning late Monday.

It's not clear yet what areas might be most affected by rain and swells, but if it stays on its projected path significant rainfall is likely along parts of Baja California's southwestern coast.

As for waves, Surfline is reporting that large swells generated by Hilary should begin to arrive in the Cabo San Lucas area as early as Saturday, with areas farther north along the Pacific side of the peninsula receiving an increase in surf Monday and Tuesday.

The National Hurricane Center predicts that Hilary will remain a major hurricane at least until Monday morning. On Friday there were no warnings in place, but that could change over the next few days.

-- Image shows a satellite view of Hilary early Friday morning. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project

Cabo San Lucas anglers set hooks into large tuna, marlin

Cabo San Lucas anglers are gearing up for the fall marlin tournament season, but for some big yellowfin tuna remain the draw, and there have been a few impressive catches off Land's End.

Colorado angler John David (pictured) caught a 160-pound yellowfin after a battle that lasted nearly two hours, while aboard Andrea out of Pisces Sportfishing. The tuna was hooked on a live caballito on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula, 25 miles off the Old Lighthouse.

Large tuna also are being targeted in the Sea of Cortez, with the Gordo Banks featuring fish in the 100- and 200-pound class, according to Eric Brictson, owner of Gordo Banks Pangas. Live bait or chunks of skipjack tuna are enticing some fish onto hooks.

As for marlin, there has been a noticeable spike in the presence of blue and black marlin. No huge marlin have been landed yet but three women aboard La Brisa, also of the Pisces fleet, fought an estimated 360-pound blue marlin for four hours last Thursday.

It's probably only a matter of time before the bigger marlin arrive. The tournament season begins next month.

-- Photo showing John David with 160-pound yellowfin tuna is courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

Rare catch of a tiny sailfish is made off Cabo San Lucas

A good fish story always seems to involve a monstrous catch or marathon battle, but perhaps more impressive is the catch of a truly tiny member of a big-game species.

Behold the sailfish in the accompanying photo. It was reeled in last Saturday off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, a Baja California angler's paradise known for its much larger billfish.  It's impressive because of its rarity: People simply do not catch baby billfish.

Chris Fuller, who was aboard the Petrolero, was fishing for tuna in the Sea of Cortez and using a live sardine and 40-pound-test line. After the ravenous little sailfish grabbed the five-inch bait, it performed the typical sailfish acrobatics for a very brief period before being pulled aboard, photographed and released. (Fuller is pitured above, holding his catch.)

Its weight was estimated at about three pounds and scientists, after inspecting the photo, guessed its age at about 4 months.

Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager of Pisces Sportfishing, which has been operating off Cabo San Lucas for more than 30 years, supplied the image for this story. She had heard of only one other tiny sailfish being caught, the other a slightly larger specimen in 2009.

The 2009 catch was not released. Measuring 42.1 inches and weighing nearly 3.7 pounds, it was recorded as the smallest sailfish to have been caught aboard a sportfishing boat out of the popular resort destination. Its age was determined to be 5 months.

Of the more recent specimen, Ehrengerg said, "I have never seen a billfish so small."

For the sake of comparison, the International Game Fish Assn. lists the all-tackle world record Pacific sailfish as a 221-pound specimen caught off Ecuador in 1947.

Scientists say both catches are important because they prove that the region off Cabo San Lucas -- at Baja California's tip, where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez -- is a nursery area for sailfish.

Fuller was using a circle hook, designed to catch in the corner of a fish's mouth to allow for safer releases. Said Ehrenberg on the Pisces blog: "After a brief five minutes on the line and posing for the paparazzi, the tiny sailfish was successfully released."

Perhaps in a few years it can be recaptured at a much larger size, and become one of those other types of fish stories.

