Diamond Valley Reservoir two-thirds full; bass fishery reported to be awesome.
The original projected opening date for the sprawling new reservoir in western
Riverside County -- Diamond Valley Reservoir -- was this year, but now the Metropolitan
Water District is saying the facilities will not be open until March, 2003,
when the marina and recreation areas will be completed.
With the lake 2/3s full and 140 feet deep in places that seems like a long
wait to allow for shore fishing and perhaps some limited boat fishing access.
The huge reservoir, which is located near Hemet, was created by building long
dams at the mouths of two valleys that drain off the north end of Black Mountain.
The dams block off the Diamond and Domenigoni valleys to create the largest
reservoir in Southern California, one that will hold 800,000 acre feet of water
when full. It is currently filled with about 570,000 acre feet.
The word is already starting to get out about the tremendous fishery that has
been created at Diamond Valley (once called Domenigoni Reservoir and then Eastside
Reservoir before the final name was bestowed). Mike Giusti, the Department of
Fish and Game biologist on more-or-less permanent assignment as the Diamond
Valley fishery and habitat specialist, has had generous MWD funding to create
a model fishery at Diamond Valley. The lake has been planted with the purest
strain Florida largemouth bass, Florida bluegill, redear, crappie, smallmouth
bass, channel catfish, blue cats, and rainbow trout. Silverside minnows and
shiners were added as forage for the gamefish, and the results so far have been
pretty spectacular.
Before the lake started to fill, a rearing pond was built in the future lake
bottom. Broodstock bass to eight pounds were released in the pond and there
was a spawn of those fish in 1999. Later that year, as water was pumped into
the new reservoir the lake level crested the pond and that year’s spawn
of fish had the whole growing lake where they could feed. Those two-year-old
fish are now in the 12- to 15-inch range and weigh from two to three pounds.
For fish that size, they are chunks.
Giusti likes to point out that the Golden Ruler used by bass anglers to estimate
weights would tell you that a 13-inch bass should weigh 1.1 pounds and a 15-inch
fish should weigh around two pounds. And that is true at most places. At Diamond
Valley, a 13-inch bass weighs right at two pounds and a 15-incher right at three
pounds. The eight-pound broodstock bass that was in the pond was recaptured
this year, and it weighed 12 pounds, putting on four pounds in just two years.
Giusti said the 2000 year class fish are all 10-inchers, and he estimates the
bass population in Diamond Valley is around 300,000 fish already.“The sampling
I’ve done out there is unreal,” said Giusti, who has been taking scale
samples from 25 bass per month to chart growth rates. “Four of us on the
electro-fisher, which is not the best boat to be fishing from, boated 300 bass
in 3 1/2 hours of fishing. Three casts in a row I caught two fish on a the same
jerk bait.”
The first trout plants went in during November and December last year. These
were subcatchable-sized rainbows. These small fish are classed as to how many
of them it takes to weigh a pound. The stocks late last year consisted of six
to 15 fish to the pound. By May this year, those trout were in the one to 1
1/2-pound range.“That gives you some idea of the growth rates were going
to see, at least initially,” said Giusti.
It sure would be nice to see the lake open to at least shore fishing this year.
Giusti expects the two-year-old bass to be five-pounders by the end of the year.
While regulations haven’t been adopted for the reservoir, Giusti is leaning
toward a slot limit where two or three bass under 13 inches could be kept by
anglers and one or two over 16 inches could be creeled. He’d like a zero
limit on the smallmouth bass until they become established and regular limits
on other species.
Let’s get this lake open by fall. At least to shore fishing. What do you
say MWD?
Summer may not be close to over, but since last Thursday, the days are getting
shorter. I swear I can feel the difference thanks to some primal part of my
genetic makeup, and I start looking at drying hillsides for game trails. It
is the hunter in me. I find myself drawn to regular hunting haunts to check
out this year’s population of small game and upland birds. I look for fawn
tracks on the deer trails, and if I run across bear tracks I search for the
footprints of cubs. One or two young this year? Three? Thanks to a wet, late
spring, it looks to be a good season. There are lots of young rabbits and the
quail and chukar broods are bigger than last year.
My hunting has become less expeditionary and more residential the last few
years. I like being able to leave the house before dawn or late in the evening,
hunt for an hour, and be back home. I almost hate to tell my avid hunting buddies
-- guys who yearn to travel all over the world for big game -- that my favorite
hunting is for cottontail rabbits these days. Each year on the July 1 rabbit
opener, which is this Sunday, I take an accurate .22 rimfire rifle, park myself
on a hillside at dawn or dusk and watch the openings in the draws below me for
moving rabbits. Scouting usually assures that I’m in a spot with more than
a few rabbits, and we frequently have rabbits on the barbecue for the Fourth
of July.
Maybe rabbits are my favorite because they mark the first hunting season of
the fall cycle. Maybe it’s because there are few things I like to eat better
than marinated young cottontail. Maybe it’s because I envy the coyotes
and red-tailed hawks who get to hunt and eat them all year.
As of June 15, the U.S. Forest Service fee program on four Southern California
national forests has been in effect four years, and over $10 million has been
raised through the daily and annual use fee. I have repeatedly caught flack
for supporting the fee program, but recent polls show I’m not alone in
my belief that recreational users have a responsibility to pony up to help pay
for our impacts and enhance our enjoyment of public lands -- whether it be campground
and trail maintenance, water and habitat development for wildlife, or simply
regular trash pickups and outhouse cleaning. I like where the money is being
spent and you can see the results on the ground. A Los Angeles Times poll in
late April showed that 62 percent of all Californians believe the user fee is
a good idea and should continue.
Sportsmen and anglers are accustomed to this concept. You pay for a hunting
or fishing license and the money is used to benefit the fish and game and other
wildlife. We have even set up an excise tax program on sporting arms and ammunition
and fishing tackle to benefit fish and wildlife nationwide. We know the program
works, and the Adventure Pass is a natural extension of that concept that applies
to all forest users.
Come to think of it, I think I need to get my new annual pass.
East Mojave Preserve’s plan is prejudicial again hunters; restrictions
excessive, biased
The National Park Service has issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement
and General Management Plan for the East Mojave National Preserve. Two weeks
ago, I wrote about how the NPS was removing historic water sources from the
preserve without doing a careful analysis of their impacts on wildlife even
before the management plan was final. This week the final plan proves the park
staff’s bias against hunting and hunters in its rules and language.
Let me just illustrate this with three points.
Overall Bias Against Hunting/Hunters: Under the plan, the preserve will be
closed to hunting from the end of January through August each year so “non-hunting
visitors would experience fewer disruptions and greater safety with the restrictions
on the seasons, species, and areas where hunting would be allowed.” That
is a direct quote from the plan.
Am I being too sensitive here or does it seem like hunters are somehow viewed
as lessor visitors who’s activities are somehow less important than non-hunters
or deserve less consideration than non-hunters? If you were to substitute “black”
or “Hispanic” in that sentence (“so non-black visitors....”),
as a means of catering to racists who use the preserve and you begin to understand
my disgust with the document’s language. Hunters and hunting are clearly
being discriminated against in the plan. The rationale for the move, according
to the final document, is because the park service “also has obligations
to listen to the non-hunting community and has received many letters advocating
complete elimination of hunting. The proposal is our best attempt to provide
opportunities for all visitors to Mojave.”
