Sierra Is Wearing Fresh, Spring Look for Trout Opener

The first week of spring has never been so beautiful, say those preparing for the onslaught of fishermen expected for the Eastern Sierra’s general trout-season opener April 28.

“About a week ago I was saying, ‘Oh, my God, we’re never going to have a spring.’ We were plowing snow and I thought we were really in trouble,” says David DeSurra, owner of Convict Lake Resort.

This week, however, the temperature hit 65 degrees, Convict is beginning to thaw and DeSurra is confident it will be ice free by the opener.

“The ice is very thin and melting nicely and we’re not expecting any problems,” he said. “My 11 years of experience tells me that we’re going to have a beautiful opener.”

His is the prevailing attitude from Bridgeport south to beyond Bishop.

In the Bridgeport area, the East Walker River has been the most watched body of water. An oil tanker overturned on the adjacent highway Dec. 30, spilling about 3,600 gallons of low-viscosity fuel oil into the prized trout fishery.

Most of the oil has been recovered and, although it remains to be seen what the long-term effects will be, fewer than 50 trout have gone belly up since the spill and biologists are optimistic that the fishery will survive. Booms remain in place to trap oil that breaks free of the rocks when the river rises, but they are expected to be gone by opening day.

Meanwhile, Bridgeport Reservoir, which feeds the river, is full, and fast losing its ice. Twin Lakes, Upper and Lower, are 50% covered but are expected to be free of ice on opening day. Much higher up, at Virginia Lakes, Big and Little, the ice figures to remain well into May.

Upper Twin figures to have an exciting opener, thanks to the stocking of 1,000 brown trout weighing two-seven pounds after last season’s October closure. As if things aren’t exciting enough at the lake’s Annett’s Mono Village Campground, where bears come out of the woods to mingle with campers.

“We haven’t seen them yet, but I have a feeling they’ll be showing up any day now,” concessionaire Norman Annett says. “If the weather stays warm like this, they’ll be waking up.”

On the June Lake scenic loop, the scenery is much better now that the snow is melting.

“We’re having a good melt-off,” says John Logue, owner of Ernie’s Tackle. “We’re psyched now that the sun has finally come out.”

Logue said the ice on Gull Lake is already mushy and close to giving way, and that June Lake, Silver Lake and Grant Lake should be nearly or totally ice free, barring more wintry weather.

In the Mammoth Lakes area, it’s still wintry. Skiers and snowboarders rule, and probably still will on opening day, when the only lake fishing figures to be through holes in the ice.

Down the highway at Crowley Lake, however, the picture looks as bright as this week’s skies. Temperatures have topped out at 65 degrees and small patches of open water have appeared in McGee Bay, at Layton Springs and the mouth of the Owens River at the north end of the lake.

“Unless some weird weather deal happens, we’ll be ice free and ready to roll on opening day,” says Jeff Topp, concessionaire at Crowley Lake Fish Camp.

Topp anticipates a crowd of nearly 10,000 and will open Crowley’s gates two days before opening day so campers can settle in. Fireworks are scheduled for 4:45 a.m. on opening day, followed by an onslaught that will be unrivaled at any other body of water. If everyone scores a limit, nearly 50,000 trout will come out of the lake. That’s a drop in the bucket, really, considering that Crowley receives about 500,000 fingerlings every summer and fall.

Farther down the highway in Bishop, and way up West Line Street in Bishop Creek Canyon, they’re shoveling snow like mad to clear parking lots and paths to the cabins, and finally getting some help from the sun.

“The snow’s melting fast,” says Gary Olson, owner of Bishop Creek Lodge. “We’re down to about 2 1/2 feet of snow at the lodge.”

The lodge is at 8,400 feet and South, Sabrina and North lakes, at 9,000-plus feet, have about four feet of snow on their shores.

The roads to all but North are expected to be cleared in time for opening day, but fishermen probably will have to do their angling through the ice.

It might be worth their while at South Lake, where 1,400 pounds of brown and rainbow trout weighing two to four pounds were stocked at the end of last season.

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Some Northern California anglers will be celebrating opening day at the Upper Sacramento River in the Dunsmuir area. But the real celebration there will take place July 14, marking the 10-year anniversary of the worst inland toxic spill in state history.

On July 14, 1991, a Southern Pacific train derailed on the now-famous Cantara Loop, spilling 19,000 gallons of pesticide into the river, a chartreuse plume of poison that killed virtually everything in its path until it finally dissipated in Shasta Lake, 36 miles downstream. More than a million fish, along with birds and other small animals, littered the river’s banks.

Today, the small animals have reestablished themselves, the birds are coming back and the wild-trout fishery is “strong and stable.”

The Department of Fish and Game announced last week that the river now supports an average of nearly 2,200 trout four inches or larger per mile. Sampling surveys determined there was “a healthy population” of trout measuring 14 to 16 inches. The survey also turned up a seven-pound brown trout.

“The occasional drought or flood and Mother Nature’s natural population cycles are now the dominant factors affecting the wild rainbows and browns of the river,” said Michael Dean, a DFG biologist in Redding.

NEWS AND NOTES

* Tournament fishing: Mother and son pro bass anglers Aaron and Carol Martens finished eighth and 25th, respectively, last weekend in the Nevada Bassmaster Western Invitational at Lake Mead. They’re the only mother and son to have both finished in the money at a Bassmasters event, which pays the top 50 finishers. They did it the first time last November at Lake Shasta.

Aaron Martens, of Castaic, who won $180,000 last year, earned $1,890 for his three-day, 15-fish total of 29 pounds 12 ounces. Jack Gadlage of Logandale, Nev., won the Lake Mead event with a total weight of 43-12, netting $35,000. Rich Tauber of Woodland Hills finished fifth and Warren Wyman of Castaic was seventh.

* Freshwater fishing: The Mile Square Park Kid’s Fishing Derby, sponsored by Orange County Parks & Recreation and Fish Talk Radio KPLS (830) hosts Capt. Ron Baker and Mike Gardner, will be held March 31 at the Fountain Valley lake. The derby is free but parking is $4 per vehicle. Details: (714) 962-5549 or https://www.fishtalkradio.net.

* Cycling: The Mercury Sea Otter Classic, the largest multi-discipline cycling festival in the world, runs through Sunday at Laguna Seca in Monterey. The annual extravaganza, which signals the start of the West Coast cycling season, boasts a field of 7,500 athletes competing in road and off-road races, at levels from beginner to expert. With activities geared for the family, the event is expected to draw a crowd of about 40,000.

* Hunting: Prospects are generally good statewide for the spring turkey season, which runs March 31 through May 6, although things might be tough in the early going in higher elevations because of access problems caused by snow and mud. The limit is one bearded turkey per day, three per season. The DFG is offering its usual safety tip: Never wear red, white or blue clothing because it can be mistaken for colors found on wild turkeys.

WINDING UP

With fishing season close at hand, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal-rights group, is setting its sights on young fishermen: those in the Boy Scouts of America.

In a letter to the organization, PETA pleaded that it “retire” its fishing and fish and wildlife- management merit badges, calling fishing “hunting in the water” and saying that it “is no longer considered a benign activity.”

PETA makes a few interesting points, but is probably going too far by calling today’s young fishermen tomorrow’s potential murderers. Citing the FBI and other agencies, PETA says “cruelty to animals is a warning sign commonly seen in people who eventually direct violence toward others.”

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* SKI REPORT, D16