Former Mono County supervisor should get post

On this the first full day of the first full month of spring, we peer forward to glimpse what April may bring.

* Tim Alpers to be appointed director of the Department of Fish and Game?

Still unclear but the former Mono County supervisor and career public servant, a hunter/angler and trout farmer whose famously plump rainbows have lured millions to the Eastern Sierra, has interviewed and is a top candidate.

Alpers, 60, is personable and has a powerful work ethic. He understands environmental issues and wants to reverse a wide perception of the DFG as aloof and inept.

What's Gov. Schwarzenegger waiting for? Activate him!

* Crowley Lake, Convict Lake and the four lakes on the scenic June Lake Loop -- June, Gull, Grant and Silver -- probably will be ice-free during the April 26 opening of the Eastern Sierra general trout fishing season.

Ice is already turning blue at Convict and June. "It's ready to go any time," says Mickie Frederickson, who runs June Lake Marina.

Gull, Silver and Grant are slightly behind and Crowley, more than any other, will require sustained winds to tear up the ice.

Expect an 11th-hour thaw at worse.

* Anglers entering Crowley probably will have to complete a survey and pass a vessel inspection before launching.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which owns Crowley, has recommended to the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, which meets today, that these safeguards be in place before opening day.

Like every other water agency, the DWP fears quagga mussels will be accidentally introduced, multiply and clog the plumbing.

They've done this throughout much of the country and, more recently, in waters along the Colorado River and its aqueduct system.

If inspection is required, your boat must be clean and 100% dry or it will be turned away and quarantined.

* The Sierra thaw will slowly increase and rivers will swell, luring white water enthusiasts for what'll be a wild beginning to a rollicking rafting/kayaking season.

When the Department of Water Resources releases its April report it'll reveal a snow pack about 100% of normal in most areas.

"We got lucky this year, seeing as though it was supposed to be a dry La Nina year," says Luther Stephens of Kern River Outfitters.

The Kern, above Bakersfield, is the nearest rafting destination to Los Angeles. Stephens said one-day trips on the Upper Kern -- which is already running at 1,000 cubic feet per second -- will begin as early as April 15.

* The weather will settle and two of the Southland's most popular saltwater game fish -- white sea bass and yellowtail -- will erupt in feeding frenzies at Catalina and other Channel Islands.

High hopes were dashed over the weekend, though. "We had plenty of live squid" for bait, says Don Ashley, owner of Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach. "The only problem was that we just weren't catching any live fish."