Excuse me, but there is nothing in the plan that says non-hunters can’t
use the park during hunting season so they don’t disrupt hunters, which
is far more likely to happen than the other scenario. Yet, hunters are restricted
because some people don’t like a legal activity. Would the park service
also accept racist pleas to keep out any ethnic group for part of the year because
the NPS staff believes in the First Amendment that protects free speech -- even
for racists -- and would incorporate their wishes? The legislation that created
the preserve specifically called for hunting to be allowed and “regulations
closing areas to hunting... shall be put into effect only after consultation
with the appropriate state agency....” Yet, the NPS is proposing closing
the whole area to all hunting for small game (cottontail rabbits and jackrabbits)
and predators (coyotes, bobcat and foxes), effectively shutting it down for
half the year, without consulting with the California Department of Fish and
Game.
No Small Game or Predator Hunting: Without any biological justification, the
preserve staff has somehow ordained that hunting for upland birds and big game
is acceptable, but that small game and predators should not be hunted. How did
they pull this rabbit out of the hat? Well, it fit in with their desire to rid
their preserve of hunters half the year, to give in to the racist’s --
I mean anti-hunter’s -- demands. The statewide season on jackrabbits is
all year, coyotes can be hunted all year, and cottontail rabbit season opens
July 1. If they allowed hunting for these species, they couldn’t very well
close the preserve to hunters half the year. The ironic part of this is that
desert tortoises were also used as a scapegoat for closing the preserve to hunting
half the year, as though there were some connection to declines in tortoises
and hunting (there isn’t). In fact, by stopping varmint hunting, the NPS
staff is likely to increase mortality on tortoises through greater predation
on young tortoises. They even admit that. They’re worried about hunters
shooting tortoises, but it’s OK for coyotes to eat more. It’s OK for
cars to run over more as we improve facilities and get more visitors. It’s
prejudicial and it just doesn’t make sense.
Excessive Hunting Closures: Lastly, under the guise of public safety, the
National Park Service staff further proves its bias against hunting and shooting.
The one-mile rifle hunting closure around seven main areas in the preserve is
totally bogus. There is no precedent anywhere in the state or nation for this
size of firearms closure for public safety. The standard law to protect public
safety is 150 yards from a road and 1/4-mile from an occupied dwelling. People
who understand hunting and firearms use, know this is more than a completely
safe margin. Yet, when this was pointed out the NPS staff in comments on the
draft plan, they blew off the suggestion that all law enforcement agencies across
the state and nation knew better how to set safety standards. Why? Because “of
the well know fact that bullets fired from rifles may travel as much as one
mile.”
I thought it was well known that bullets from a big game rifle might travel
three or four miles, not just one mile. But apparently the NPS staff didn’t
know this or their public safety zone distances might have been increased. Using
the NPS staff’s logic, it would be wise to close all roads within a mile
of any tortoise habitat because a tortoise could wander out onto a road and
get run over. To protect children from being run over in campgrounds, all vehicles
should have to be parked, say, a mile away and everyone walk in. Kids probably
wouldn’t wander a mile away from camp and get run over that way. It would
be safe.
I agree that it is the staff’s “responsibility to ensure.... safety,”
but how they decide they know more firearms and hunter safety than agencies
that deal with the issue daily is beyond me -- unless they have a bias against
hunting and hunters. By and large, the document is a good one, but it has a
prejudice against hunters and hunting -- and even hunted wildlife -- that goes
beyond the bounds of rational judgment. This bias jumps out at any hunter who
reads the plan.
The biggest disappoint of all, for me, is that at least a couple of the people
on the staff that created this document are hunters and shooters who know how
this document is fundamentally wrong and wrong-headed as it relates to hunters
and hunting. These people shirked from their responsibility to stand up for
what is right. This total lack of integrity is shameful -- as shameful as this
document is flawed.
The talking heads on the evening news and those editorials in many of the state’s
newspapers have been calling it a “handgun safety” bill. The reality
is that is a complete moratorium on the sale of all handguns made in the world
today -- from Olympic target pistols to single shot handguns used for big game
hunting and target shooting. Don’t believe me. Read Assembly Bill 1219
yourself. It will make it illegal for you or I to buy or sell, loan, or give
to our grandchildren any “pistol, revolver of other firearm capable of
being concealed upon the person, unless that firearm includes an integrated
mechanical safety device or other incorporated design technology that is designed
to prevent children or other unauthorized users from discharging the handgun."
The quote is directly from the text of the bill.
There is not a handgun made in the world today that meets the bill’s criteria.
None. After the bill takes affect in January 1, 2006, it will be impossible
to buy a classic Model 1911 .45 caliber. You can own one, but you will not be
able to buy or sell or give such a gun to a friend or family member. You couldn’t
even loan your target pistol to another shooting buddy to fire a match. I would
not be able to give either of my sons my single shot Thompson/Center Contender
pistol chambered for the esoteric wildcat 7mm TCU cartridge. If your grandfather
wants to give you or your son his old .38 Special revolver that he carries around
in his flyfishing vest with shot loads for rattlesnakes, you’d better have
him do it before the beginning of 2006.
The bill will effectively put out of business many smaller gun shops who deal
extensively with used firearms. There is some doubt that any company will have
a product available by 2006 that will meet the criteria outlined by our sage
legislature. Of course, that is what they want. They don’t believe you
and I are responsible enough to own firearms. It’s about prejudice. Never
mind that gun accidents are down, especially among children under 12. Never
mind that the bill will likely cause more deaths and assaults because wives
won’t be able to use hubby’s new “smart” handgun when the
rapist or robber comes to call. Never mind that the media ignores the fact that
firearms are used to avert crime millions of times a year, usually without a
shot being fired. (Are you going to try to rob or assault someone if they have
a .44 pointed at you? Most would-be crooks run.) Never mind the real number
of gun accidents is minuscule, especially in relationship to how many guns are
in circulation. Folks, this brain-dead bill passed the assembly of our state
legislature last week. It will likely have smooth sailing in the state Senate.
HANDGUN OWNER LICENSING: But AB 1219 is not the worst of the gun legislation
in California. The anti-gun legislature has passed two similar bills requiring
licensing and live fire testing of all handgun owners this week -- Assembly
Bill 35 and Senate Bill 52. Oh, the media jumped on the bandwagon when the bills
were amended before passage to have the licenses called “safety certificates”
instead of “handgun owner licenses.”But the result is the same. You’re
registered and licensed. If these bills pass both chambers and are signed by
the governor, anyone who wants to own a handgun will have to go through a fairly
elaborate testing and shooting program -- to be administered by local law enforcement
-- and then taxed for the license. The gun control crowd is big on saying, “Why
shouldn’t gun owners be tested and licensed just like automobile drivers?”
We already have this requirement when guns are used just like automobiles --
out in public. For someone to carry (drive) a gun in busy shopping malls or
the workplaces of America, he has to have a Concealed Carry Weapon (CCW) permit.
In most states, if you go through the requirements outlined in AB 35 and SB
52, you can get a CCW permit.
But not here in California. Why is that? It’s about bias.
Just like you don’t need a driver’s license to putt around on private
property or on many dirt roads on public lands, for that matter, why should
you need a license to shoot a gun at a range or out in the desert on BLM land?
Of course, you shouldn’t. These two gun laws are the equivalent of requiring
that you have a license for a car that stays in the garage or for a golf cart
used to run you up and down the links.
The reality -- and a lot of my liberal, gun-owning friends don’t like to
hear this because they just don’t believe it could happen -- is that the
licensing scheme is just a registry for when the state bans handguns all together.
