Outdoors : Grunion Are Ready to Storm the Beaches

The grunion are coming.

The first predicted “runs” of the season, when these small and silvery fish beach themselves by the thousands to deposit and fertilize their eggs in the wet sand, are expected nightly next Tuesday through March 16 along dark and sandy beaches from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border.

Those that chose to spawn early, and unexpectedly, last month found Orange County beaches covered with oil from the recent spill off the Huntington Beach coast.

“It fit the tides all right, but it was one month early,” Paul Gregory, a Department of Fish and Game marine biologist, said of the run. “The grunion were not detered from their spawning run because of the oil, but apparently once they got into the surf with the oil, they succumbed (by the hundreds).”

Grunion generally spawn just after the nighttime high tides during the spring and summer months, and biologists have determined that there are about four nights following a high tide period when spawning conditions are optimal, and only about two hours during each of the four nights when spawning is likely to occur.

The first of the runs is expected between 10:10 p.m. and 12:10 a.m. Those on successive nights should begin about a half-hour later than the previous night’s run.

Biologists with the Department of Fish and Game suggest that catchers and watchers try the ends of sandy beaches, as far away from crowds as possible, and that grabbers resist the temptation to nab what they call the “scout” grunion--or the first to appear on the beach.

“Let the first-act grunion return to the ocean, and your reward could be a cast of thousands,” the DFG said.

A fishing license is required for everyone 16 or older, and grunion can be taken only by hand.

Those interested can learn more about Leuresthen tenuis , or grunion, by attending one of several seminars conducted each year by the Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro (213) 548-7562.

Thomas Nelson of Bishop, accused of poaching a trophy-class pronghorn antelope near Bodie last September, has a settlement conference scheduled with Mono County Judge N. Edward Denton and District Attorney Stan Eller Thursday at Bridgeport, in lieu of an arraignment that was continued earlier. Nelson at first claimed he shot the animal in Wyoming, until told that he might have violated federal regulations.

A sidelight to the case is that another Bishop hunter, Hudson DeCray, legally shot a pronghorn with 19-inch horns--third longest ever killed in North America--on Sept. 2 in New Mexico. The Inyo Register ran a picture. A few days later Nelson phoned DeCray.

“I guess he wanted to share his antelope with me,” DeCray said.

They got together, and Nelson showed DeCray a picture of his antelope, with its 17-inch horns.

“I told him it could very well go into the (Boone & Crockett) record book,” DeCray said. “I just accepted his story at face value and congratulated him.”

Later, as rumors of illegality circulated and charges were filed, DeCray, a director of the Chamber of Commerce, said: “It’s hard for me to be negative about Tom Nelson until he’s (convicted) for what he’s allegedly done. But if he did do it . . . it would put all of us hunters in a negative light.”

Citing dwindling deer populations in the White Mountains of Inyo County, a group of local hunters is petitioning the State Fish and Game Commission to limit the number of permits issued to deer hunters.

If the group has its way, the permits issued for Zone D-17, which covers the area from Westgard Pass through San Bernardino County almost to Interstate 40, would be reduced from 1,000 to 150, and kills would be restricted to deer with three points or better on at least one antler.

The group also suggests changing the classification from D-zone to X-zone, which would mean that hunters applying for tags to hunt the Inyos could only get a permit through a drawing, rather than by direct purchase.

Meanwhile, DFG officials in the area have expressed concern about the shrinking deer population and have recommended that the Commission split D-17 into separate zones, allowing 500 tags each in Inyo and San Bernardino counties.

Briefly

The new 1990-91 California sportfishing regulations--in an “easier-to-read” booklet format--have arrived at the DFG’s Long Beach regional office and are available there and at most Southland sporting goods stores and tackle shops. The State Fish and Game Commission announced that effective today, sportfishing will be permitted year-round in the portion of the Kern River from Lake Isabella upstream to the Tulare-Kern County line. . . . Showtime: Fred Hall’s Western Fishing Tackle and Boat Show, next Wednesday through March 18, Del Mar Fairgrounds. Information: (619) 755-1141. Also, Don and Alicia Bullock’s Gun, Knife and Collectors Show & Sale, Saturday and Sunday, Los Angeles County Fairgrounds. Information: (714) 523-3111.

Times Staff writer Rich Roberts contributed to this story.