As Opener Approaches, Winter Casts a Shadow

With this time of year comes a flurry of activity in the great outdoors, and when you throw a couple of late-season snowstorms into the picture, you have, well, a much prettier picture.

“A week ago, I would have told you that spring was definitely here,” said David DeSurra, owner of Convict Lake Resort, a sprawling campground-and-cabin complex adjacent to one of the most beautiful lakes in the Eastern Sierra. “Green grass growing, birds singing, flowers popping up around ... then came the weekend.”

That storm was a wintry one, dropping a foot of snow along the lake’s shores and much more in the higher elevations, serving as a reminder to the thousands who will flock to the opening of trout season April 26:

Be prepared for anything.

“The surrounding mountains are pure white,” DeSurra continued, in his assessment early this week. “It looks and feels like midwinter. But the sun is shining and making all of us optimistic.”

More snow fell Tuesday and Wednesday, adding another layer to the snowpack and fueling optimism that water levels would remain adequate through most of the summer.

At Convict Lake, four miles south of Mammoth Lakes and west of U.S. 395, there are no complaints from DeSurra as far as opening weekend is concerned. Nor are there likely to be any from fishermen, barring strong winds or perhaps an untimely blizzard.

Convict, along with lakes on the June Lake Loop and Bridgeport’s Twin Lakes and main reservoir, will be among the top destinations on opening weekend.

All have been free of ice for weeks and, in some cases, months. The hold-over fish have responded nicely and can be seen slurping insects atop the surface, while hatchery trucks are rolling across the region and adding more fish to ensure another quality opener.

Convict, for example, has been the recipient so far of 15,000 pounds of rainbow trout purchased from a private Nevada hatchery and 6,000 fish from the Department of Fish and Game. Next week it will receive a generous consignment of the famous Alpers rainbows, with some pushing 10 pounds.

“Already the grass is up and looking very green,” DeSurra said Thursday. “It’s a beautiful, sunny day.”

As he spoke, snow was beginning to fall a bit farther up the highway.

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Mike Haynie, a supervising biologist in charge of Eastern Sierra hatchery operations, reiterated Thursday that, despite the state’s whopping budget deficit, all waters popular among opening-weekend anglers would receive their full allotment of trout. And that planting of those waters would continue every other week throughout the season.

However, Haynie added, “The budget issue is still very fluid and we can go in different directions.” For now, though, the stocking schedule will proceed as usual. How smoothly, though, is anyone’s guess.

Hot Creek Hatchery, which annually raises more than 800,000 trout and spawns more than 8 million eggs for use in other hatcheries, is severely understaffed and hamstrung by a state-mandated hiring freeze. How it will meet its delivery schedule will depend on how much support it gets from DFG headquarters and the community.

“We’re open to any and all ideas,” Haynie said, adding that volunteers were being sought to help alleviate matters.

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The DFG’s aerial stocking program involving the planting of golden, cutthroat and rainbow trout into high-country lakes is already in jeopardy. Haynie said the Hot Creek staff, which is down three full-time positions, was trying to farm out some of the operation to other hatcheries across the Sierra, and working on prioritizing lakes for planting.

“I want to emphasize, however, that this will not affect the fishing this year,” he said. “What we plant up there are fingerlings that -- because of the colder water up there -- grow slowly and take about two years before they become available to anglers.”

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Crowley Lake, always the most popular haunt on opening weekend, luring up to 8,000 on opening day alone, figures to make them all happy. Limits, or near limits, have been the rule for the last few years and probably will be again.

Crowley last fall received a slightly smaller but still significant plant of 395,093 rainbow trout. The lake also received 30,231 Lahontan cutthroat trout and 78,750 brown trout.

Most went in as sub-catchables but have been growing rapidly, thanks to the mild winter.

Saltwater Fishing

* San Diego long-range: Frank LoPreste called it “the best bite in the history of sportfishing because never in my memory do I remember anybody ever getting 20 fish, in only four hours, weighing over 200 pounds. It has never been heard of.”

That’s a bold statement from the long-range-fishing pioneer and longtime owner of the Royal Polaris. His boat will pull into Fisherman’s Landing on Saturday at 9 a.m. with a hold full of giant yellowfin hauled from the balmy waters of Clipperton Atoll, a remote seamount west of Costa Rica.

The bite LoPreste referred to occurred Sunday, on the last day of a long-range trip that had begun two weeks earlier. Matt Choate of Redondo Beach started things by hooking up at 3 a.m. and eventually subduing a “cow” estimated at 250-275 pounds. When the chaos was over, 37 tuna had been brought aboard, 20 of which were estimated to top 200 pounds.

Overall, 25 passengers accounted for 30-40 fish topping 200-pounds -- five of which were caught by Choate’s father, David -- plus an impressive slew of 100-plus-pounders.

* Santa Monica Bay: Dan Erickson of Hacienda Heights set a Santa Monica Bay Derby record last weekend by catching a 52.33-pound halibut to win the event and an additional $50,000 for breaking the old record of 50.5 pounds. He caught the fish on a live squid at a depth of 41 feet beyond Malibu Pier.

In all, 92 legal-size halibut -- 24 inches or longer -- were caught during a two-day event marred at times by strong winds and rough seas.

Skiing/Snowboarding

* Local: It’s on again. Bear Mountain and Snow Summit in Big Bear Lakes, which were about to close, announced a reprieve in the form of 10-16 inches of fresh powder. Mountain High in Wrightwood, which had closed, reopened with a reported 14-20 inches. All three will stay open at least through Easter weekend.

* Mammoth Mountain: Bare spots and slushy lower slopes have given way to soft, glistening runs and ideal conditions that will add weeks to the resort’s operating schedule. “It just keeps coming,” spokeswoman Joani Lynch said Thursday. “Our local forecaster is calling for intermittent showers for the next couple of days and another storm to hit next Tuesday. Once again, it looks like wintry conditions for the fishing opener.”

Surfing

* Big-wave: The winner of the Billabong XXL contest will be revealed tonight before an invitation-only crowd of about 1,500 at the Grove Theater in Anaheim. Finalists for the $60,000 grand prize are Fred Basse and Sebastian St. Jean of France, Noah Johnson and Makua Rothman of Hawaii, and Cheyne Horan of Australia.

The first two rode waves with faces estimated at 60-80 feet on March 10 at Belharra Reef off southern France. The latter three rode waves of similar height on Nov. 26 at Jaws off Maui.

Said Horan of his chances, “It was a rogue wave. I waited a long time for it to come. It was a monster. The pictures tell the story. It was over 16 times my height -- around 75-80 feet.”

The photos, as well as a live Web cast of the 7:30 p.m. awards ceremony, can be viewed at www.billabongxxl.com.

* Pro circuit: Lower Trestles in San Clemente is the site of the $60,000 Fosters Cup April 22-26. The second leg of the $500,000 Fosters Pro Surfing Tour is a three-star World Qualifying Series event crucial for those trying to qualify for the 2004 World Championship Tour and boasts a field that includes former WCT veterans such as Rob Machado of Cardiff, Shane Beschen and Mike Parsons of San Clemente, and Kaipo Jaquias of Hawaii.

Holly Beck of Palos Verdes, Jodi Nelson of Surfside, Calif., and Serena Brooke of Australia headline the women’s field.