ADRENALINE FISHING ANGLERS TARGET BIG GAME ON THE FLY.

Byline: Bill Becher Special to the Daily News

``Marlin on the teaser!''

That's the cry we've been waiting for. It means a striped marlin is after the hook-less artificial bait trolled behind the Shogun, a 92-foot long-range sport fishing boat. We're on the first day of an eight-day fly-fishing expedition off the Pacific coast of Baja California in pursuit of big-game fish.

In case the fish is a record, Norm Kagawa, our captain, takes the Shogun out of gear to conform to International Game Fish Association (IGFA) fly-fishing rules that prohibit trolling. You've got to cast to a fish to call it fly-fishing.

Mike Itskovich, a 29-year-old plumber from Brooklyn, casts his fly to the marlin streaking through the water.

``I felt a light nibble. I set the hook, and he was on,'' Itskovich said.

The marlin makes a series of spectacular leaps and then sounds as Itskovich watches the line stream off his reel.

Striped marlin aren't the biggest marlin in the ocean, but they're huge to anyone used to catching trout. The IGFA fly-fishing record is a 211-pound striped marlin caught on 20-pound tippet. Striped marlin have a tall dorsal fin and a long bill that the fish use to slash schools of baitfish.

The Shogun is carrying three Avon outboard skiffs. The crew hoists one in the water and Itskovich, still attached to the marlin, climbs on. Crew member Rik Trainer throttles up the outboard and they chase after the fish.

The marlin has stretched Itskovich's fly line backing tighter than a banjo's G-string. Fly line breaks at about 35 pounds, and 20 pounds is the maximum IGFA allowed fly-fishing leader - the section of line rigged between the fly line and the shock tippet. The shock tippet is a short length of 80-100 pound mono attached to the fly to prevent the marlin's teeth or bill from breaking the line.

But only about one-fourth of fly-hooked marlin are actually landed. The majority break off or spit the hook when they put on one of their aerial tail-walking displays that so excite big-game anglers.

After about 45 minutes Itskovich gets the marlin, affectionately called a ``Marvin'' or ``Spikeface'' by the crew, to the surface where it jumps again.

``It's an adrenaline rush. And a lactic acid rush - my legs were shaking,'' Itskovich said after his fight to land his first marlin.

The fish sounds and Itskovich works him back to the surface. He's using a 14-weight rod and a reel equipped with 600 yards of line. Freshwater trout fly-fishers generally use five-weight or less rods, so a 14 is heavy artillery, nearly the heaviest fly rod made. It's hard work, even for someone as fit at Itskovich, who was an expert-class mountain biker.

Meanwhile, on the Shogun, three more anglers hook marlin, but all break off or spit the hook before they can be landed. Kagawa maneuvers the Shogun closer to the skiff so we have a front-row seat to watch the last stages of Itskovich's battle. By this time the sun is down.

Kagawa lights up the skiff with a floodlight - it's like we're filming ``Man Against the Marlin.''

Itskovich grimaces as he hauls in the big fish.

``We tried to stay behind him to put more of an angle in the line, but he didn't want to go,'' Itskovich said. ``He got a little tired, and I really applied the pressure. The rod tip was almost in the water.

``Pump and reel, pump and reel,'' Itskovich said. ``When we got close to him he did three or four jumps until we were able to wrench on him.

``Rik grabbed his bill and pulled him up. We took a few pictures. Rik put him back in the water. We didn't really have to revive him. He kicked and was out. It was something I'll never forget. It was very tough, very hard, but it was fun.''

Trainer estimated the marlin weighed 135 pounds, a hundred more than the biggest fish Itskovich has caught.

Itskovich climbs back on board the Shogun to high-fives from the rest of the anglers and crew. He's going to be sore for a couple of days.

We spend the next seven days between 20 and 60 miles off the coast of southern Baja California, at a spot where an undersea mountain range pushes the bottom up to within 600 feet of the surface. Famous banks with names like Thetis, 23 Fathom, and Potato are prime territory for striped marlin, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, and dorado.

