THE JOY OF BASS THUMB.

Byline: BRETT PAULY

When it comes to thumbs, Little Jack Horner's got nothing on these guys.

Plucking a plum from a Christmas pie is all very nice, Jack. Call me when you pull your battered, bruised and bloodied thumb from the maw of a calico bass. That's true prestige, not some wimpy nursery rhyme.

You see, Little Jack, when seafaring boats return to port after a day targeting those beautiful, fierce-fighting kelp bass, it's the anglers with the pummeled thumbs who had the best luck.

Dubbed bass thumb, or calico thumb, it's caused while ``lipping'' the quarry - subduing the stubby-toothed bass by holding its lower jaw between the thumb and forefinger - in order to retrieve the hook or lure. And it hurts so good.

``I've been victimized by it many times,'' said Joel Zide of Northridge. ``I've had some of the best calico-fishing trips and my thumb has been torn apart, red, raw.

``You show your buddies, `This is a good day on the water.' ''

Now, don't get me wrong, Jack, this isn't some masochistic custom. On the contrary, conscientious anglers intent on returning their prizes to swim another day handle the bass in this manner for the health of the fish - and themselves. By lipping the fish in similar fashion to how a freshwater bass fisherman releases a largemouth, the calico isn't injured by being bounced on the deck. And the angler isn't impaled by sharp spines when those prickly fins are flared.

``If you grab it like a football, you aren't going to use that hand for a week,'' said Westlake Village angler Dimitri Peros.

Those whose sense of taste override their sense of conservation couldn't care less about the well-being of the catch, but they need to get their bait back.

Either way, the calico's bite leaves a scratch at the least and draws blood at worst. Multiply that by the number of fish caught - the limit is 10 fish over 12 inches, but catch-and-release fanatics might boat twice that many on a good day - and you can come home with a thumb looking worse than a tractor mechanic's.

It's something to cherish, Jack, not hide. And at work the next morning, you can snap your suspenders proudly to show off your fishing prowess.

Bass thumb is a tangible, tactile memory you'll treasure for a week, longer if the healing process is slow. Grizzled topwater anglers have trouble recovering at all because they fish so often, enjoying layers of bass thumb.

``It's one of those injuries that I'd rather didn't heal, to remind me of the day I had,'' Zide said.

You can try to diminish the damage by wrapping that precious opposable digit with tape. But what's the point? Hold that marred thumb high and be content in knowing that the bites you received came from a real Marv Albert of the fish family. Yesss.

Because the calico bass is a ``talent fish'' - that is, Jack, they are tough to catch - bass thumb is a mark of status.

To catch the handsome sea bass with the distinctive checkerboard markings on its olive or brown sides, one must be adept at casting over kelp and frequently at great distances. Once hooked, the calico will never give up easily. Like the yellowtail, the bass will fin for the seaweed, rocks, reefs and other submerged structure it favors, tying up your line beyond recovery or breaking it off completely. There's an art to realizing when the bass has hit, setting the hook and reeling before the fish speeds off to safer havens.

Many anglers prefer hunting calicos with plastic swim baits on 12-pound line, a 9-foot light-action rod and a light baitcaster reel. Metal jigs, cut squid and live anchovies are also popular baits. Throwing a 1-pound mackerel with 30-pound line is another recommended technique that can bring back bigger specimens.

With all the jabber about El Nino pushing exotic species into area waters, you can wait for yellowtail, tuna and dorado to turn up in greater numbers or you can take a multiday charter to richer fishing grounds. But if you want a local standby on an afternoon outing, Jack, little can compare to the feeling you get from calico fishing. Ohhh, that bass-thumb feeling.

``It feels good, because that's a sign that you been active catching fish,'' said George Soto of Sunland. ``People will come up and say, `I got a calico thumb.' They show it to you and it's scraped and white from the saltwater being on it.

``When you're bleeding from calico thumb, it's a sign of bigger fish with bigger teeth. It's impressive.'' So, Jack, someday when you're grown up enough to go beyond plums, give me a ring. We'll go lip some calicos and rip some thumbs.

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Photo

Photo: Oxnard's Mike Cragin ``lips'' a calico bass. It might batter the thumb, but it's considered a good thing

Brett Pauly/Daily News