Late Snowfall Opens Up a Range of Opportunities

Thursday morning was especially glorious in the San Gabriel Mountains, where brilliant blue skies provided a wonderful contrast to the glistening white blanket spread over the region by Mother Nature.

At Mountain High, employees and friends celebrated the arrival of a real winter by carving turns in virgin powder on the otherwise deserted slopes of the East Resort.

Those slopes were groomed Thursday night and the official opening is set for today at 8 a.m., giving skiers and snowboarders both East and West to choose from, and enabling 100% operation for the first time this season.

Not far away, at Mount Waterman along Angeles Crest Highway, mountain faithful enjoyed fabulous conditions for the first time since the El Nino winter two seasons ago. Nearly four feet of new snow, ski-patrolman Keith Tatsukawa says, “is the lightest powder I’ve seen in Southern California in years.”

The ski area can’t tout it, but the off-boundary double-black-diamond chutes are no doubt hugely popular among the more advanced skiers and riders, and the resort is hoping to someday come to an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to allow those runs, which are prone to avalanches, to be legally utilized under a program monitored by mountain personnel.

Farther to the west at Mount Baldy, chances are you’ll find employees of larger resorts spending their days off at this small-scale facility. With rickety old and dreadfully slow lifts, and little in the way of amenities, Baldy is considered “Third World” by many. But when conditions are right, there’s no place better locally for those with top-level abilities.

And conditions are “epic” now, resort spokesman John Koulouris says. “It was even dumping below the village, which is at 4,000 feet.”

And, yes, to the east in the San Bernardinos they’re also up to their ankles in fresh powder. Big Bear Mountain, Snow Summit and Snow Valley are running at 100% for the first time this season and the crowds are responding.

Said Bob Roberts, director of the California Ski Industry Assn.: “This won’t quite make up for the tardiness of Mother Nature, but now it looks as though we’re going to have at least a decent season, anyway.”

A LOT OF BULL

Jerry McKoen knew the bull elk he spotted in the remote mountains of central Nevada was a big one. Only later would he learn how big it really was--one of the largest bagged in North America.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal,” said McKoen, 45, a potato farmer in Malin, Ore.

McKoen claimed his prize last fall in the Table Mountain area of the Monitor Mountains north of Tonopah, but only recently learned that the six-point bull with typical antlers scored a whopping 425 3/8 points under the Boone and Crockett scoring system. The main beam of the elk’s antler was five feet long; from one antler tip to the other measured 55 inches.

It was the second-largest bull taken in North America during the 20th century. The largest taken this century was an Arizona specimen shot in 1968, scoring 442 5/8 points.

Another elk shot in Nevada last fall scored 400 4/8 points.

Said San Stiver, a Nevada Division of Wildlife biologist and member of the Nevada Wildlife Record Book Committee, “Only 30 typical elk have ever been taken that have scored 400 points or more, and Nevada had two in a single year. It’s just incredible.”

A nontypical elk--one whose antlers are asymmetrical--from Elko County, Nev., scored 406 4/8.

SOUTH OF THE BORDER

Mexican fisheries officials deny rumors that commercial fishermen with longline gear have been or soon will be issued permits to fish inside the 50-mile zone imposed several years ago, largely as a means of protecting billfish populations so valuable to tourism.

However, Luis Jimenez of the fisheries department’s enforcement division does acknowledge that illegal fishing is going on inside 50 miles and that enforcement is difficult. Sophisticated longline vessels deploy lines dozens of miles long with hundreds of baited hooks. Mexican-based longliners target mostly swordfish, but longline gear is notoriously indiscriminate and potentially destructive. Off U.S. waters, longliners are supposed to remain 200 miles offshore.

Mexican longliners have been lobbying for more than a year to have the 50-mile zone eliminated. Two weeks ago, a boat was seized at the Baja California Sur port city of San Carlos after it had been reported fishing outside Magdalena Bay. In its holds was nearly six tons of striped marlin.

In southern Baja, hotel owners that cater to fishermen and rely on their business, fear that any inroads made by longliners would devastate the marlin fishery and spell disaster for the local economies.

“We asked for the heaviest punishment possible for the guys [caught] in San Carlos,” said Robert Van Wormer Jr., the secretary of tourism, whose family owns three popular East Cape hotels. “We also want to coordinate our efforts against the longliners and have surveillance from air and sea--and wherever we find them fishing illegally, we’ll get them and start a war.”

SHOWTIME

More than 200,000 people are expected to pass through the doors of the Long Beach Convention Center for the annual Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show, which begins a five-day run Wednesday.

That’s a testament to both the popularity of the sport and the show, which is in its 54th year and considered by many to mark the unofficial start of another season.

“It’s a tradition,” says Michael Fowlkes of Michael Fowlkes Productions/Inside Sportfishing, whose television program is shown Sunday mornings on Fox Sports Net. “I’ve been going since I was a kid, but for 10 years with the [TV] show. [In that regard], it’s an opportunity for us to be up close and personal with our audience. In five days, we’ll meet literally thousands of people. It’s a fun time for us, a time we like to roll out our new videos and things like that.”

What Fowlkes is rolling out this year is the 65-foot sportfisher Vintage, which the company recently acquired and will have available for charter this season out of Newport Beach.

What others are rolling out, basically, is everything that has anything to do with fishing, saltwater or fresh, conventional or fly. Exhibitors, destination reps, expert seminars, fashion shows and much more are on tap.

And, yes, there is some actual fishing available at the trout pond, to give children under 12 something to do.

“Over a million youngsters have fished free at the show over the years, many now parents and bringing their youngsters to the show,” promoters boast.

The kids also get in free, whereas admission for adults is $10. Hours are 2-10 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.

ON TAP

* The “early opener” in the southern portion of the Eastern Sierra is March 4. More than 5,000 rainbow trout--some in the two-pound class--will be stocked before the opener, which basically involves dozens of small streams from Independence Creek south. The Diaz Lake fishing derby, sponsored by the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce, will coincide with the opener. Details: (760) 876-4444. The annual Blake Jones derby, sponsored by the Bishop Area Chamber of Commerce, will be held at Pleasant Valley Reservoir north of Bishop on March 11. Details: (888) 395-3952, Ext. 27. The general trout season opener is April 29.

* Applications for free spring turkey hunts at Tejon Ranch near Bakersfield must be received in the DFG’s Sacramento office by 5 p.m. March 3. Hunting dates are April 15, 19, 22, 26 and 29. Hunters and guests must be at least 18. Details: (559) 243-4005.

* The first grunion run of the season is expected March 8 along dark, sandy beaches. Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro is offering its annual “Meet the Grunion” program the same night, and again on March 22. Cost is $2 for adults, $1 for children, and includes a film and a hunt. Details: (310) 548-7562.

WINDING UP

Things are getting downright silly in Cabo San Lucas. Two weeks ago, a pair of anglers got skunked on marlin, but lassoed a deer that had somehow found its way into the ocean. Last week, construction workers caught a marlin that for some reason had swum into the surf zone.

According to Gringo Gazette, workers on the sixth floor of a condo project near San Jose del Cabo spotted the 130-pound striper, rushed down all six floors and, using their tools, hammered and chiseled the billfish into submission, then dragged it ashore and served it as lunch.

The deer was much more fortunate, having been set free to scamper back into the hills.