Angler Dreams the Possible Dream and Wins With 42 1/2-Pound Halibut

Frank Cerrito had only to show up for last weekend’s Santa Monica Bay Halibut Derby. He had won it in his sleep the night before.

“I know it sounds stupid, but I had a dream Friday night that I was going to win the tournament,” said Cerrito, 33, of Manhattan Beach. “I told my brother (Mike) and a friend before we got on the boat. I said, ‘Guys, I had a dream that I already won this thing.’ ”

Two hours later, at 8:30 a.m., Cerrito caught the winning fish in the two-day event, a California halibut 48 1/2 inches long, six inches thick and weighing 42 1/2 pounds.

It was the second-heaviest halibut caught in the tournament’s nine-year history--the largest was a 45.1-pounder caught in 1989--and short of the all-tackle world record by less than 11 pounds.

Cerrito, fishing with live sardines just south of Topaz jetty off Torrance Beach, at first thought he had hooked a shark or bat ray because the fish didn’t act like a halibut.

“It ran off 150 yards of line, straight off,” he said. “We were in a stalemate and I thought, ‘This can’t be a halibut.’

“But then there was this massive head shake, and I said, ‘This is a halibut.’ ”

When it rose to the surface, defeated and near death, Cerrito took one look at the size of the fish and gasped.

“It looked like a monster,” he said.

The fish earned Cerrito a vacation trip to Alaska or Mexico, his choice.

*

Tournament Chairman John Bourget said this was one of the most successful derbies, considering big fish caught, and credited a recent ban on gill nets in near-shore waters and the grunion run that was in progress during the event.

“I have a feeling the grunion brought some of the big fish in,” he said.

In all, 1,600 anglers weighed 418 halibut measuring 24 inches or more. Of those, six topped 30 pounds and 32 weighed more than 20 pounds.

Alexey Haussmann of Torrance took second place with a 37-pound halibut, and Hisao Homma of Torrance took third with a 36.3-pounder.

Valencia brothers George and Jose Castro--with a five-fish average--won the team competition for the second consecutive year, and Linda Lovejoy of Temple City won the women’s category with a 19-pound halibut.

*

Michael Erin Stevenson might have handled the tuna, but when the tuna turned into a giant blue marlin, the young angler was in over his head.

Stevenson, 6, was fishing with his 10-year-old sister, Katie, and father, Mike, off Cabo San Lucas on Sunday when a small tuna struck an old trolling lure.

The young angler got more than he bargained for when, as his father said, the tuna was “munched by a rather large marlin.”

Rather large indeed. The boat captain originally estimated the billfish at about 200 pounds, but when the elder Mike reeled it to the boat, “everybody was stunned by its size,” he said.

It took only 35 minutes to land--perhaps because it had a tuna stuck in its gullet--but it took 15 people to haul it up the ramp to the scale, where it weighed 1,100 pounds.

Only one larger blue marlin was ever reeled in off Land’s End--a 1,110-pounder caught by George Rafalovich of La Jolla in 1979.

The Stevensons’ marlin, which Michael Erin said has been named Moe, will be displayed at a popular Cabo restaurant.

*

Fly fishing’s Southern California “opener,” as it is being called, will occur Saturday and Sunday at the Newport-Irvine Radisson Hotel.

Conclave ‘95, as the event is also called, will bring manufacturers, exhibitors, teachers and demonstrators together for a weekend of “total immersion in the sport,” said Bennett Mintz, vice president in charge of communications for the Southwest Council-Federation of Fly Fishers, which is sponsoring the show.

An auction is also scheduled, proceeds going toward various conservation projects.

Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (818) 349-2649.