OUTDOOR NOTES : Fishermen Can Get Early Start on Trout
Trout fishing is on the minds of many anglers these days, what with the general season set to open next month.
But there’s no need to wait for the April 27 opener to catch your limit. Eastern Sierra waters are already teeming--and some are open to anglers.
Because of the drought and budget restrictions imposed on the Department of Fish and Game, those streams are producing some excellent catches.
A small portion of southwestern Inyo County opened Saturday. Waters within the area bounded by the Inyo County line on the south and west, Independence Creek on the north and California 395 on the east are fair game to trout fishermen, who should find the picking good.
Bob Grider, manager of the Mt. Whitney state fish hatchery, said that the DFG’s money problems have hit the hatchery system hard.
“There’s not even enough money to buy fish food and all that’s necessary to raise the fish,” he said.
Therefore, more trout have been released than would be in a normal year.
Diaz Lake and a portion of the Owens River received 20,000 extra pan-sized rainbow trout to go with the 4,000 half-pound-plus fish put in for the early opener.
“It’s just extra fish that had to go someplace,” Grider said. “Rather than dig a hole and bury them, we put them out for the fishermen to utilize them. These are just a bonus.”
Fishermen at Pleasant Valley Reservoir, which is open year-round, are reporting some of the best fishing in years. The reservoir was the recipient of extra fish from the Fish Springs and Hot Creek state hatcheries, which suffered not only from a lack of money but from a lack of water coming from nearby natural wells and springs.
Most of those trout were in the half-pound range, but Grider said that some brood stock in the three- to five-pound range had been put in the reservoir earlier this winter.
“A lot of those will still be around and available to the angler,” he added.
Although the future of the trout-stocking program maybe in jeopardy, the timing of the early releases couldn’t be better for the more than 600 people heading north for the Blake Jones Trout Derby Saturday in the Pleasant Valley area.
It’s open to all comers at $3 for adults and $1 for children. The angler catching the fish weighing closest to that of an already-caught designated fish gets $500 worth of equipment.
They wash onto beaches in the dead of night. They squirm and wriggle and shimmer and shine in the moonlight. They deposit and fertilize their eggs in the sand, then it’s back to the sea they go.
They are grunion, and it’s open season on the slippery silversides.
Next expected run: March 18-21 in the late night and early morning hours along the dark, sandy beaches of Southern California.
The law requires that bare hands only are allowed in the capture of grunion. The DFG suggests you try the ends of beaches, away from crowds, and keep light to a minimum.
And resist the temptation to grab the first fish you see hit the beach. This is believed to be the “scout” grunion, whose safe return to sea may signal a mass landing.
Grab ‘em. Or learn more about Leuresthen tenuis , a member of the silversides family of fish, at special seminars given each year at the Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro, (213) 548-7563.
Briefly
BAJA FISHING--Striped marlin are arriving sporadically in the East Cape, as if to signal the start of the spring season. Rafael Martinez of Hotel SPA Buenavista said live mackerel and yellow and green lures are catching stripers to 120 pounds 15 miles from the beach. Dorado and small yellowfin tuna also are showing in the counts. The windy season apparently is nearing an end. In Cabo San Lucas, Darrell Primrose of the Finisterra Tortuga fleet said fishing for stripers has picked up significantly in the last four days, with boats averaging close to two fish a day.
CONSERVATION--Donations of $3,000 each from the San Fernando Valley chapter of the Safari Club and the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep will allow the day’s use of a helicopter for this weekend’s bighorn sheep census in the Lytle Creek area of the San Gabriel Mountains. Volunteers are sought for the joint project of the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep and the California Department of Fish and Game. They are instructed to meet at the Lytle Creek Ranger Station at 6:15 a.m. Saturday, with food, water and warm clothing. No pets or children younger than 14. In case of bad weather, the census may be postponed a week. Details: (213) 256-0463 or, evenings, (714) 948-0018.
FLY FISHING--Greg Lilly will instruct in basic fly casting and discuss equipment and methods Saturday at Wilderness Park in Downey. No cost. Registration at 8:30 a.m. Details: (818) 339-3289. . . . A monthlong course in fly casting will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Reseda Recreation Center on four consecutive Saturdays--starting this week--by the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers. No cost. Details: (818) 718-8566.
NATURE WALKS--Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve: Tours of Newport’s back bay Saturday at 9 a.m., sponsored by the DFG and Orange County Harbors, Beaches and Parks Dept. Details: (714) 640-6746. . . . Los Cerritos Wetlands: Sierra Club and Audubon Society’s annual tour, March 16. Guided two-mile walks at 15-minute intervals from 8:30 to 11 a.m. will focus on marsh ecology and importance of maintaining and restoring wetlands. Details: (213) 425-3268.
MISCELLANY--The Sportfishing Assn. of California released annual figures for 1989 from 150 vessels operating out of 17 landings and serving 775,000 passengers: $2.7 million spent on terminal tackle; $1 million on bait; $5.8 million on rental equipment; $13 million on gasoline to get to landings; $8.5 million on food and beverage while on fishing trips; $5.1 million on lodging. More specifically, passengers in 1989 consumed 20,000 cases of beer, 22,000 cases of other beverages and 6,000 pounds of coffee.
