OUTDOOR NOTES : Several Changes Made in Hunting Regulations

The California Fish and Game Commission--or what’s left of it--adopted the 1991-92 mammal hunting regulations proposed by the Department of Fish and Game when it met at Sacramento last week.

Changes:

--Deer and pronghorn antelope hunters will pay non-refundable processing fees for tags--$2.10 and $5.25.

--Special deer hunts were added for hunters under 16, those using muzzle loaders and archers.

--There will be more antlerless or either-sex hunts.

--Bighorn sheep tags for the Eastern Mojave, available through a drawing, were raised from five to seven, plus one already assigned by auction, and the season was extended from 16 to 60 days.

--Black bear tags will remain at 15,000 and the cutoff at 1,250--1,167 were killed last year--and the DFG has once again recommended an archery season, although the last one was denied by the court.

Details are in the 1991-92 hunting regulation booklets that will be available at sporting goods stores and other outlets after mid-May.

The commission met over two days with a minimum quorum of three. Gov. Pete Wilson’s appointees to replace Bob Bryant, whose term expired, and Jack Murdy, who died, have not come through.

The governor’s office says the commissioners have been appointed. Their identities remain a secret.

DFG and L.A. City Department of Water and Power officials seemed confident during the opening of trout season in the Eastern Sierra last weekend that the Owens Gorge below Crowley Lake will be re-watered, in due time.

First they must survey the gorge to determine what stream-bed restoration will be required after 40 dry years, then balance their needs for flows between fish and power. Los Angeles will still get the water, after the fish use it.

Both sides pointed out that talks already were proceeding nicely before Mono County District Attorney Stan Eller, backed by the state fish and game code, filed suit against the DWP to re-water the gorge, a historic trophy trout fishery.

Crowley Lake’s future is more uncertain, for a new reason. Although lacking the old lunkers, the fishing is fine after a good year in 1990 and a promising ’91 opener, and the DFG is trying to make it better.

But the DWP has informed another L.A. city department--Recreation and Parks--that it might rather have a private concessionaire manage the lake and has thrown the lease open to bids.

By last weekend, 60 people had requested copies of the invitation to propose, which states the DWP’s purpose “to determine if there is a qualified private party to operate the Crowley Lake recreational facility for food, boat, dock, and bait concession, including, but not limited to, developing campgrounds and picnic areas, collecting parking fees, and other approved revenue-producing activities.”

The proposal also says, “A comprehensive capital improvement program is an important element of any proposal”--apparently suggesting that new revenue would pay for the capital improvements, which would belong to the DWP.

But the DWP offers no financial assistance and a maximum lease of only 15 years--hardly incentives for a serious entrepreneur.

Deadline for proposals is May 31. Those interested are believed to include Dave McCoy, developer of the nearby Mammoth Mountain ski area; Mono County Supervisor Dan Paranick, who owns the Crowley Lake General Store; Bishop businessman Earl Brown, and the Conway Ranch company.

Briefly

OBITUARY--Lee Wulff, 86, a master fly-fisherman who revolutionized salmon fishing and set world records for sportfishing, died when the light plane he was flying crashed into a wooded hillside in Hancock, N.Y.

The crash occurred Sunday while Wulff was engaged in a routine renewal of his pilot’s license.

Wulff, one of the world’s best known sport fishermen, popularized dry-fly fishing for salmon and will be remembered for promoting the use of small fly rods to take Atlantic salmon.

TOURNAMENT--Last weekend’s Marina del Rey Halibut Derby might have produced a line-class world record by someone who already holds one record. Marina del Rey’s Dr. George Bogen, fishing with four-pound test, caught a 16-pound 3-ounce fish that helped him and Los Angeles’ Farney Brown win the team competition and a trip to Costa Rica. The record is a 14-pound 13-ounce halibut. Brown, who has submitted his catch to the International Game Fish Assn., holds the four-pound-line class record with a 14-pound 2-ounce white seabass he caught off Palos Verdes in 1988.

Stephen Craig of Los Angeles won the individual competition--and a trip to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef--with a 24.88-pound halibut. John Walker of Lakewood was second with a 18.63-pounder and Tracy Wilson of Los Angeles third with an 18.06-pound fish.

FRESHWATER FISHING--For the Central Valley, guide Jeff Boghosian of Fresno says the Upper Kings River has the best fly fishing on the west side of the Sierra. Adams parachutes and elk-hair caddis size 14 are best. Pine Flat Lake below the river is producing trout and spotted bass. Details: (209) 229-5640. . . . Earl Brown’s Owens River Campground at Benton Crossing will continue its derby for tagged trout taken from Big Springs to Crowley Lake to May 31. The tagged fish--all keepers at 18 inches-plus--are worth $20-$100. . . . Maggie Merriman discusses early-season tactics for the Sierra in 1 1/2-day classes the first three weekends in May at Bob Marriott’s Fullerton store. Instructor fee. Details: (714) 525-1827. . . . Mike and Christine Fong will present their 2 1/2-hour slide show, “Trout Tours West” Saturday at 7 p.m. at Marriott’s, describing little-known fisheries. Cost: $30 a person, $50 a couple. Reservations necessary at (714) 525-1827.

INSTRUCTION--Saltwater fishing by Chuck Garrison, publisher of Sportfishing Update Newsletter, on tactics for inshore species from yellowtail to sand bass, May 8 at the Community Room of the Wells Fargo Bank at 5550 Santa Ana Canyon Rd. in Anaheim Hills. Cost: $15. Information: (714) 637-6521.

ADVENTURE--Gene Carapetyan and Louanne Peck will show slides and tell of their 20,000-mile Pacific sailing odyssey Wednesday, May 15, 8:30 p.m. at the Ullman Sails loft in Newport Beach. Their stopovers included Pitcairn Island and Hiroshima. Admission: $7. Details: (714) 675-6970. . . . The annual SCORE off-road recreation and accessories show will be held Friday through Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center. Admission: $6.50; children 6-11: $3. Rick Russell will have his latest Sidekick Off-Road maps detailing Smugglers’ Cove and Table Top Mountain in Jacumba, Calif.