You will then get a letter to turn in those guns or you’ll be a criminal.
Can’t happen here, you say? It has happened within the last decade in Australia
and Canada (crime rates have skyrocketed following gun bans, but never mind
that, somehow society is safer, according to the politicians). Even in a best
case scenario, there is just more taxation and more bureaucracy without tangible
benefit. In a worst case scenario, it is the first step to loss of a whole class
of firearms for reasons that really have nothing to do with public safety or
crime reduction.
These bills are all smoke and mirrors and bias. Mostly bias. There is a profound
ignorance about and prejudice toward guns and gun owners in the California legislature.
They don’t know us. They don’t want to know us. Self-defense, recreational
shooting, and hunting will be legislated away in a short matter of years if
gun owners don’t get to know their elected representatives and their staffs.
And there is no better time than in the coming weeks. The thing to do is call
both your state assemblyman’s office and your state senator’s office
and ask to come the local office for a face-to-face visit. Write a letter --
don’t just send an e-mail and don’t just telephone -- write a letter
to the governor’s office. The goal: Let these people know you’re a
gun owner, in addition to being a Little League coach or a season ticket holder
at the local theater or whatever to show them you are just a regular person.
Also make sure you let them know you vote.
The unfortunate reality of this debate is that there is not a Republican representative
(with maybe one Senate exception) in the state who has supported any of these
bills. There are darn few Democratic representatives in the state who have not.
I know too many Democrats who own guns in this state for this to be happening.
Gun-owning Democrats with Democratic representatives especially need to be making
those phone calls.
WHERE’S THE NRA?: Lastly, I want to have a simple questioned answered?
Where’s the National Rifle Association? As long as George W. Bush is in
the White House it is pretty clear there will be no more assaults on the Second
Amendment in Washington D.C. The NRA needs to move -- and I mean move -- the
majority of its staff and financial resources to California to fight politicians
here who just don’t get it.
Gun owners can sound a little haughty in this debate. We know we are right.
The facts support our stand on gun ownership for self-defense, hunting, and
under the Second Amendment. The facts prove these gun control laws do nothing
to avert crime or benefit public safety, and in fact they often do the opposite.
Even the polls show non-gun owners support our stands on gun ownership and hunting.
But the politicians here just don’t get it. The NRA is the one organization
that could make a huge difference in California. Political trends roll downhill
to Washington D.C. from California, and it’s time the NRA learned this
fact. Those of you who are NRA members should shoot e-mails their way. The NRA
needs to flex its muscle here. The one thing politicians understand is money
and pressure. The NRA, as our spokesman, has both. There is no better time than
now.
NORCO -- The Third Annual Youth Outdoor Safari Day will be held at Mike Raahauge's
Shooting Enterprises complex in Prado Basin Saturday, July 21. This will be
an all-day event and is expected to draw over 2,500 youngsters to participate
in a wide variety of outdoor activities.“This event will be the first outdoor
experience for kids attending and this is the best ‘Stepping Outdoors’
event that has ever been designed to educate the youth of Southern California,"
said Dennis Anderson, chairman of this year’s event for Safari Club International.
It will be a fun-filled day where kids can learn a variety of outdoor skills
in the field and put them to use. There will be wildlife exhibits, kayaking,
decoy painting, duck, turkey and quail calling, fishing and casting competitions,
falconry and dog training demonstrations.
Other featured events include the SCI Sensory Safari, where youngsters will
actually be able to touch life-size mounted big game animals. There will be
an archery range staffed by accredited bow hunters, smallbore clay target shooting,
handgun and rifle target shooting with .22 rimfire, a custom designed BB gun
range, and guided wildlife nature walks around a wetlands marsh. Sports celebrity
guests are scheduled to appear throughout the day, and nationally-know shooters
will put on shooting exhibitions for the kids. John Cloherty, nationally famous
trick shooter will put on a his amazing shotgun demonstration, and two-time
Olympian Dan Carlisle will attend the event. A special appearance by Cindy Shenberger,
International Skeet Olympian and three-time National Champion, will highlight
the shooting program.
Pre-registering for the event is highly recommended, and those attendees who
do sign up early will receive a free gift. Event day registration begins at
8 a.m. Kids planning to attend the event are required to be under the supervision
of a parent, grandparent or recognized group leader. Children under the age
of 17 will be admitted free ( includes all activities and lunch) youths over
the age of 17 and adults pay only $10 each, and couples bringing children will
be charged $15 for the day. For more information, to advance register for Youth
Outdoor Safari Day 2001, become a volunteer, make a donation or get involved
in the program, contact Mike Raahauge's Shooting The event is being co-sponsored
by the Orange County and Los Angeles chapters of Safari Club International.
CHINO -- A series of non-guided hog hunts on the Tejon Ranch is being sponsored
by Turner’s Outdoorsman, Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises, and California
Hog Hunter newsletter. While the weekend hunts are not guided, they do include
all food and two nights stay in one of the Tejon’s premium hunting lodges
during the hunt. The next hunt is slated for August 3-5 and the cost is $500.
This hunt is limited to just 10 hunters and six spots are already taken. Future
dates are being set for November through June, with Turner’s planning monthly
hog hunts on the ranch during that time frame, so hunters need to get on the
mailing list and make reservations early.
“Our first hunt was a blast,” said Andy McCormick of Turner’s
Outdoorsman. “The weather was miserable during the April hunt with snow
and rain nearly all weekend, and a lot of the best places on the ranch couldn’t
be hunted, but our group still managed to have about a 40 percent success rate.
I expect our success to be better on the August hunt.” For more information,
to be placed on the Turner’s hunts mailing list, or to make reservations,
contact Jim Matthews, the editor of California Hog Hunter, at 909-887-3444.
Matthews is handling the booking for these special hunts on the Tejon.
Even before the general management plan has been approved and adopted, it appears
the East Mojave National Preserve management staff has moved ahead with its
wholesale removal of man-made watering devices that potentially support a vast
network of wildlife in this desert region.Twice this past weekend at the Raahauge's
Shooting Sports Fair in Norco, I had hunters come by and tell me stock tanks
and windmills had been removed. These are places they had hunted for 20 years
in the East Mojave that have always had open water available for wildlife. That
water was gone."A stock tank and windmill about a quarter-mile from where
we camp on our quail hunts in the East Mojave were gone this past fall, and
several other tanks were also gone," said one hunter.
Dennis Schramm, a management assistant for the National Preserve, said that
the cattle tanks and windmills from one of the former cattle ranches in the
East Mojave were indeed removed this past year when the lease, patented property
within the preserve boundary, and water rights were purchased by the National
Park Foundation. The rancher choose to remove the tanks and windmills and use
them on other property when he sold out. Schramm said that agreements to purchase
two other major inholdings have approved, and that more tanks, windmills, and
water pipelines are pending removal if the National Park Service decides not
to either purchase the "cultural" resources, as the park staff call
windmills and stock tanks.
The loss of water for wildlife has not been carefully examined in this equation.
The NPS is intent on removing as much of man's imprint from the desert as possible.
Wildlife be damned in the process. Instead of adopting a go-slow, conservative
approach to see and examine when and where the man-made water could be removed
without damaging wildlife populations, the staff is willing to sacrifice wildlife
to make the preserve "natural" again. There was no effort made to
purchase the windmills and tanks on the one purchase, and all above ground pipelines
were removed by NPS staff. This system is gone, and the same thing is likely
to happen on the other two purchases.
