Some Crowing at Crowley Lake : Trout opener: The 6,800 anglers there are not totally disappointed, but bigger catches are found elsewhere.

Fishermen’s hopes were fulfilled at Lower Twin, June and Convict lakes on opening day of the Eastern Sierra trout season Saturday, but Crowley Lake’s problems remained only half resolved.

The California Department of Fish and Game, which has been conducting intense studies of Crowley with electro-shocking, gill-netting, graphing and every method short of SCUBA diving the past year, is convinced that the big fish for which the lake once was famous are still there.

“The biggest fish for the opening weekend will be in Crowley Lake,” DFG fisheries biologist Curtis Milliron had promised. “Whether anyone will catch it I can’t say.”

A total of 6,800 anglers pursuing that promise under blue skies Saturday were not totally disappointed, despite strong, cold winds sweeping down Long Valley that churned the unprotected lake into whitecaps by 9:30 a.m.

Many caught limits of five trout, the cleaning tables were busy most of the day and most anglers were pleased with the size of the fish.

“They’re bigger fish this year,” said Wayne Nakano of Lawndale, “a lot bigger.”

But the biggest at Crowley was a 4-pound 11-ounce brown taken with a No. 9 silver Rapala by Jim Andersen of Granada Hills.

That’s worth bragging about, but other lakes had more impressive catches.

For the third year in a row, the biggest fish caught in the Eastern Sierra’s opening weekend came from the Twin Lakes near Bridgeport far to the north--in this instance Lower Twin, where Colleen Yancey of nearby Lee Vining lured an 11-pound 10-ounce brown to her Rapala.

The same lake produced catches of 11-1, 10-10, 9-14 and 9-12, and Rick Rockel of Ken’s Sporting Goods in Bridgeport also rated shore fishing “excellent” for trout from three to five pounds. An exception in the area was Bridgeport Reservoir, which Rockel rated as surprisingly “terrible.”

Rockel also said business was good but down because of a decline in fishing interest.

“I attribute that to people changing their lifestyles,” Rockel said.

Other locations wouldn’t agree. Roy Graves of Ojai took an 8-4 rainbow from June Lake, which also turned several stringer limits in the 19-pound range.

“(Saturday) was phenomenal (for business),” said Elayne Logue of Ernie’s Bait and Tackle at June Lake. “We sold more fishing licenses, too.”

At adjacent Gull Lake, concessionaire Pete Levy rented all 42 boats--”Everything that could float,” he said--and Gary Bock of Fullerton got a 5-8 rainbow with a Phoebe lure.

Farther around the June Lake Loop, 9-year-old Seth Caudle of Hesperia took a 4-6 trout out of Rush Creek with a nightcrawler, and Jerry Wyatt of Lompoc netted a 5-14 catch at Silver Lake with a Z-Ray.

The campground was full at Convict Lake. None of the 3,000 seven-pound rainbow brooders the DFG planted there late last year showed up, but there were a few five-pound catches. Archie Foster of West Covina and Mark Allison of Lancaster boated 5-10 rainbows, trolling a Rapala and Panther Martin, respectively.

The wind and slow fishing also were discouraging around Earl Brown’s Owens River Campground at Benton Crossing north of Crowley, where a couple of anglers gave up to fly a kite.

New regulations introduced by the DFG a few years ago cut the limit in the area to two fish with a minimum size of 18 inches.

“Those regs really hurt,” Brown said. “That’s why we’re doing the derby thing, to get people back out there fishing.”

In an attempt to stimulate business, Brown bought and planted 31 2 1/2-pound trout--all the minimum 18 inches--along his campground. Each had a tag worth from $20 to $100, but none turned up.

At Crowley, Los Angeles City lifeguards had to rescue 17 boats whose motors quit--some from being swamped by waves--but nobody went into the water.

There were 4,800 people on 1,150 boats and about 2,000 fishing from shore--the total of 6,800 continuing a steady decline from 7,500 on opening day last year, despite improved fishing in 1990. For the first time in many years, all of the lake’s 100 rental boats were not reserved for the opening, although all were rented during the day.

“You can’t blame the fishing,” said Dave Griffith, who manages the lake for the L.A. City Department of Recreation and Parks. The L.A. City Department of Water and Power, which owns the lake, apparently does not like the way the Recreation and Parks department is running the operation and has put the concessionaire’s lease out to bid for next year.