Outdoor Notes : California Sportfishing Laws Are Facing Possible Overhaul

State Fish and Game Commissioners will sort through exactly 100 proposed changes of the state’s sportfishing laws at their meeting in Redding, Calif., next Friday, the second of three meetings to consider and adopt regulations for 1987.

Among the changes proposed by the Department of Fish and Game and sportfishing interests is one that would bring sections of Sespe Creek in Ventura County into California’s wild-trout program. Similar status is sought for sections of the Merced River in Mariposa County and the East Fork of the Carson River, Alpine County.

Another proposal, by the Sacramento River Preservation Trust, asks that Sacramento River winter run king salmon be added to the state’s endangered species list. The DFG, however, is recommending that winter run kings be added to the federal list. DFG studies show that about 95% of the king salmon winter run has disappeared from the upper Sacramento in less than 20 years.

The commission’s final meeting on sportfishing rules will be held Dec. 5 in Long Beach, when 1987 regulations will be adopted.

The biggest cash prize--$100,000--of any no-entry-fee fishing tournament is set for Lake Havasu Nov. 14-15. Forty-three fishermen have qualified for the $150,000 Red Man All-American Bass Fishing Championship.

The 43 anglers advanced to the tournament final by defeating 22,000 other bass fishermen in regional tournaments since February.

The circuit is designed for “working man” bass fishermen. It features, for the most part, one-day tournaments close to home with low entry fees.

Five people died on the opening weekend of Utah’s deer season, state officials report.

One of those killed was a rescue worker searching for his missing brother-in-law, when his truck slid off a steep, muddy road. The missing hunter was later found in good condition.

One hunter was killed in a hunting camp shooting during an argument, another hunter died when his all-terrain vehicle rolled over, still another was killed by a lightning bolt and a 43-year-old woman died of a heart attack at her hunting camp.

Deer hunter Steve Peterson of Orem, Utah, got his buck this year but not with his rifle. On the second day of the season, Peterson was driving down State Street in Orem, when a four-point buck bounded across the road and crashed into the front of his car. The deer somersaulted over the hood and landed, dead, in a used car lot. Peterson tagged it.

A Utah Division of Wildlife Resources spokesman said it was permissible to tag a deer in such an event during deer season.

Members of the Southwest Council of Flyfishers, California Trout, and Trout Unlimited will assist biologists on an electroshock study of wild rainbow trout in the West Fork of the San Gabriel River in Angeles National Forest Nov. 4-7.

The study will indicate the degree of damage done to trout habitat by Cogswell Dam valve testing during spawning season earlier this year and by a nearby brush fire last summer.

Briefly

The National Coalition for Marine Conservation’s “Fish for the Future” barbecue will be held at Sea World’s Nautilus Pavilion Nov. 15. Proceeds will be used to fund a kelp bass hatchery program. . . . Steve Chikato of Los Angeles, who has hunted deer on the Tejon Ranch for 38 years, bagged his biggest buck there recently, a four-pointer that dressed out at 162 pounds. . . . The state’s wild turkey season will open Nov. 8. . . . The DFG’s Redding office reports that deer tags from 21 northern hunt zones are being returned at a rate 14% ahead of last year’s, an indication that early season storms have favored hunters so far. . . . DFG drawings are under way for four November weekend hunts for wild pigs on the Tehama Wildlife Area east of Red Bluff. . . . The National Marine Manufacturers Assn. says that 86% of boat owners earn less than $50,000 per year. . . . A group of sportfishing boats will gather just off the La Jolla kelp beds Saturday morning between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. and attempt to catch enough brood stock kelp bass to initiate a kelp bass hatchery program.