These people just don't get it. On one hand, it is perfectly acceptable to
improve roads, increase visitor usage, enlarge campgrounds and visitor centers,
make trails -- all that have a negative impact on wildlife and habitat -- but
it's not OK to leave beautiful, historic windmills and stock tanks that support
wildlife. It just doesn't make sense. It is talking out of both sides of your
mouth.
Many of us who supported the creation of a National Preserve, in stead of leaving
the management of the East Mojave in the hands of the Bureau of Land Management,
are particularly frustrated. We supported the dirt road closures, we supported
the phasing out of cattle grazing and mining, and we supported bans on off-road
vehicle use. Why? These are things that protect and would enhance the area for
wildlife. We don't understand the move to get rid of desert water. All water
in the desert is precious and adds to the amount of habitat that can be used
by wildlife. The windmills and stock tanks are part of the reason why the East
Mojave has so much wildlife. Add this water to the 200-plus springs and 130
man-made guzzlers (and the jury is still out on these in the NPS eyes), and
you know why the area is wildlife rich.
Schramm said the final management plant for the preserve will be out the end
of the month and "that few changes were made to the final draft."
If that is the case, I am fairly certain that sportsmen and conservation groups
are likely to sue the agency to stop the implementation of the plan, to stop
them from destroying wildlife water sources before examining the consequences
of removing windmills and water tanks. If the California Department of Fish
and Game was truly interested in the state's wildlife resources, they would
lead this charge to get the NPS to change its wrong-headed ways.
Maybe the Riverside Parks people could call San Bernardino County Parks and
find out how to do two things at the same time. San Bernardino County has the
Renaissance Faire each year at Glen Helen (ongoing right now). Throughout the
run of the Faire, a major portion of the park is still open to regular visitors
and fishermen. Amazing. The Riverside County Board of Supervisors need to look
at the management of the Parks and Open Space District. Or lack of management.
The way the parks are run in Riverside County is a legendary, sad joke throughout
the region.
First-time hunters in California are required to pass a 10-hour hunter education
class before purchasing a hunting license. These classes also satisfy the California
requirement for a safety course before a handgun may be purchased. The following
is a list of regularly scheduled classes coming up in the next month:
Saturday, June 9, at the Inland Fish and Game Conservation Association Range,
Redlands. Registration is 7:30 a.m. and the fee is $8 per student. The class
includes live-firing and students should bring a lunch and drinks for the all-day
class. Classes are held the second Saturday of each month at the Inland Range.
Contact: (909) 781-HUNT.... Sunday, June 10, in Rancho Cucamonga, from 8 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Price is $10 per person. Kids under 16 are required to pick up a study
book in advance. Contact Gene Hubler at (909) 987-0811. Hubler runs classes
the second Sunday of each month.... Saturday, June 16, at Mike Raahauge's Shooting
Enterprises' Sporting Clays Range, Norco. Registration is 6:30 a.m. and the
fee is $35 per student, which includes instruction, hunter safety certificate,
lunch and refreshments. Participants must register at a Turner's Outdoorsman
store or Raahauge's Shooting Enterprises and bring their hunter safety booklet
the day of class. Classes are normally the second Saturday of each month. Contact:
(909) 735-7981.
Sunday, June 17, at the Walmart, Victorville. This class is held the first
Sunday of each month, and the first and third Sundays in June and September.
Fee is $15 per student. Students can sign up and pick up a study book at the
sporting goods department in Walmart or call Ken Crawford at (760) 948-4218....
Saturday, June 23, at the Maywood Rod and Gun Club, Perris. The club runs a
hunter safety class the fourth Saturday of each month at its range in Perris,
except for Nov. and Dec., when the class is the third Saturday. Contact Bob
Williams at (909) 685-3908.... Saturday, June 23, at Prado Tiro, Chino. The
one-day class begins 7:30 a.m. the fourth Saturday of each month in the Airgun
Hall. Cost is $15 (includes ammunition and range fees). Bring a lunch, snacks,
and drinks. Contact: (909) 656-3359.
Qualified hunter education instructors are available within a short distance
of most any Southern California location, and courses are conducted throughout
the year. For a recorded list of volunteer hunter education instructors, their
locations and telephone numbers, call (562) 590-5670, or access the list via
the Department of Fish and Game website at www.dfg.ca.gov.
Spanish language instructors can be found in Santa Ana, Orange County, Colton
in San Bernardino County, Escondido in San Diego County, and Lompoc in Santa
Barbara County. And in Los Angeles County, Spanish language hunter education
courses are available in Baldwin Park, Canoga Park, Inglewood, and Torrance.
Lake Mathews' legend looms larger than reality.
The sun was just starting to break through the morning fog and clouds when
the car stopped on the road above Lake Mathews, located nearly in downtown Riverside,
and the driver walked over to the edge of the road and yelled down at us."How's
fishing?"Considering that Mitch Southern and I were fishing a water that
has become an urban legend, we didn't want to burst the man's bubble. So we
lied."It's OK," said Mitch."You should have been out earlier,
the fishing's better early," said the man, sounding like someone who knew
more about fishing a closed lake than he should have. Then he paused. "I
mean, you can see the stripers jumping early in the morning." Then another
pause, realizing again that he knew too much. "I assume they're stripers."
Then he scurried back to his car and drove away hurriedly. Mitch and I looked
at each other and started laughing."You think he might have some first-hand
knowledge about fishing Mathews?" I asked Mitch while he laughed. He was
just one of a half-dozen cars that stopped on the roadway to talk or merely
watch as we fished from Mitch's bass boat. One guy watched for a long time from
the cab of his big truck, then drove away shaking his head. We didn't catch
a fish the whole time he watched and it was clear that he either thought we
were incompetent and that all the stories he'd heard about Mathews for years
were lies. Knowing how legends take on a life of their own, (and that I was
picking out backlashes a couple of times while he watched) it was more likely
that he thought we were duffers.
First, I need to say the lake is not named after me or anyone in my family.
Lake Mathews is spelled with only one "T" and not two. Besides, the
only thing my family might have named in its honor is a pub in England or Germany
(depending on which of the many branches you want to follow back), or at least
a bar stool in a pub. Second, we were two of about 30 anglers last Friday who
got invited to fish Mathews by the Mike Giusti, a Department of Fish and Game
fishery biologist. The goal was to catch largemouths to transfer to Lake Skinner
and catfish to the new Diamond Valley Reservoir near Hemet. Mitch and I were
there the last of five fishout days set up by Giusti. Mitch thought it was going
to be Nirvana.
But as with many legends, it didn't live up to its billing. I was prepared
for this by Giusti, and I tried to convince Mitch the fishing probably wouldn't
be very good. Ya, sure. Mitch kept grinning like a kid in a candy store, and
it took three hours of tough fishing to convince him, and then he still wouldn't
give up."The fishing's been a lot better at Silverwood," said Mitch
after we'd pounded the water for four hours. Finally. I know this won't convince
you, either, because we've all heard stories about guys who've illegally snuck
into this closed lake and caught 10-pound bass."We have yet to see a 10-pound
fish come out of this lake," said Giusti. "That's after catching over
1,000 bass and moving them to Skinner. The biggest fish we've seen out of Mathews
is a six-pounder."
For years, Mathews received large and frequent bluestone (copper sulfate) treatments
in an attempt to clear the water of blue-green algae. The treatments become
more frequent and bigger and the fishery, which has been monitored by the DFG
for years, declined to nearly nothing. There was a time when it was indeed a
very good bass and crappie fishery, but it hasn't had much of the fishery for
10 years or more. All the bass we caught (all four of them) were relatively
skinny. All the bass in the pen caught by other anglers Friday were skinny.
