Salmon Take Hold in Santa Barbara

It has been three weeks since they arrived, and anglers in the Santa Barbara area have been in the pink ever since.

Pink, as in salmon fillets.

Chinook, or king salmon, have invaded the cold ocean off the Ventura-Santa Barbara coast, providing a wild spring for fishermen more used to reeling in sluggish rockfish at this time of year.

“It’s been pretty incredible fishing,” said Fred Benko, skipper of the Condor out of Santa Barbara’s Sea Landing. “The fish are right outside the breakwater. They’re so close, guys have been fishing in Kmart inflatable (boats).”

Randy King, concession manager at Lake Casitas near Ventura, has been out four times in a private boat and has caught his two-fish limit each time. “We’ve been making about a 15-minute run out of Ventura,” he said. “The fish are in the 13-to 15-pound range, but a guy two miles up said he caught a few in the 20s.”

Benko, a skipper in the area since 1973, said sizable salmon runs happen every few years, but runs of this size are uncommon. Biologists have been in the area and are trying to determine what river system the wayward fish belong to.

The fishermen, reeling in something different and delicious, don’t seem to care.

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As expected, last weekend’s opening of Lake Barrett in eastern San Diego County was a huge success.

The 142 anglers, fortunate enough to have had their names drawn in a lottery to fish the opener, caught and released 5,094 northern-strain bass ranging to 10 pounds. The lake opened last year for the first time since 1968. By season’s end last fall, 1,447 anglers had reported catching and releasing 27,430 bass. They averaged an impressive 19.6 fish a trip. Some reported catching as many as 100 in one day.

The first half of this season is already booked, and the deadline for the drawing for the second half, which runs from July 15 to Oct. 8, is June 9. Applications are available at San Diego City-operated lakes or by sending self-addressed and stamped envelopes to Barrett Lottery Application, 5540 Kiowa Dr., La Mesa, CA. 91942. Those caught sending more than one application will be disqualified. Winners will be notified by mail.

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Wildlife officials are warning against turning those cute little Easter ducklings you bought for your children loose, despite how stinky and obnoxious they may become.

Not that many will heed the warning.

“Once they begin to get noisy and messy, we start seeing them in local lakes, streams and estuaries,” said Troy Kelly, a Department of Fish and Game biologist in charge of state wetlands.

Kelly said the newly freed ducks quickly breed and multiply beyond the carrying capacity of their lakes or ponds.

And if they carry diseases, which they often do, they can create epidemics capable of affecting the entire Pacific Flyway, the route for migrating waterfowl between Alaska and South America. Interbreeding between domestic and wild ducks can also create problems among waterfowl.

Said Kelly: “If you are going to buy them as pets, plan to keep them or don’t buy them in the first place.”

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Easter bunnies are also a favorite gift, and can pass diseases onto their wilder cousins as well.

But wildlife experts are less concerned about bunnies than they are about birds because the bunnies usually become quick meals for birds of prey.

“Native raptors can turn such an easy prey into a meal within days of its release,” the DFG said.

Briefly

The Southland has a new sportfishing landing, Gold Coast Sportfishing in Oxnard. The company runs out of Channel Islands Harbor and has three boats running half- to full-day trips. Details: (805) 382-0402. . . . Long Beach Casting Club began offering six weekly fly-casting classes at Recreation Park Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Details: (714) 751-0306. . . . Author-fisherman C. Boyd Pfeiffer will appear at Sierra Pacific Flyfishers in the San Fernando Valley Thursday. Details: (818) 718-8566.

Eagle Claw Fishing School is holding class Sunday aboard the Condor out of Santa Barbara Sea Landing. Details: (714) 840-6555. . . . Trailer-boat owners can get a free U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary examination at BOAT/U.S. Marine Center in Culver City Saturday or Sunday. Details: (310) 391-1180. . . . Russ Izor, Dan Kadota and Ben Seacrest will give a free seminar on inshore and local island fishing Friday between 5:30 and 9 p.m. at Fishermen’s Hardware in Huntington Beach. . . . Offshore and Big Game Fishing classes are being offered Thursday through May 25 at L.A. Valley College; April 26-May 21 at Glendale College and April 25-May 30 at East L.A. College. Instructor is Al Zapanta. Call schools’ community services offices for details.