THE OUTDOORS : FISHING FOR INFORMATION : Tackle Shop Manager Uses Side-Band Radio to Get Reports From Sportfishermen

Not long after John Doughty opened his doors for business one recent morning, a young girl came in and bought a small spool of line so she could fish off the nearby boat docks. Doughty, after taking the girl’s money, gave her some helpful hints and went about his daily business.

Before long, a resident of Denver, planning a vacation, phoned to ask about the fishing conditions in Cabo San Lucas. Doughty responded knowingly, talking of the 18 marlin that were caught there that day, and of the roughly 18 others that were hooked and lost. The temperature and clarity of the water, the size and species of the fish--Doughty seemed to know it all.

Meanwhile, between calls and customers, he worked on a chart of Southern California’s local waters, pin-pointing the areas where marlin or other game fish have been seen, or hooked.

At 9 a.m. there was a hookup with a striped marlin about 5 miles off the slide, an area just south of Avalon Harbor. Doughty was notified by the skipper involved and marked it on his chart. Another report came in from the 14-mile bank, a popular fishing area off the coast of Newport Beach. It was “showing a lot of bait.” Doughty made note of it.

“I jot notes, keep up with reports on the VHF (radio). Things like that,” he said.

The information--taken mostly from the many sportfishing captains Doughty regularly confers with--has made Bisbee’s Tackle, located on the waterfront next to the Newport Beach-to-Balboa Island Ferry, an informational hotbed for local fishermen, as well as for those traveling south to Cabo San Lucas, or even areas along mainland Mexico’s Pacific coast.

Doughty manages the store and usually knows what’s biting and where.

“The main reason (for gathering fishing information) is for our customers,” he stressed. “They can pick up the charts that openly show where the fish are, what the trends are and so forth.”

Doughty, however, said that he “freely gives information to anyone who calls.

“Fishing is not supposed to be frustrating,” he said. “I’m able to tell people what patterns (of fishing lures) to use, what’s working and what’s not working, where the fish are biting.

“It’s such a waste of time for them to go the wrong direction, or use the wrong bait.”

Although Doughty, 40, is in the retail business, his job over the last 11 years has increasingly become one of an informational nature.

One of the reasons is the single side-band radio, which Bisbee’s received a license for 11 years ago. Used primarily by large vessels and government agencies such as the U.S. Coast Guard, this type of radio has tremendous range.

“It can reach Alaska and Hawaii,” Doughty said. “But mostly I keep it pointed at Baja, especially during hurricane season.”

In short, Doughty can contact practically anyone he wishes.

His regular conferences, however, are with the many Newport Beach-based skippers who work many of the eastern Pacific’s popular fishing grounds.

Since Newport Harbor is the world’s largest pleasure craft marina and sports some of the world’s best known and best equipped fishermen, Bisbee’s is in a prime location.

Helping fishermen catch fish is by all means not the radio’s intended purpose, however. To be a licensed operator of such a radio one must have a legitimate reason, such as Bisbee’s claim to “be able to provide assistance to mariners.” All calls are monitored by the Federal Communications Commission.

But Doughty said he has had no trouble with the FCC. And over the years, many skippers have come to rely on Doughty for such assistance while at sea.

Recent examples:

--Joe Mike Lopez, skipper of the sportfisher Top Hatt, left Florida’s Cape Canaveral for California last April by way of the Panama Canal. Following the course of The Quest, a yacht making the same trip but starting a week earlier, Lopez tried unsuccessfully to reach its skipper to learn about the weather and oceanic conditions he might encounter.

“We couldn’t make contact on the radio (VHF),” Lopez said. “So we contacted Doughty and he acted as a relay.”

Doughty contacted the skipper of the Quest and coordinated the two on a viable frequency.

“It was real imperative--with my office and family so far away--to keep track of conditions in front of me,” Lopez said. “Also, if there was any personal information I needed or needed to get out, it could be relayed (by Doughty). If I needed anything along the way, like parts, he’d get them to us even if he had to ship them by air.”

Lopez, who fished some of the world’s most productive waters during his three-month journey, arrived in Newport Beach July 4. Doughty had sent him weather information in the Caribbean, fishing information along the mainland Mexican coast, engine parts in Acapulco, “and peace-of-mind throughout.”

--Jeff Eden, skipper of the sportfisher The Oz, spent 10 months in Cabo San Lucas beginning last August.

“It was the hurricane season down there then,” Eden recalled from his Orange County home. “And there weren’t many boats there. Doughty was constantly giving us hurricane information that was up to the minute.”

Eden’s 44-foot sportfisher was equipped with a weather fax machine, but given the speed at which the weather can change during hurricane season, “Doughty (who makes daily calls to the National Weather Service) and his radio was a great help.”

Said Eden’s wife Mandi: “My husband’s last stretch was 10 months so it was frustrating. I know how hard it is to make phone calls from down there, so it was nice to be able to call (from Bisbee’s) and find out how he’s doing. It’s nice to know you don’t have to worry about getting through. You know your going to get through.”

In return for such services, which Doughty says are free--except for costs of parts and possible shipping charges--people like Lopez and Eden report fishing and weather conditions to Bisbee’s, which, according to Doughty, serves “as a clearing house of information.”

During the summer months, when Cabo San Lucas is virtually empty because of intense heat and frequent hurricanes--a time when Doughty gets much of his Baja information from the various hotels--he uses his VFH to monitor Southern California’s fishing situation, which is at its peak during the summer.

“I get 40 to 50 calls a day from people wanting to know how the fishing is,” he said. “I figure I talk with 200 to 300 different sportfishing (yacht skippers) a year.”

Some of his calls are from outdoor publications as well, which apparently trust Doughty and his information.

“We call him three days a week to get (information from) Cabo San Lucas to La Paz,” said Matt Kerster, whose 976-TUNA telephone line gives fishing information from Morro Bay to the tip of the Baja Peninsula. “It’s the best information available. He’s (Doughty) right up to date.”

Said Rich Holland, who writes for Western Outdoor News: “What I like about J.D. (John Doughty) is that he doesn’t book tours and has no vested interest. He gives good information.”

Doughty admits that his constant gathering and dispersing of information sometimes interrupts business. “But it gives me the opportunity to sell the right tackle, to know what’s working and so forth,” he said.

“Besides, because the radio is used primarily to assist our customers, they would have more of an allegiance to shop here.”