Outdoor Notes : Californians Will Pay More to Go Fishing Next Year

The cost of California fishing is going up.

Primary license fees will be increased for 1986 in an attempt to head off looming money problems in the Department of Fish and Game.

The resident all-purpose sportfishing license, good for freshwater and ocean fishing in the state, will jump from $13.50 to $18.50, and the resident ocean-only fee will increase from $8 to $10.50. This year, however, holders of the ocean-only license will be able to convert it to an all-purpose license later for an additional $8.50.

Special reduced-fee and free licenses will not be affected by the change, and the price of a striped-bass stamp will remain at $3.50.

New licenses are expected to be available early next week.

It’s whale-watching time in Southern California.

Pacific gray whales have begun their annual migration from the frigid waters of the Bering Sea to the warm lagoons of Baja California, and will be traveling close to the California shoreline through March and into April.

Migrating whales frequently can be seen from shore along the state’s parks and beaches, and whale watching expeditions are offered by boat landings and sport fishing fleets for as little as $5.50 a person on weekdays. Weekend fares are higher, and reservations are normally required.

The annual winter hunts for wild pigs, waterfowl, quail and rabbits at Camp Roberts in southern Monterey County will be held Dec. 21, 22 and 28, and Jan. 1, 4 and 5.

According to Jim Lidberg, DFG biologist, there appears to be a good population of wild pigs on the base, although few have been taken by hunters in recent years. The quail population also is high, Lidberg said.

Waterfowl hunting will be limited to the Nacimiento River, since the reservoirs and ponds are dry.

Hunters need a valid California hunting license and duck stamps, if waterfowl hunting is involved, as well as a Camp Roberts permit. Daily civilian permits are $7 and annual military permits are $15. Hunters are required to check in and out daily.

Briefly Students from two Wyoming elementary schools have raised $500 to be used in the state’s black-footed ferret propagation program. The ferrets, once thought to be extinct, can be found in only certain areas of the state and have been hit recently by diseases common to prairie dogs, whose habitat they share. . . . Derek Leonard Kendrick, 20, of Elk Grove in Sacramento County, who two years ago was given a suspended sentence for possession of two hunting licenses and two sets of deer tags, must now serve that 45-day jail term after having been convicted of another violation of game laws. He was recently found guilty of shooting waterfowl out of season and will also serve a 20-day term for that.

Two Orange County companies have been ordered to appear in court to answer charges of illegal obstruction and diversion of stream beds. Irvine Industrial Research and Development of Newport Beach was cited Nov. 7, Southern California Edison of Santa Ana Nov. 22. . . . The band-tailed pigeon hunting season will open Saturday but the DFG reports that there is a scarcity of birds in Southern California and that the situation is only slightly better in central-coastal areas. . . . Randall Stephen Hodges, 34, of Redding is scheduled to appear in Shasta County Superior Court Jan. 13 for sentencing on charges of killing a bald eagle and leaving it, with a hand written threatening note, on the doorstep of game warden Russ Murphey. James Dale MacDougall, arrested during the investigation of the case, was sentenced to 266 days in jail and fined $5,960 for illegal trapping and possession of protected animals.

Members of Ducks Unlimited raised more than $1.4 million this year to be used by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to acquire wetlands for the national wildlife refuge system. . . . Oregon fly tyer Jim Teeny, whose Teeny nymph has been used to catch everything from bluegills to barracudas, will be the speaker at the meeting of the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers Thursday night at the Nob Hill Banquet Center in Panorama City. His presentation will begin at 8:45 and is free. . . . The 37th annual Tuna Conference for scientists, fisheries managers, government officials and industry representatives has been scheduled for May 18-21, 1986, at the University of California Conference Center at Lake Arrowhead.