A snag at CrowleyFavorable conditions are in...
A snag at Crowley
Favorable conditions are in store for the April 24 opening of the general trout fishing season in the Eastern Sierra as ice recedes at lower-elevation lakes and trout planting is expected to resume despite the state’s budget crisis.
But there are two noteworthy snags, one affects the stocking program of Tim Alpers, whose rainbow trout are famous among anglers visiting the region, and the other involves the stocking of Eagle Lake-strain rainbow trout at Crowley Lake -- the area’s most popular fishery.
New Zealand mud snails, an alien species discovered four years ago in the Owens River above Crowley, have recently been found farther upstream at the headwaters of the Owens and in nearby Alpers Owens River Ranch.
The snails pose a threat to trout by displacing other invertebrates, including may flies, caddis flies and stone flies, key trout food sources.
To keep the snails from spreading, the state has told Alpers to stop planting until ongoing surveys reveal the extent of the invasion. More than likely, Alpers will be allowed to stock waters already containing mud snails, but it remains unclear as to what the long-term impact will be. In the near-term, however, it could mean fewer fish to be caught and fewer big fish, not just for the opener, but for the entire trout season.
Mud snails, now found throughout portions of the West, are easily transported from stream to stream via the waders and boots of unknowing fishermen.
Meanwhile, Crowley is having trouble obtaining rainbow trout eggs from Eagle Lake, one of its top sources. Silt from livestock polluted a tributary of the Northern California reservoir, destroying several crops of eggs intended to replenish Crowley near the end of this year.
Curtis Milliron, the Department of Fish and Game biologist in charge of Crowley, is seeking eggs from Eagle Lake trout but says it may be too late to grow the fish to adequate size before the winter freeze. That could compromise next year’s trout opener and beyond.
“The Eagle Lake program for the 2004 year class is questionable at this point,” Milliron says.
Eagle Lake rainbows typically bite later in the season than Coleman- and Kamloops-strain rainbows, providing larger fish for mid- to late-season anglers. On the bright side, Crowley received 180,200 Eagle Lake rainbow fingerlings late last season, and many of those should survive and appear as trophy-size fish in 2005.
Look for expanded coverage of the trout opener in next week’s Outdoors.
Hawaii oh-oh
Last year was one of the most productive in history for big-game fishermen in Hawaii. Anglers caught five marlin weighing 1,000 pounds or more apiece -- the most since 1978. Three of the “granders” were landed off world-famous Kailua-Kona.
Smaller marlin have been very active this year and the bigger blues and blacks -- along with giant ahi, or yellowfin tuna -- should start arriving next month. But sportfishing fleet operators in Kona’s Honokohau Harbor are not rejoicing because the commercial swordfish fishery is about to reopen after a three-year shutdown.
Swordfish fishermen in Hawaiian waters must use experimental hooks designed to reduce the incidental catch of endangered sea turtles on their long-line gear, but the hooks are not expected to reduce bycatch of marlin and tuna.
“Last year we had the largest yellowfin [on average] caught recreationally since the long-liners came to Hawaii in substantial numbers in the early 1980s,” says Rick Gaffney, a Kona-based fishing magazine editor and co-chair of the West Hawaii Fishery Council.
No studies confirm whether fishing improved after the long-line ban, he adds, “but it was better every year since the ban than it had been for years before it.”
Swim with sharks
The windy season has ended in the southern Gulf of California and scuba divers, many of them from Southern California, will soon be gazing wide-eyed at all the wonderful creatures within Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park.
“We had one guy already, on a snorkeling trip, who jumped in the water and jumped immediately back in the boat and yelled, ‘There are sharks down there!’ ” Mark Rayor, owner of Vista Sea Sport in Buena Vista, said with a laugh.
Rayor said small hammerheads, rays, groupers and other fish seemed to sense protection inside the park, which is nearly eight miles long and extends three miles from the coast. He added that the park recently enlisted 15 “vigilantes” to guard against poaching. The volunteer watchdogs are mostly local skiff captains given authority to document wrongdoings for the park inspector, who has the power to prosecute.
Additionally, authorities will charge a 20-peso (about $2) day-use fee to help raise funds for improvements and preservation.
Long for victory
San Clemente’s Greg Long, arguably the most dedicated big-wave surfer to emerge from Southern California in more than a decade, is among five finalists for the season-long Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards. The winner will be announced Friday at the Grove Theater in Anaheim.
Long, 20, is the only surfer eligible in two categories: biggest wave (worth $1,000 per foot, or a minimum prize of $60,000) and biggest paddle-in wave ($5,000). A third category will award $5,000 for the top tube ride.
Long is a contestant in the top category for his Dec. 18 tow-in ride at Cortes Bank southwest of Los Angeles (featured on the cover of the April edition of Surfing magazine). His rivals, Maui’s Pete Cabrinha, Archie Kalepa and Ian Walsh, as well as Brazil’s Daniel Couto, were towed into waves at Jaws off Maui on Jan. 10.
“As for my chances, I really couldn’t tell you,” Long said. “I’ve seen the photos from Jaws and they’re huge. I really have a lot of respect for those guys over on Maui. I’ve looked up to most of them from the beginning of it all.”
To view photos, go to www.billabongxxl.com.
To e-mail Pete Thomas or read his previous Fair Game columns, go to latimes .com/petethomas.
