EAST CAPE'S NET LOSSES HURT RESORTS.

Byline: Dave Strege Orange County Register

A roosterfish raced behind the boat, attacking the bait and flaring its trademark dorsal fins that resemble a big comb.

``I like it best when they come on top and play with the bait,'' said Mario Lucero Verduzco, skipper of the cruiser La Migra.

Anglers like it best when roosterfish eat the bait.

Like so many others, the unhooked roosterfish disappeared as quickly as it sounded its wake-up call.

Really, it's hit or miss with roosterfish, a fish difficult to hook even in the East Cape here at the southeastern tip of Baja California, the so-called roosterfish capital of the world.

Just getting one to play with the bait can be an iffy proposition.

``Some days the fish are very few,'' Lucero Verduzco said.

A recent day was one of those days along the sandy beaches of Punta Arena, a 45-minute boat ride south of Los Barriles.

Bob Van Wormer, 71, has seen plenty of fishless days while in-shore fishing at the East Cape. And, sadly, he has seen the fishing here deteriorate under the seemingly uncaring eyes of the Mexican government.

Van Wormer is the man responsible for bringing the anglers to the fish. He fell in love with the East Cape nearly 40 years ago and transformed it into a fishing resort.

The owner of three resorts on the East Cape, he is the voice of reason for conservation in the Sea of Cortez.

``The most important thing they should do is put in a regulation not permitting any form of nets at all from Cabo San Lucas to the Cerralvo Island within five miles of shore,'' Van Wormer said. ``What's happening is, so many gill nets are being used, you don't see cabrilla anymore or in-shore fishing. It's really slowing down and jeopardizing the numbers.

``In 38 years I've been here, I've seen in-shore fishing for roosterfish, cabrilla, pargo and grouper go down to about one-tenth of what they used to be like. They used to be everywhere.''

``If the Mexican government doesn't wake up to the fact, God help us,'' he added. ``In a few years, the in-shore fishing will be nil.''

Van Wormer noted the stronger numbers of billfish over the last couple of years as a sign that the Japanese long-liners have at least been kept out of the Sea of Cortez.

``We do occasionally get a marlin with a long-line hook broken off in him,'' he said.

Mexican commercial boats are supposed to remain 20 miles off shore, but Van Wormer said he saw five boats setting their nets only five miles off shore about three weeks ago.

``That did the tuna in,'' Van Wormer said. ``When they saw all the sport boats catching them, they set their nets, wrapped 'em up and on they went.''

The tuna were thick in the late 1950s. Then they were nearly exterminated by the U.S. commercial fleet in the late '60s, Van Wormer said.

Only three weeks ago did local officials rid the area of Mexican shrimp boats that used dragnets in the area to catch, well . . it wasn't shrimp.