Outdoor Notes / Earl Gustkey : Shortage of Water Could Curtail Trout Plants

Southern California fishermen who prefer fishing for hatchery-raised rainbow trout at smaller streams and lakes, may be forced to head for larger, more crowded waters this year, according to the Department of Fish and Game.

The DFG, in announcing that it will stock 2,536,500 legal size rainbows raised at its Fillmore and Victorville hatcheries in waters of seven Southland counties in 1987, indicated that cutbacks will occur unless precipitation increases.

Southland rainfall since last July 1 has been 40% to 60% below normal in many locations and, barring a very wet spring, trout plants in some smaller waters may have to be canceled.

Mike Haynie, manager of the DFG’s Fillmore hatchery, said it is “very likely” there will be a “significant reduction” in the planting program for small lakes and streams in Ventura, Santa Barbara and western Los Angeles counties.

Don VonAllmen, manager at the Victorville hatchery, said that planting schedules for small streams in eastern Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties may also be terminated early.

“The thing that may keep us in the ballgame would be that if we did, finally, get some snow,” he said.

He said runoff and percolation from snowpack may be enough to sustain the planting program into the late summer months. DFG officials said that fish not planted in small lakes and streams will be planted in other waters.

Keith Anderson, DFG supervisor of inland fisheries, said that waters such as Puddingstone Lake, Santa Fe Park Lake, El Dorado Park Lake, Mojave Narrows Park Lake, Prado Park Lake, Yucaipa Park Lake, Gregory Lake, Green Valley Lake, Glen Helen Park Lake and Arrowbear Lake will benefit in case of cutbacks.

The DFG reminds abalone lovers that the taking of the shellfish between Palos Verdes Point and Dana Point remains illegal. Both sport and commercial take of abalone in the area remains off limits, closed to divers since 1976, when the Legislature enacted the closure to allow depleted abalone stocks to recover.

The DFG says there is some confusion over the closure, since the Fish and Game Code indicates that it was to have expired March 1. The law was extended his year, however, and is spelled out in the 1987 sport fishing regulations booklet and the 1987 digest of commercial fishing laws.

In Texas, springtime rattlesnake roundups are a way of life in rural, farm communities. On Wednesday, a life ended because a man handled a rattler carelessly. Glenn Alexander, 29, of Irving, Tex., died four days after a rattler had buried its fangs into Alexander’s forearm and clung.

Alexander didn’t arrive at a hospital for an hour and a half after the bite.

The rattler bite was the second this month at a Texas rattler roundup. A snake handler, Daddy Bill Ransberger, was showing an audience how quickly snakes can strike when one bit him on the stomach.

Ransberger went to his recreation vehicle, routinely removed the venom from his system with a snake bite kit, and later explained it was the 39th time he’d been bitten.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department officers say that they have no leads in the case of a grizzly bear they assume was killed and its collar cut off. The radio collar was found on the North Fork of the Shoshone River, near Cody. The bear’s body wasn’t found.

The Fish and Game Commission says it will make its final decision on a Department of Fish and Game proposal for a 79-day fall mountain lion hunting season at its meeting in Sacramento April 10.

The commission recently added an afternoon public meeting for April 9, to allow ample public testimony and discussion of mammal hunting regulations. Both meetings will be held in auditorium room 102, 714 P St., Sacramento.

Briefly Shasta Mountain Guides of Mt. Shasta, Calif., has a series of outdoor treks planned for this spring and summer, including Mt. Shasta summit climbs and rock and glacier climbing classes. . . . The Long Beach Casting Club will offer free rod-building classes at its clubhouse on 7th St. and Federation Drive in Long Beach, beginning Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. . . . The Hawaiian International Billfish tournament will be held at Kailua-Kona, Aug. 22-30. . . . The National Wildlife Federation has a telephone hot line, (202) 737-2024, providing conservation news from Washington. . . . The Bass Anglers Sportsman’s Society (BASS) will hold its Masters Classic on the Ohio River at Louisville, Ky., Aug. 10-15. . . . Fishing guide Fred Rowe will present a Mammoth Lakes-area trout fishing forecast at the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers dinner meeting April 16 at the Nob Hill Banquet Center, 8229 Van Nuys Blvd., Panorama City. . . . Showtime: Anaheim Boat Show, through Sunday, Anaheim Convention Center.