One for the agesAnother trout opener has...

One for the ages

Another trout opener has come and gone, and it will go down as one of the loveliest, if not one of the best.

Fishermen went about their sport as if moving in a portrait of splendor, so still and magnificent were the Sierra-framed waters at Upper and Lower Twin near Bridgeport, Convict Lake, Crowley Lake and Bishop Creek canyon.

Complaints were few and smiles many on a day when people seemed to be casting away their cares. The state’s budget crisis and New Zealand mud snails threaten the future of Eastern Sierra fishing, but they were distant concerns over the weekend. Talk instead focused on the stellar weather, big ones caught and bigger ones that got away.

Here are snippets from popular opening-day waters:

Bragging rights

A GOOD friend makes sacrifices, which is why Todd Olson of Montrose gives his spot on his boat to one of his buddies at Bridgeport Lake.

But selflessness builds karma, so while his pals motor to the middle of the lake, Olson walks to the dam, soaks his Kastmaster in Crave Gravy and casts it in deep water. One hour later, he wins a spirited battle with an 8-pound, 6-ounce brown trout, the biggest catch in the Eastern Sierra for opening weekend.

“It was the only fish I caught” on Saturday, he boasts with a grin at the tackle shop. He collects a jackpot, too; 30 friends in his group chipped in $10 for a pool for the biggest fish. That will cover the high price of gas, at least.

King for a day

More than 7,000 anglers fan out over Crowley Lake after a dawn fireworks show signals the start of the season. Most have little trouble scoring their five-fish limits. That’s more than 35,000 trout, so Craig Hewitt of San Bernardino is feeling pretty good about landing the biggest, a 7-6 wild brown that he nearly lost.

“It made a few runs, a few jumps and dashed under the bow and went back and forth a few times. It was pretty spectacular,” Hewitt says. “But it wouldn’t fit into our net and it flipped out and broke the line just as it was coming over the rail. Luckily it landed in the boat.”

Cutthroat angling

The water mysteriously turns off-color at normally sparkling and productive Gull Lake, and hundreds of anglers are at it for hours with no luck.

Among them is Shawn Arnold of Huntington Beach, who walks away dejectedly. “I’m going to go eat lunch, have a cocktail and see if I can forget my misery,” he says.

After lunch, he walks onto the Boulder Lodge docks at June Lake, tosses a mini-jig and catches a 4-0 cutthroat, a fish that a mother and her two young sons have been trying to catch for more than an hour.

He doesn’t have a net or a stringer, so he borrows hers. “I felt pretty bad,” he says.

Not fired up

Seven-year-old Ashley Rendall of Santa Clarita wants no part of the bustling cleaning table scene. She turns sour on fishing after seeing a trout bleed after it is brought aboard their boat at Crowley Lake. She attends her first opener with her father and cousins but prefers to “sit by the fire and camp,” she says, smiling at her father, Robert, who smiles back, pats her on the head and promises an extra ration of marshmallows come nightfall.

Beginner’s luck

Jeff DiPANE’s first trout opener at June Lake is also his first day of fishing. It won’t be his last. Two friends talk him into going, but he out-fishes them and most others on the June Lake Loop, reeling in a 6-4 rainbow trout -- on a borrowed rod and reel.

“I’m just warming up,” the 44-year-old Pasadena resident says, posing for photos near the marina scale, his trophy fish stiff as a board. “Next year I think I’ll go after an even larger fish. I’ll try to add 8 to 12 ounces every year -- just like my weight.”

Standing near DiPane is Destiny Hernandez, 12, a novice from Chino Hills, a quick study who learns an essential angling skill: telling tall tales. “My fish almost sank our boat,” she crows of her 6-pounder.

Quality time

Fishing has been good, as usual, at Convict Lake at the base of towering snow-streaked peaks. Raymond Soto, 29, is loitering outside the general store with a strange and contented look on his face.

“I got one at 4.52, a 3.75 and a 2.13,” he says. “But for me the fun is just being here with my father because we don’t get to spend much time together. For me, that’s what the opener is all about.”

Fly fishing expo

Fly fishing is in store this weekend during Orvis Days at the Pasadena store. Free seminars, fly-tying demonstrations, casting demonstrations and more are scheduled. Events begin at 1 p.m. Friday and conclude Sunday afternoon. The store is at 345 S. Lake Ave. Information: (626) 356-8000.

To e-mail Pete Thomas or read his previous Fair Game columns, go to latimes.com/petethomas.