And there weren't very many of them. Last year, at the catch-out, Giusti said
the two-day fishout produced 660 bass for about 100 anglers. This year, the
total five-day tally was only 480 bass for about the same number of anglers.
Timing was part of the problem this year, admitted Giusti, but the reality is
that the legend is far bigger than the reality. It's a good little fishery,
but certainly not better than Perris or Silverwood, or even Skinner.
Still, the question that all anglers always ask: Will it ever be opened? Giusti
doesn't think so. And certainly not in a Lake Perris sense. The water district
has to protect the water quality, and the DFG has endangered species obligations
on the land around the lake."The only way I could ever envision it opening,
is if someone approached Metropolitan (Water District) and gave them a proposal
for a limited entry program like at Barrett Lake," said Giusti, comparing
Mathews to a San Diego City water. Barrett is a permit-only lake with very limited
access. "But would it be worth it?"I'm of the opinion that any addition
to the number of places to fish is a good idea, even if it would spoil a legend.
Anyone out there interested in approaching MWD about running a small fishing
concession at Lake Mathews?
"To `catch a dream,' that is what some very special kids were doing Saturday
aboard the sportfishing boat "Qualifier 105" out of Point Loma Sportfishing
in San Diego. I felt blessed to be there. There were 19 children, ages nine
to 17 years old, from the San Diego area on the boat that day. They were all
either oncology or hematology cancer patients who -- along with parents, nurses
and other volunteers -- spent a day on the ocean fishing, catching barracuda,
bass, halibut and other assorted fish. The air was filled with shrieks of joy
and excitement, and for most of theses kids it was their very first fishing
trip. For some, I struggled with the idea that it would be their last.
"These trips all started over 11 years ago when Natalie Cintas, owner of
Blue Porpoise Marine, asked some of her customers to take a couple of these
kids out fishing.
The program immediately out grew these small boats, and she contacted John
Klien, owner, operator of the Qualifier105 to see if he could help. Without
hesitation, John said "yes" and "Catch a Dream" became a
reality. "Over the last five years John and his crew have taken over 1,000
of these kids out fishing aboard the Qualifier 105. All the necessary fishing
tackle, bait, food, snacks and professional crew are all a donation from John
and his operation at Point Loma Sportfishing. The many volunteers came from
as far away as Topanga Canyon and Torrance to assist these kids in catching
fish. "I've known John a long time, and I asked him why I hadn't heard
of this endeavor before this year? John's reply was simple.
He was not doing it for the publicity, but rather for the pure joy it brings
seeing these kids catch their very first fish, their smiles and laughter, and
for a very brief moment, that opportunity they had to forget the other side
of their lives. Without exception, every last one of the volunteers, along with
John and his crew, left with a better understanding and love for these children,
their families and caretakers. I don't know if John would really want this to
become a newspaper story, but I wanted you to know about it. Maybe we could
get more boats and volunteers quietly involved in this program. "Catching
a dream is what all of these children and their parents pray for each day, and
this past Saturday they caught that dream for a while." -- Ed White.
With hunting applications from three states scattered all over my desk, I
went and shot a couple of big game rifles this week. I realized I needed to
be working up some new loads for new .300 and .338 in the gun safe. The event
reminded me that I don't like guns that have a serious recoil. I like the performance
from those hard-kicking guns in the field, but they are not pleasant to shoot
while practicing. And most of use need to practice. I rarely notice recoil when
I'm hunting. I know this because I shoot a lot of three-inch 12-gauge high velocity
steel loads for waterfowl.
Since I'm not a very good shot, it isn't uncommon for me to shoot a box of
shells on a good hunt. I never notice the recoil when ducks are flying. But
those high-speed steel loads kick. I wanted to chronograph (measure the speed
of the shot, for those of you who might not know that word) some of these shells
and do some patterning. After about three rounds from the benchrest with the
shotgun, I started developing a headache and severe flinch. I decided a couple
of rounds on the patterning board were good enough, and that I would believe
the factory ballistic tables.
I can't get away with that for my big game hunting rifles. For every shot I
fire hunting big game, I probably shoot 100 to 200 rounds in practice, load
development, and accuracy testing. Maybe more. If there is anything more unpleasant
that shooting a .300 or .338 magnum from the bench, I'm not sure what it would
be. I'd rather go to my dentist. At least he blasts me up with Novocain before
inflicting the damage. The result is that we don't shoot our big guns as much
in practice as we should. We don't get used to the trigger. We don't take the
gun out to plink around with or shoot varmints because it just boots us too
much. How does this translate in the field? If all the pig guides I talk with
all the time are any indication, it translates into dismal field shooting ability."It's
an every other day event around here," said one guide Tuesday. "We
had a guy who couldn't hit a pig at 75 yards this week."
"Oh, it's just awful," said another guide. "It is such a surprise
and pleasure when a guy shows up who can shoot his rifle."They're talking
about MOST of us. Virtually every guide I know will tell the same story: Most
guys can't shoot in the field. I'll say that again: Most of us shoot poorly
in the field. The combination of excitement, little or no field practice on
how to shoot in the woods, and scanty bench-rest shooting with our rifles leads
to dismal shooting. Often the root of that problem is because we don't like
getting belted around practicing. So we don't do it. A lot of us are uncomfortable
shooting .30-06-class cartridges, and the .300 mags, .338s, or the new ultra
magnums are even worse. Yet, it's these guns that are touted in all the magazines
as the latest, greatest new guns. So we buy them.
After shooting five, full-power, tooth-rattling loads through the .338, I put
the gun away. This set me to thinking. Why don't the major ammunition makers
put together some light and medium loads, especially for the magnum rounds?
They do for rimfire and pistol shooters. It would really make sense if owners
of a .300 magnum could buy loads that ranged form a 150-grain load that rumbled
along at .30-30 velocities, around 2,200 fps or so, for close range deer hunting
and practicing. We should then be able to buy a medium-range 165-grain load
at 2,800 or 2,900 fps (.30-06 class) for most of our Western deer or pig hunting,
and then have the regular 180-grain loads at 2,960 fps and the high energy 180-grain
loads at 3,100 for whacking big boars or elk across canyons.
What a way to add versatility to the magnum rifles. But even more importantly,
maybe guys like us would shoot those .300 and .338 mags more if there were some
decent, light-recoiling factory loads available. I know I would have loved to
shoot a couple of boxes through the .338 to get accustomed to the trigger and
feel of the rifle. Just maybe we would end up being better field shooters.
Western
deer herds recovering -- jim matthews unplugged column 16may01
Hammered by drought and severe winters over the past decade,
deer herds declined throughout the West. But the last four years of mild
weather has precipitated deer increases throughout the region. However,
biologists say the way we manage public lands will have to change if we
want to turn around the long-term deer decline. The bottom line for this
fall is that hunters are likely to see more mule deer bucks and the chance
for a trophy class animals is better this year than for a nearly 10 years,
but Western game managers in all the states still say the long-term prognosis
for mule deer is gloomy, and the trend is for steadily declining populations.
