San Clemente Island

Rescue teams searched unsuccessfully Wednesday for the pilot of a Marine Corps F/A-18A Hornet that crashed in the ocean Tuesday night while on a routine training exercise near San Clemente Island, military officials said. Navy and Coast Guard search-and-rescue teams on Wednesday combed more than 480 square miles of ocean between San Clemente and Santa Catalina islands for the single-seat jet aircraft and its pilot, Marine Lt. Mark J. Gelgean, 27, of Hanford, Calif.

Search teams were looking for the pilot of a Marine Corps F/A-18A Hornet that crashed into the ocean Tuesday night while on a routine training exercise at San Clemente Island, military officials said. U.S. Navy and Coast Guard search and rescue teams on Wednesday combed more than 480 square miles of ocean between San Clemente and Catalina islands for the single-seat jet aircraft and its pilot, Marine Lt. Mark J. Gelgean, 27, of Hanford.

A Marine Corps FA-18 jet participating in training exercises crashed off San Clemente Island, and debris from the aircraft and a damaged lifeboat were recovered today, officials said. A spokesman for the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro said controllers lost contact with the jet shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday while it was southeast of San Clemente Island. There was no sign of the pilot, Lt. Mark J. Gelgean, based at El Toro.

After 18 years of battling the formidable goats of San Clemente Island, the U.S. Navy says it is about to eradicate them for good by using a new program based on a simple premise: goats hate to be alone. Since last June, the Navy has put the goats' gregariousness to work, using seven "Judas goats" to seek out and infiltrate hard-to-find herds.

It's gear shifting time as the spring surface action heats up. Anglers have started to hang up their rock cod rods as the transition from deep water action to fishing for the exotics begins. The fall and winter rock cod season proved to be an excellent one where anglers could catch a 20-fish limit and fill the freezers with fillets. Yellowtail have been showing in good numbers at San Clemente Island every day with squid the choice bait. On trips last week, L.A.

It's gear shifting time as the spring surface action heats up. Anglers have started to hang up their rock cod rods as the transition from deep water action to fishing for the exotics begins. The fall and winter rock cod season proved to be an excellent one where anglers could catch a 20-fish limit and fill the freezers with fillets. Yellowtail have been showing in good numbers at San Clemente Island every day with squid the choice bait. On trips last week, L.A.

Navy public works personnel spilled about 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel into the Pacific near San Clemente Island on Wednesday, the Navy reported. The spill, which apparently took place at 12:30 p.m. while workers were transferring fuel to a truck on the Navy-owned island, was not near any environmentally sensitive areas, the Navy said. About 95% of the fuel evaporated by late Wednesday afternoon, said the Navy. San Clemente Island is about 60 miles northwest of San Diego.

San Clemente Island is providing anglers with the wildest exotics bite of the year. Substantial numbers of yellowtail were found this past weekend by two L.A. Harbor Sportfishing boats, the Outerlimits and the Shogun. According to Gary Norby, captain of the Outerlimits, "these yellows have been here all winter on every trip. We have observed them while fishing for bass and rock cod.

It had taken nearly all of 1989 for the San Clemente Island yellowtail to be caught in substantial numbers. But 19 South Bay anglers had something to cheer about as the New Year approached. When they boarded Capt. Gary Norby's Outerlimits before departing L.A. Harbor Sportfishing, he told them he had observed perfect conditions on his last trip and now, with a good supply of squid in bait tanks, the yellows should be ready to come out of the kelp and feed.