THE OUTDOORS : Outdoor Notes / Pete Thomas : Failure of Floodgates to Affect Stocking of Inyo, Mono Lakes

Floodgates that control the water at the Department of Fish and Game’s Black Rock Hatchery in Mono County failed June 28, killing about 10 tons of catchable-size rainbow trout, officials announced last Friday.

According to Keith Anderson, the DFG’s Inland Fisheries Supervisor for Southern California, the floodgates gave out, creating a disturbance in the raceways containing the fish.

As a result, there will be a 10% reduction in the stocking of Inyo and Mono lakes and streams for the remainder of the 1989 season.

“We will be stocking the same areas as planned, but with less fish,” Anderson said.

The DFG plans to issue a report on the incident next week.

A 165-foot ex-Coast Guard cutter will become Southern California’s newest artificial reef when it is sunk next Wednesday about 1 1/2 miles off the coast of Mission Bay in San Diego.

The ship will become part of the “15-fathom fleet” of scuttled barges and other ships comprising what the Department of Fish and Game calls one of the most unusual artificial reefs in the country.

The DFG has been involved in an ongoing program of utilizing such reefs to enhance fishing and diving in local waters.

Up to 100 deer hunters will be allowed access to 3,800 acres of Trust for Public Land property in northwest Mendocino County when deer-hunting season opens in Zone A.

Access permits will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis and allow hunting for deer with archery equipment and firearms. No cost is involved. Last year, 87 of 100 available permits were issued to Zone A deer tag holders.

To apply, hunters should send a postcard with their name, return mailing address, current hunting license number and Zone A deer tag number to: State Department of Fish and Game, P.O. Box 47, Yountville, Calif., 94599.

All permit holders will be given a map of the area showing boundary lines, access points and camping sites.

The archery deer-hunting season for Zone A opened last Saturday and runs through the end of the month. General deer-hunting season begins Aug. 12 and ends Sept. 24. No more than two bucks, forked horn or better, may be taken by hunters during the Zone A season.

Today is the grand opening of the Pachmayr International Shooting Sports Park at the Whittier Narrows Dam and Recreation Area in El Monte.

County Supervisor Pete Schabarum will shoot the first clay target at what is described as “the premier facility for shooting sports enthusiasts to practice trap, skeet, archery and Starshot.”

Starshot, a 42-foot-tall, semicircular, orange structure, is a new clay target shooting game.

Other facilities at the park include 14 American trap fields, eight skeet fields, a 22-target archery practice range and two roving field archery courses.

The park will be open every day from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Cabo San Lucas fishing: Green water is still making for poor fishing, with boats having to travel 10 miles south to reach the more productive blue water, where dorado to 50 pounds and an occasional striped marlin are comprising most catches.

According to Didier Van Der Veecken, an International Game Fish Assn. representative at the Solmar Hotel, there have been several sightings of blue marlin in the area, but the prized fish have been inactive.

One bright spot in the colder green water--in the low 70s--slightly off the cape has been the showing of swordfish, with most in the 50- to 80-pound range with one reported at 244 pounds, and small yellowfin tuna.

Dave Denholm of Corona del Mar reportedly caught the season’s first striped marlin in local waters on June 30, but because he tagged-and-released the fish he estimated at 225 pounds, the official weigh-in of the season’s first marlin at San Diego, Avalon or Balboa Island has yet to take place.

The San Diego Marlin Club reports colder-than-normal water around the local islands and that there have been very few sightings, but no hookups.

Balboa Angling Club says that one marlin was hooked and lost at the 209-fathom spot, while a spokesman at Avalon weigh station said off-color water and bad conditions in general are making for a poor start to the 1989 season.

The Fourth of July weekend typically marks the beginning of marlin fishing off the Southern California coastline.

Denholm reported that his fish was caught about four miles east of Santa Catalina Island.

Calendar

The 6th annual American Boating Jubilee ‘89, July 21-30, Shoreline Village Marina, Long Beach; Seminar on how to catch tuna, yellowtail and white sea bass using live baits, Angler’s Tackle Box in Seal Beach, July 26 at 7 p.m. Cost: $10.00.