The reasons for the short-term increase are four mild winters
in a row that led to great overwinter survival of fawns. There has been
enough moisture that good feed conditions have also led to vigorous antler
development, and there are a lot of deer born in the years immediately after
the dieoffs of the 1992-93 winter that are reaching maturity and should
be sporting quality antlers this fall. The opportunities for trophy class
deer will increase each year until another major winterkill crops off the
older age class of bucks again. On the dark side of this silver lining,
however, game biologists are reporting a steady downward trend in mule and
blacktail deer numbers throughout their range. In California, the statewide
deer herd has dropped from 800,000 deer just 10 years ago to around 500,000
deer or less this year. Colorado's deer harvest continues to be at record
low levels -- less than it's elk harvest.
What are the reasons for the decline? Several things are working
together to drive deer numbers down, but the number one reason given by
scientists is gradual shift over the past 30 years to mature habitats. Whether
the habitat is Great Basin sagebrush, pinon-juniper woodlands, or forest
lands in the Rockies or Pacific Northwest, all are approaching and being
managed for a climax-type forest. This might benefit the spotted owl, but
it is dismal for mule deer, and dozens of other species, that depend on
successional habitats with lots of brush and open space.
Wildfires are put out before they can burn any significant
amount of ground. Controlled burns are done in novelty acreages instead
of in the size and number that would really have any impact on the health
of the forest. Timber harvests are being curtailed, and where they are allowed,
replanted areas are treated with herbicides to kill all brush. U.S. Forest
Service lands are being managing as though mature forest are the only "good"
forests, or -- the other extreme -- as though they were tree farms for private
industry.
Western sage lands are being overgrown with pinon and juniper,
choking out the brush that support deer, and they are become so old as to
be decadent and useless as wildlife habitat. Or they are burning and being
turned into grassland. Biologists in Utah say they have less than five percent
of the sagebrush habitat they had 25 years ago. Nevada biologists say that
if the conversion of sage habitat was happening in any other habitat type,
it would be a national disaster. Human encroachment into prime mule deer
habitat is happening at an unprecedented rate. Once rural areas in central
Oregon, southwestern Idaho, the front country in Colorado, and Montana's
river valleys are turning into suburban, ranchette neighborhoods that gobble
up the best mule deer winter ranges, and the new residents kill more deer
on roads than are legally taken by hunters during the season.
Now add into the habitat declines, booming predator numbers.
Bans or restrictions on hunting mountain lions and fur trapping, fur prices
that have bottomed out so there are few plying the trade commercially, and
reductions in federal, state, and local control measures on predators all
have led to huge increases in coyote, bobcat, and mountain lion numbers
-- and a proportional increase in their predation on game. Small, localized
deer herds have been all but wiped out by predators, and many populations
are not recovering their numbers in the face of much better habitat conditions.
While we may never have the numbers of mule deer we had in
the 1960s, more even-handed management of our public lands to benefit all
species -- not just late seral stage species -- could be a first major step.
It will take major pressure on Washington D.C.'s offices of the Forest Service
and Bureau of Land Management by hunter and conservation groups to change
the current management directions. While the long-term prospects for Western
deer are clouded, there are still millions of these great game animals throughout
the region, and this fall is shaping up as one of the best for hunters in
nearly a decade. Here's a state-by-state summary for hunters heading out
of state.
Arizona
Mule deer numbers continue to be at near-record lows in much of the state,
and tag numbers reflect the low herd numbers.
There is one glimmering exception to the poor overall picture -- the Kaibab
Plateau in the northern part of the state which continues to see good herd
growth. The Kaibab produces more huge mule deer bucks than any single place
in the nation, and this is the fourth year in a row with adequate rainfall.
The rains translate into better feed which means better antler growth. Hunters
here can expect to see some real monsters this year. The Kaibab annually
produces several bucks with 35 to 40-inch spreads and massive non-typical
racks. While rifle tags are nearly impossible to draw for the Kaibab, archers
can still hunt the region with an over-the-counter tag. The one other moderately
bright spot has been the southwestern desert regions which saw a good carryover
of bucks and good production for the third year in a row. While comparatively
few tags are issued in these areas, there were increases in tag numbers.
For more information, write Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2222 W. Greenway
Road, Phoenix, AZ 85203; www.state.az.us/gf/welcome.html;
602/942-3000.
Colorado
For the third season in a row, Colorado has issued all of its deer licenses
through a drawing in hopes of improving buck-doe ratios in its herds and
more closely controlling harvest on different herds. Only the Uncompaugre
Plateau and the Gunnison areas are still well below herd objectives. Mule
deer herds in the northwest, in the traditional hunting areas near Craig,
Rifle and Meeker, along the Front Range near Boulder and Denver, and in
the north-central region north of Steamboat Springs are at or near objectives
set by the agency and should provide good hunting this year. There will
also be more mature bucks in the population thanks to a better carryover
of bucks. Colorado's deer license jumped to $270, and all tags were issued
through a drawing already. Elk tags, however, are still available over the
counter. Costs will make you gasp at over $400. For more information, contact
the Colorado Division of Wildlife, 6060 Broadway, Denver, CO 80216; www.dnr.state.co.us/wildlife/;
303/297-1192.
Idaho
Mule deer herds in Idaho were devastated throughout the state during the
1992-'93 winter, but habitat conditions since then have been generally very
good, according to Ed Mitchell with the Game and Fish Department. "We've
had good to tremendous fawn production and where ever there are deer, there
are lots of them," said Mitchell. He said the state was issuing more
antlerless permits and that more and more trophy bucks are being taken.
Deer tags, which are sold first-come, first-serve to non-residents, once
sold out within days of being offered for sale, but since a tag and license
fee increase in 1993 -- which happened to coincide with one of the worst
deer seasons in recent history -- tag sales have fallen dramatically and
the non-resident statewide quota has not sold out since. This is one of
the only places where you can still probably pick up a mule deer tag. For
more information, contact the Idaho Department of Game and Fish, P.O. Box
25, Boise, ID 83707; www.state.id.us/fishgame/fishgame.html;
208/334-3700.
Montana
Whitetail deer are on the verge of another population boom in Montana, while
the mule deer herds are recovering slowly from a major winterkill in the
1996-'97. Mule deer were already at low numbers when they were mowed down
even further by that severe weather, and many critics of the Montana Department
of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks contend that last general season hunts on mule
deer in the rut have all but wiped older age class animals. Montana simply
is not a trophy destination for mule deer hunters any longer. Whitetails,
however, are a completely different story. They are moving up all of the
major rivers and into the forests in the Western part of the state. Their
population have proven very resilient and the trophy quality of bucks coming
from Montana is impressive virtually where ever the whitetails are found.
The Bitteroot Valley and Flathead River country are two top spots for trophy
bucks. For more information, contact the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife
and Parks, 1420 E. Sixth Avenue, Helena, MT 59620;
www.fwp.mt.gov/; 406/444-2535
Nevada
Outstanding overwinter fawn survival for the fourth year in a row has game
managers in Nevada excited about the near-future for mule deer here, according
to Greg Tanner with the Nevada Division of Wildlife. "We suffered the
same drastic dieoff in the winter of '92-'93 that a lot of other states
also saw, and it's been kind of along recovery process. But we've finally
recovered and our deer are generally doing well," said Tanner of the
agency's spring surveys. The top deer units are along the northern third
of the state, with Area 10 showing some of the best numbers and highest
quality bucks in the surveys. It is also one of the toughest to draw in
the April drawings. For more information, contact the Nevada Division of
Wildlife, P.O. Box 10678, Reno, NV 89520-0022; www.state.nv.us/cnr/nvwildlife/;
775/688-1500.
