Got brakes?RUSTY DALTON of Oxnard learned what...

Got brakes?

RUSTY DALTON of Oxnard learned what a drag it can be when the windy season ends and fishing season begins in the Sea of Cortes. Fishing from a kayak, he was towed more than a mile recently at high speed by a giant Pacific manta that took spirited flight through the blue-green sea after grabbing a white squid-tipped jig.

“It ended up breaking off after an hour and it pulled the kayak faster than any fish I’ve ever seen,” says Dennis Spike, the group leader from the San Fernando Valley-based Coastal Kayak Fishing (www.kayak fishing.com). “We had a panga going at a good clip just to keep up with him.”

The manta likely weighed more than 250 pounds. The seven anglers, fishing near Rancho Leonero Resort in the East Cape region of Baja California, also caught jack crevalle, roosterfish, snapper and dorado to about 25 pounds, though their rides were tame by comparison.

Roosters crow

Rancho LEONERO owner John Ireland confirms a furious start to the inshore fishing season in a region known as the roosterfish capital of the world. He credits a two-year ban on gill-nets in the area for the strong early showing of the powerful game fish and says the fish are slashing through bait-fish schools daily.

Prime areas stretch more than 40 miles north to the Punta Arenas area, where fishermen out of La Paz find them within a stone’s throw of shore. Says Jonathan Roldan of the Hacienda Heights-based Tail Hunters Fishing & Adventures: “There’s the occasional single biter, but imagine rolling up and seeing a school of several dozen go breezing by and attacking the baits like bonito on a shred. Double and triple hookups are not uncommon.”

Humans 1, fish 1

Stanley COHEN of San Diego caught a 760-pound blue marlin two weeks ago off Cabo San Lucas, signaling a possible early season for the big blues. The catch, made aboard the Anamar II, is believed to be the largest marlin of the year weighed at Land’s End.

Meanwhile, Hawaii’s Kona Coast is still abuzz about one that got away after a 17-hour fight. Rex Crosland, 80, of Park City, Utah, and owner of a charter boat, happened upon a fish at 9:30 a.m. that probably topped 1,000 pounds. He took a break after about five hours, returned to the fighting chair and stayed until collapsing after about 1 a.m., leaving the fight to the crew.

Twice the marlin was brought to leader, the crew glimpsed its massive head, but it broke free at 2:30 a.m. The vessel, the Pacific Blue, limped to port on fumes. “We went for an eight-hour day, not a 27-hour day,” Capt. Bill Casey recalls. “We were 40 miles from shore when that thing came off.”

Hunting doings

Prospective big-game hunters must submit applications to the Department of Fish and Game’s Sacramento office by 5 p.m. June 2 to be eligible for deer, elk and bear tag drawings held that same week. Applications are available at DFG offices, sporting goods stores and through www.dfg.ca.gov. Winners for this year’s hunts will be posted on the website within three weeks after the drawings.

The San Gabriel Valley chapter of Quail Unlimited has scheduled its annual Snake Avoidance Clinic for June 12 and 13 at Sierra Madre Dog Park. Reservations, which are required, can be made by calling (866) 206-9070, Ext. 6715.

They did it

More than 450 boats competed in the recent Newport Beach-to-Ensenada yacht race, and finishing in the middle of PHRF C division, the third-fastest racing class, was B’Quest, a 40-footer manned by team Challenged America.

The yacht’s finish was respectable by any standard as well as inspirational. The crew includes amputees, cancer survivors and people with arthritis.

“We were far from last, and pretty close to picking up some silver,” says Jim Halverson, who has returned to sailing one year after having his left leg removed above the knee. “It was an experience of a lifetime.”

Crew member Gregory Scott, who has junior rheumatoid arthritis, called the race “a training run” for the 2005 Trans-Pacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu. He says the San Diego nonprofit group, which promotes sailing as rehabilitation, is raising funds to send two boats across the Pacific.

To e-mail Pete Thomas or read his previous Fair Game columns, go to latimes.com/petethomas.