But most of the time the anglers who fish these spots are using conventional bait and lure gear. This trip, the Shogun is carrying 14 fly-fishing anglers on a trip organized by Steve Abel. A big, bearded-bear kind of guy, Abel makes some of the world's best fly-fishing rods and reels at his plant in Camarillo.

Abel likes to test his gear himself while trying for world-record-sized gamefish. While other fly-anglers had fished for big game in the ocean before, Abel pioneered the technique of using long-range boats to fly-fish for big-game fish. His first two trips, beginning in 1991 to the waters off Baja, resulted in 22 world records for fish caught on a fly. Stories about those trips swirled through the salt-water fly-fishing community. Others chartered long-range boats out of San Diego for similar trips. Abel plans to make his an annual event.

``On this boat we eat, sleep, and fish. Eat, sleep and fish,'' Abel said at the welcoming talk. Some sailed on the boat from San Diego. Others flew down to La Paz and took a three-hour van trip to San Carlos to meet the Shogun.

Abel explained we'd be releasing any marlin caught, but keeping wahoo and tuna. Fly-fishers, who tend to follow the catch-and-release ethic, felt better about keeping fish after Abel said the Shogun normally comes back to port with ten tons of fish. We'll likely get back with less than a ton.

Some of the tuna will be turned into sushi by Peter Steiner, the Shogun's Swiss-trained chef who turns out three gourmet meals and two snacks every day.

The next few days are frustrating. We see thousands of porpoises and a whale crashing bait, but not many marlin. The porpoises seem to be scattering the bait.

One day the marlins tease us. Marlin, like dorado, light up like a neon honky-tonk sign - changing color and becoming almost iridescent when they're aroused by the prospect of food. We see five marlin surfing a big wave behind the boat. But they pass on our flies and wait for the occasional chum tossed their way.

When the water flattens out, the crew launches the skiffs and we fish from them. Some tease for marlin, other concentrate on hooking tuna in the baitballs. Soon four or five anglers are hooked up to big tuna. More marlin and dorado are hooked and landed.

Marlin dine by finding schools of baitfish, then herding them into ``baitballs.'' The baitballs are marked by frigate birds wheeling overhead and diving down to grab a meal. Yellowfin tuna crash the baitballs, adding to the frothy mix.

If you believe in reincarnation, just hope you don't come back as a Baja baitfish.

Our flies, including the ``Holy Mackerel'' that Abel makes, look more like a small trout than the typical tiny bug flies that freshwater fly-fishers use. They're tied on big 8/0 hooks with lots of sparkly artificial hair and hackle. Sharp hooks are a necessity. Abel, always the perfectionist, files our hooks to a fine point.

Abel advises skipping flies quickly across the water to imitate a fleeing baitfish. Fortunately, super-human casting skill isn't required, as the crew is able to tease and chum the fish quite close to the Shogun.

After dinner we all join the crew in catching bait to refill the Shogun's five tanks. It seems strange, but fly-fishing consumes a lot of bait. Not to go on hooks, but to chum up fish and hold them near the boat where the fly-anglers cast to them.

Near the end of the trip the bait become so concentrated the crew dips them out of the baitballs with big dip nets. All you have to do is toss a fly into these maelstroms of feeding fish and you're attached to a tuna or a dorado.

We don't set any records this trip, but everyone's smiling at the end.

``It was a little slow at times, but that's fishing. Overall it was a great trip,'' Itskovich said.

MORE INFO

--Steve Abel plans to host annual long-range, big-game fly-fishing trips. For information, call Abel at [phone], e-mail info(at)abelreels.com, or visit abelreels.com.

--Trey Combs' book ``Bluewater Fly Fishing'' is the classic text on fishing for big-game on a fly rod. It's loaded with information on the fish, tackle, and flies, and is generously illustrated with great color photographs.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Fly fisherman John Kazanjian of Toronto fights a yellowfin tuna at dusk off the Pacific Coast of Baja California.

(2 -- color) A gratified Jeff Stine of Denver poses with a yellowfin of his own.

(3) Sharp hooks are a necessity when fly-fishing for big-game fish.

(4) Bruce Smith, captain of the Shogun, drops a net into baitfish.

Bill Becher/Special to the Daily News

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MORE INFO (see text)