New Mexico
Overall, mule deer herds are at very low levels, although there have
been some gains in deer numbers in northern units and the Guadalupe Mountains
continue to have high deer densities, according to Darrell Waybright with
the New Mexico Game and Fish Department. Waybright said the northwest region
continues to have the biggest bucks, especially those units right along
the Colorado border in regions B and C. The Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation,
once regaled as the finest trophy mule deer spot in the West, has again
become a hotbed for monster bucks, and the draw units surrounding the reservation
are also very good again. For more information, contact the New Mexico Game
and Fish Department, State Capitol, Vallagra Building, Sante Fe, NM 87503;
www.gmfsh.state.nm.us/; 505/827-7911
Oregon
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reports its mule deer population
have increased again this year in most areas. The southeast has been slower
in its recovery from the '92-'93 winter, but even those drier, desert units
are improving. In the northeastern and northcentral parts of the state,
the deer herds have really bounced back. The Steens Mountain and Trout Creek
units are still the most coveted tags for hunters seeking a trophy mule
deer buck, and another mild winter bodes well for carryover of those older
age class animals. Blacktail herds are generally stable, although there
have been declines in herds at lower elevations due to outbreaks of hair
loss disease. Other blacktail tags are available over-the-counter, while
all mule deer tags are issued in drawings. For more information, contact
the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department, P.O. Box 59, Portland, OR 97207;
www.dfw.state.or.us/;
503/872-5268.
Utah
Utah's mule deer population has continued to grow due to mild and generally
moist winters, and the population is at the statewide goal of 400,000 deer.
Once a state with over-the-counter tags, hunters should write or call now
to get leftover tags in a second drawing coming up soon. Utah's Paunsaugunt
limited entry hunt grows the biggest mule deer in the United States, sharing
that honor with Arizona's Kaibab, which is right next door. Hunters face
tough draw odds to get a Paunsaugunt tag and pay higher tag fees for this
premium opportunity. But it is well worth the expense. A second unit, Elk
Ridge, is also being managed with greatly reduced tag quotas so more deer
will reach trophy size, and more and more monster bucks are being seen in
this area. Many hunters believe it will rival the Paunsaugunt in a few seasons.
For more information, contact the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, 1596
W. North Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84116; www.nr.state.ut.us/dwr/dwr.htm;
801/538-4700.
Washington
Washington deer herds are still recovering from a severe winter in 1996-97
and disease problems in both whitetails and blacktails. But, on the upside,
this is the fourth year in a row of average or improved fawn production
and Rolf Johnson, deer and elk specialist for the Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife, said they have turned the corner of the declines of
the past decade. Johnson said some mule deer units have bounced back better
than others, and suggested the Okanagon was a good bet, and he called the
Blue Mountains southeast corner of the state, managed with a shorter season
and three-point restriction, a "sleeper" unit for better quality
mule deer bucks. The extreme northeast part of the state has also become
a tremendous whitetail trophy area. For more information, contact the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98504;
www.wa.gov/wdfw/; 360/902-2200.
Wyoming
Good to excellent fawn recruitment the past three years has led to what
Wyoming Game and Fish officials are saying will be the best deer hunting
year in a decade. There is still some apprehension for this spring's dry
conditions and how that might affect the future, but the picture was generally
bright for this fall. Regions G and H have long been the hotspot for big
deer in Wyoming, but the best single trophy hunt is probably the late season
buck hunt in units 128-129 around Dubois when the deer are in the rut and
have moved onto winter range. The biggest problem is getting a tag -- only
seven percent of those who apply draw a tag in the March application-drawing
period. For more information, contact the Wyoming Game and Fish Department,
Information Section, Cheyenne, WY 82002; gf.state.wy.us/;
307/777-4600 for general information, or 307/777-4597 for license information.
SHOOTING SPORTS FAIR: JOHN CLOHERTY FEATURE -- 16may
John
Cloherty sees the world through rose-colored glasses
NORCO -- John Cloherty buys aspirin by the hundreds but he
doesn't use them to ease the pain of headaches. In fact, he might give a
few headaches as he shoots the aspirin out of the air with a .22 rifle.
But he also likes to blast clay targets in flight with his revolver, and
he prefers making his tossed salads with a shotgun. While some people might
see this activity as a bit odd, Cloherty is seeing the world through rose-colored
glasses -- both figuratively and literally. The 46-year-old Pasadena resident
has the reputation as one of the finest exhibition shooters in the West,
reviving the era when all of the major firearm manufacturers had traveling
road shows with trick shooters who used shotguns, rifles and pistols in
their often incredible displays of marksmanship. It's like living a dream
for the long-time shooter and hunter.
"This career has developed well past my wildest dreams,"
said Cloherty, who will be returning the weekend of June 1-3 to the place
where his career was launched 14 years ago. "I watched Dan Carlisle,
one of the best exhibition shooters in the world, perform here. I was just
amazed, and 10 minutes later I decided I wanted to learn how to do some
of those tricks." Cloherty had watched Carlisle, an Olympic medalist
in shotgun shooting, at the Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair. This year,
Cloherty will return to the Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair as the headlining
exhibition shooter at this annual event. And he's adding some new twists
to the succession of outstanding exhibition shooting programs that have
been a benchmark of this show since its inception.
"I'm trying to bring a wider range of guns into my act
than has ever been done in recent years,'" said Cloherty of his daily
performances. "Using shotguns, rifles, and handguns hasn't been done
since the 1920s and 30s." Cloherty, who set a world record at the Sports
Fair for the most clay targets broken in one hour at 4,551, also sees his
exhibitions as a benefit to the shooting sports and gun ownership in general.
"This is a way for all people to see that those of us who like to use
guns are not insane whackos in a tower some where. We are just people who
like to go out with their guns and have fun," said Cloherty. He uses
the booming growth of sporting clays shotgun shooting, as an example of
a tremendously fun and safe sport that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
The Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair, which was the first firearms
show in the nation that was a hands-on affair, allowing those attending
the show to both look at and shoot the latest in firearms, has never had
an exhibition shooter that used anything other than shotguns in his program.
Cloherty uses a .22 rifle to break a succession of smaller targets in the
air, finishing with Alka-Seltzer and aspirin tablets. He also uses a .45
auto handgun to break aerial targets. But shotgun shooting is his specialty.
His trademarks are a brilliant-colored gun and an over-the-head shooting
style. He can also break targets shooting between his legs like a football
center, while holding the gun upside down. He calls this stunt the "quarterback's
nightmare."
The perennial favorite of his program is something all of
the shotgun exhibition shooters call the "quarter-acre salad."
There is something about watching cabbages and watermelons explode that
delights an audience. Attendees of the Shooting Sports Fair have watched
Dan Carlisle, John Satterwhite, and Tom Knapp do their versions of the salad
in the past. Cloherty says "I do believe that I'm 10 times messier
than anyone who does it. It just has gotten messier and messier over the
years. I go through a supermarket now and wonder, `how would that blow up?'
Everyone loves it." Cloherty brings more than a visual element to the
show. He has found that shotgun-exploded onions add a wonderful aroma to
the program. In fact, it brings tears to your eyes. But for Cloherty, who
wears rose-colored shooting glasses, they are tears of joy because it has
allowed him to turn his avocation into a career.
The Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair will be held June 1-3
at Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises in Prado Basin in Norco. Admission
to the show is $12 for adults per day, and parking is free. You can pick
up a $2 off admission discount coupon at all Turner's Outdoorsman stores.
Women and kids get in free. Show hours are noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information or
directions, call Mike Raahauge's Shooting Enterprises at (909) 735-7981.