-- Image showing Chris Fuller (left), deckhand Ruben Orantes and Capt. Rob Lawford posing with juvenile sailfish is courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

Hurricane Eugene strengthens off Mexico; could generate high surf in Cabo San Lucas area

Hurricane Eugene, which attained that status early Monday afternoon, brings to five the number of named hurricanes to have formed in the eastern Pacific this season.

( *Update: Eugene became a Category Three hurricane on Wednesday, with sustained winds at 125 mph.)

At 2 p.m. Eugene was located 400 miles southwest of Zihuatanejo and boasted maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is tracking to the northwest and it does not appear as though it will make landfall or pose a threat to residents on land.

If it stays on its projected path, it will steer well clear of Cabo San Lucas on the tip of Baja California, unlike its predecessor Dora. Eugene appears to be tracking far enough from Baja that the parched peninsula might not receive significant rainfall.

However, Eugene is expected to generate large waves in the Cabo San Lucas area and farther north along the peninsula's west coast, which will delight surfers. The new swell could begin to arrive as early as Wednesday and last into the weekend. Eugene is expected to remain at hurricane strength through Thursday.

-- Image is courtesy of the National Hurricane Center

Details emerge regarding capture of one-eyed 'Cyclops' shark

An albino, one-eyed shark fetus removed from a pregnant bull shark captured recently in the Sea of Cortez was one of 10 babies inside the large predator. All others were normal in color and appearance.

A story with very few details went viral during the past week, mainly because one photo (at right) revealed a white, three-foot-long shark with what appeared to be a single eye perfectly centered in its head, just above the mouth.

Skeptics abounded. One Southern California-based scientist jokingly identified the three-foot fetus as "Cycloptomus," believing the photo to be doctored and part of a hoax.

The story became more believable after Felipe Galvan, a prominent Mexican scientist, acknowledged that he had inspected the shark and had even written a paper on the discovery. The paper is under scientific review.

But on Saturday more details emerged. Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager of Pisces Sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas, interviewed the fisherman who made the catch southeast of La Paz, Mexico, the capital of Baja California Sur.

Ehrenberg said on the Pisces blog that the mother bull shark was caught on a large hook baited with ballyhoo, tethered to a line beneath a buoy fixed in place by another line anchored by a sand bag. The shark was dead when it was hauled up, long after the set was made near Cerralvo Island.

It was taken ashore and filleted, a process that revealed nine normal pups and the albino, one-eyed fetus.

"The fisherman told me that this one would have been born first, due to the position it was in -- first in line at the exit, but that he doubted that it would have survived," said Ehrenberg, who did not reveal the fisherman's name.

Shark fishing is controversial because so many species are in decline, but fishermen in coastal Baja communities know of no other livelihoods and rely on whatever bounty they can catch to provide for their families.

Said Ehrenberg, a strong proponent of marine conservation: "It's kind of sad to see a female with pups inside killed but this was taken by a commercial fishing skiff and this is how this fisherman makes his living. All parts of the shark are used, including the skin. The meat is salted and sent to mainland Mexico, where it is usually sold as bacalo or "cod."

-- Image is courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

-- PTO Facebook page

Bizarre-looking shark caught in Sea of Cortez baffles scientists

Lots of odd creatures come from the sea, and add to the list a one-eyed bull shark fetus that was removed from the body of its captured mother recently off La Paz, Mexico, in the Sea of Cortez.

A brief story about the shark is on the Pisces Sportfishing blog. Pete Thomas Outdoors shared the top image with two shark experts in California and both were skeptical at first, suggesting it was some kind of hoax.

One of them jokingly identified the species as a "Cycloptomus" because of a single eye -- if it is, in fact, an actual eye -- located just above the mouth.

But Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager at Pisces Sportfising, has been in touch with renowned shark expert Felipe Galvan, who has seen the shark and has even produced a paper on the discovery.

The paper is under scientific review. More information will be shared here when it becomes available.

-- Note: This story was updated in a separate post on July 3

-- Images are courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing, which is located in Cabo San Lucas

-- PTO Facebook page