Outdoor Notes : Delta Striped Bass Fishing in Trouble

Sportfishing for striped bass in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta system may be nearing an end, a state legislative committee was told this week.

“Today it is clear that (the striped bass) cannot rebuild its population to historic levels of abundance, or even sustain it at the present degraded level,” said John Beuttler, executive director of United Anglers.

“If (the striped bass population) is not revived, private angling may disappear in a few years,” Beuttler testified at the forum of the Senate-Assembly Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Department of Fish and Game director Jack Parnell agreed with Beuttler’s assessment, but warned that adequate DFG funding is essential for fish preservation programs.

Beuttler suggested two remedies:

--An agreement with federal and state water project managers not to transfer water from the delta during striped bass spawning periods.

--More state funding for research into causes of the decline.

Crowley Lake fishermen trying to avoid the usual long lines for boat registration when the lake opens for fishing April 26 can preregister their boats at the Los Angeles Swim Stadium on three consecutive Saturdays, beginning March 1, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Boats must be at least 12 feet long, have at least a five horsepower outboard, have two oars or paddles, two anchors with eight feet of chain attached, life jackets for each occupant, and current registration. Pre-registration fee: $25.

Two Washington state brothers and a Southern California father and son were fined a total of $3,910 recently in an abalone poaching case. They were arrested by Department of Fish and Game wardens during a routine check of pleasure boats off San Clemente Island, when the wardens spotted men droping bags overboard as they approached.

The wardens, equipped with scuba gear, dived 35 feet to the bottom and recovered 88 green and pink abalone, many of them undersized.

Arrested were Bruce K. Kolstad, 32, and Brian K. Kolstad, 28, of Washington; and John D. Koogle, 61, and John J. Koogle, 25, of Whittier. The men also were sentenced in Long Beqach Municipal Court to 100 hours of community service.

California’s sport salmon fishing season in ocean waters will begin Saturday with a limit set at two fish, no less than 20 inches in length. Only single, barbless hooks may be used. Fishing regulations of 1985 will remain in effect until the Fish and Game Commission rules in April on regulations recommended for 1986.

Salinas deer hunter Joe Beevers bagged a record-class mule deer at the Arizona Strip area, in northwest Arizona. Beevers, on the second day of the season, tracked the big buck for three hours in rocky terrain. The buck was an untypical 8-by-6, with a 37 3/4-inch spread.

Briefly California’s late-season, special-hunt deer hunters experienced success rates varying from 32% to 72%. . . . Nevada’s 1985 bighorn sheep hunt resulted in 86% of the 128 tag holders bagging animals. . . . Bill Mason, noted Montana-Idaho fishing guide and outfitter, will speak next Thursday at the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers’ dinner meeting, 6:30 p.m. at the Nob Hill Banquet Center, Panorama City. The Flyfishers will also conduct a one-day introductory fly fishing seminar at Reseda Park, March 8. . . . Robert T. Delfay has been named executive director of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. . . . Randall Stephen Hodges of Redding was fined $6,120 and sentenced to 360 days in jail for shooting a bald eagle and leaving it at a DFG game warden’s office with a threatening note attached to the carcass. . . . The Pomona Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited will meet at Claremont McKenna College Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. . . . DFG biologists need about 40 volunteers to help with a San Gabriel Mountains bighorn sheep census the weekend of March 15-16.