Outdoor Notes : Weather Settles Down for Opener
The hot topic regarding Saturday’s Eastern Sierra trout opener isn’t fish--it’s water, or rather the lack thereof. But changeable weather this April seems to have settled down at the right time.
Weather Data, Inc. predicts excellent fishing weather for this weekend--temperatures between 50-69 degrees and mostly clear skies--which should be welcome news to the thousands who flock to the Bishop and Mammoth Lakes area for the opener every year.
Because of unusually heavy mid-April rain and snow, Department of Fish and Game officials feared a low turnout. But clear, warm, sunny weather this week has helped to open roads and improve the conditions around the lakes, streams and rivers.
“We have no indication that this year is going to be any different, but we’ll find out,” DFG spokesman Darrell Wong said from the Bishop office. “No matter what the weather, we’ll have a big turnout.
“A big part of the opener is not just fishing, it’s getting out. There are people who have been doing it for 20-25 years. Even if the weather is bad, people still want to come out. That’s what the opener is about.”
According the DFG, however, the recent rainfall did little to relieve longstanding drought conditions. The DFG advises fishermen to concentrate on the early season, since the late summer figures to be noticeably dry.
About 15,000 anglers will descend upon Crowley Lake alone Saturday, meaning travelers should allow time for traffic along U.S. 395. For information on Bishop-area events connected with the opener, contact the Bishop Chamber of Commerce at (619) 873-8405.
Huanchaco, Peru, site of the ancient citadel of Chan Chan and believed by archeologists to be the birthplace of surfing, is being threatened by a marina project that would change the coastline and wave currents.
In a last-ditch attempt to prove the significance of the beach to local politicians and residents, the Chan Chan Ocean Festival will be held all next week. Officials hope that a strong international turnout will help persuade the Peruvian government to cease the marina project.
Historians believe that members of pre-Inca civilizations, dating back 2,000 years, rode waves on reed-built crafts constructed for fishing. Later craft were redesigned to better cut through the surf and became the precursor to the modern surfboard.
The proposed marina site is on the point wave at Huanchaco, meaning that much of the beach’s surfing value will be lost.
Those interested in attending the festival--which will feature open surfing, wave ski, body board, kayaking and swimming competition--may contact the Chan Chan Ocean Festival, 3105 Oak Ave. Manhattan Beach, 90266, or call (213) 546-2146.
State fish and game commissioners struck back in their quest to open a 190-permit mountain lion hunting season, suing the Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation a year after the organization restricted last year’s hunt with a lawsuit.
At a public meeting in Long Beach April 8, the Commissioners adopted the season and announced the filing of the suit in Sacramento Superior Court. If successful, the suit will validate the legality of limited mountain lion hunting in California and help speed the permit-issuing process.
Commissioners also asked that a court order acknowledging that the DFG has complied with environmental clearances needed for a hunting season be awarded.
Mountain lions have not been hunted since 1971, when a moratorium was put on all sport hunting of big cats in the United States. A renewed abundance of mountain lions in adjacent rural areas has resulted in increased pressure to hunt them.
Briefly
As of Monday, only five Bishop-area lakes were closed because of ice: Lake Mary, Lake George, Lake Mamie, Rock Creek and North Lake. All but Rock Creek, which is listed as questionable, are definitely closed for the opener. Lake Sabrina, South Lake and Bridgeport Reservoir reported some ice and low water conditions. Roads and conditions for the most popular Eastern Sierra trout fisheries--Crowley Lake, Convict Lake and the June Lake Loop--are listed as open, with no ice.
The Venice Outrigger Canoe Club Saturday will paddle two canoes from Marina del Rey to Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island, to raise money for a new racing canoe. Individual paddlers have taken pledges from sponsors. . . . The Department of Justice announced that an agreement has been reached for private land owners, in this case the state of California and San Diego County, to turn over to the federal government more than 300 acres of coastal property that will be used as a refuge for the California least tern and the light-footed clapper rail, both endangered bird species. The announcement said that the agreement would resolve complex litigation brought by environmental groups to block work on a major highway and flood control project near San Diego.