BIG GAME APPLICATION TIME -- jim matthews unplugged (outdoor
commentary) -- 09may01
It's application time for California hunters
With the close of spring turkey season this past Saturday,
it might seem like a long dry spell until the first deer seasons open in
July (if you're a bowhunter) and August (for rifle guys), but now is the
time to start thinking about applying for California big game permits for
special deer, elk, pronghorn, and bighorn hunts. The application deadline
is June 4, less than a month away.
Those of you who applied for tags last year should have received
a nice packet from the Department of Fish and Game that included the 2001
Big Game Hunting application booklet, mailing labels, and mailing envelopes.
The DFG deserves a lot of credit for making this process as easy as possible
through this mailing, and it is a great service for those of us who apply
every year -- even through, if you're like me, you never seem to get drawn
for anything. For those of you who didn't apply, the application booklets
are available at all license agents, along with new licenses.
Deer hunters will want to spend a fair amount of time looking
at page 15 of that booklet looking over the drawing odds of the special
hunts. You should also remember that this is the second year in a row where
all first-choice applications are sorted by the computer and each special
hunt or zone is filled with first-choice apps before it even looks at second-choice
hunts.
Did you follow that?
It's like the old days when the DFG did the drawings by hand. Let's say
you put the G3 late season Goodale hunt as your first choice on the deer
tag application and X12 as your second choice, and then, say D11, as your
third choice. The computer now sorts everyone who put G3 as a first choice
into one spot and draws from those applications to fill the 25-tag quota.
It also does that with all X12 applications.
The reality of this is that you don't have a chance of getting
an X12 tag as a second choice pick because there are more first-choice applicants
than there are X12 tags available. That is why looking at the number of
first-choice applicants on page 15 of the booklet is so important.
There were nearly 2,200 first-choice applications for the
25 G3 tags, and there were over 4,000 first-choice applications for the
800-plus X12 tags. If you look at the numbers, you can see there were only
a couple of hunts where a second choice on your application would have had
a chance to get you a tag.
Prior to last year, the computer simply "drew"
tag applications out of a microchip hat and filled the first choice on your
application that still had tags available. If all the G3 tags were taken,
it went to your second choice. If all X12 tags were taken, it went to your
third choice. Now, you can only draw your second choice, if there were not
more first-choice applications than tags available. Only then will the computer
resort the tag applications for second choice applications of hunters not
drawn for their first choices and conduct a second drawing.
The moral of the story is that for premium hunts, only your
first-choice now really counts in the drawing, so you better fill in the
one you want the most and not gamble on getting a good tag with your second
choice.
Oregon, Utah deadline dates also approaching
The deadline for California hunters to apply for deer permits
in Oregon is May 15 and in Utah it is May 21.
After the first drawing in Utah, there are still general
statewide archery buck deer, and Northern, Central and Northeastern region
general buck deer permits available for nonresidents. The second drawing
for these permits will be held and the deadline to apply is May 21. The
following nonresident Utah general buck deer permits are still available:
Statewide archery 868, Northern rifle or muzzleloader 1,997, Central rifle
or muzzleloader 579, and Northeastern rifle or muzzleloader 1,205. Both
the Southeastern and Southern Regions, the two most popular regions for
Southern California hunters, had their quotas sold out in the first drawing.
Hunters can apply for the second drawing on-line at the Utah Division of
Wildlife Resources' Internet web site
http:www.nr.state.ut.us/dwr/dwr.htm or get applications from the DWR
and apply through the mail. For information, call (801) 538-4700. The Oregon
deadline is even closer. All of this fall's controlled big game hunts have
until Tuesday, May 15 to purchase and return tag applications. Hunters may
also apply by faxing or mailing the application form.
Hunters who are unsuccessful in the draw may participate
in general season hunts with tags available over-the-counter.
For more information, contact the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife at (503) 872-5264, or on the Internet at: www.dfw.state.or.us
Sarah Brady and the targeted NRA
Last week, the New York Post reported that Handgun Control
Inc., chairperson, Sarah Brady, the wife of President Ronald Reagan's press
secretary who was shot in the attempt on the president's life, will have
a book out next year. The article said the book recounts how in 1981, when
Jim Brady and the president were shot, she apparently contacted the National
Rifle Association and said, "You don't know me, but my name is Sarah
Brady, and I'm going to make it my life ambition to put you out of business."Since
Sarah Brady and Bill Clinton and our two anti-gun California Senators, not
only is NRA not out of business, but it has thrived. The irony is that the
NRA has thrived because of these people threatening our Constitution. In
those days when Reagan was shot, the membership was around 2 million. Today,
it has a membership totaling approximately 4.3 million. Brady convinced
me I need to join
Quail Unlimited-NRA SportingClays event set for May 18-20
NORCO -- Over 300 participants will compete for over $75,000
in cash and prizes in the Quail Unlimited/National Rifle Association National
Sporting Clays Tournament at Mike Raahauge Enterprises in Norco May 18-20,
2001. This is Quail Unlimited's second national sporting clays event to
be held in the West. The entry fee is $125 for a 200 target, two-day shoot
(May 19 and 20) with a Lewis Class System awarded to six classes. Prizes
will be awarded to 10 places in each class. The entry fee includes 200 targets,
eight boxes of Winchester ammo, and admission to the shooter's party and
dinner on Saturday evening.
On Friday, there will be a smallbore tournament for 410, 28
and 20 gauge shotguns. The $50 entry fee includes two boxes of Winchester
Ammo. Prizes will be awarded to the top three places. The course is being
set up Jay Braccini, who has has been setting up tournament courses around
the country for past 20 years. Braccini will again have the five-stand and
other fun games set up for shooter's to warm up on and compete for additional
prizes. Saturday night there will be a live auction featuring new and functional
wildlife art from Dave Chapple, custom knives, carvings and more. For more
information, call Mike Raahauge at (909) 735-7981.
Greg Gutierrez wins; lunkers set hot pace for Clear Lake
event
KELSEYVILLE -- Greg Gutierrez of Red Bluff topped the field
at Clear Lake over the weekend (May 5-6) as the WON BASS Miller High Life
Tour was staged on this renowned Northern California bass water. The fishing
was spectacular for the 224 anglers with 5 to 8 pound fish common and a
pair of 11 pounders were featured. Gutierrez had one of those, at 11.05
pounds, as he led the first round and ended up the two-day tournament with
an astounding total of 51.95 pounds for 10 bass to take the $35,000 top
prize."I had two great partners in Owen Nolan and Charles Huffman and
they let me do sight fishing both days. It's really tough on the partner
in this kind of fishing as you often have to sneak up on the bass and the
back seater doesn't really get a shot at the fish," said Gutierrez,
a captain with the California Dept. of Forestry.
Second place went to local pro Mark Crutcher of Upper Lake,
who had 50.93 pounds to win $5,750. Another local pro, Wayne Breazeale of
Kelseyville also finished over the 50-pound mark with 50.37 pounds. He won
$4,500. Breazeale also was the highest finishing Ranger Boat owner and received
a $500 bonus in the Ranger Cup program. The second day's biggest stringer
was a whopping 30.01 posted by Dave Rush of Palmermo and Roger Diaz of Salinas.
The largest bass of the day, at 9.11 pounds, earned $1,500 in the Miller
High Life Daily Double for Kelly Puppo of Garden Grove. Dusty Kahler of
Atascadero earned $500 for an 8.75 pounder.
In the AAA division, Owen Nolan, a pro hockey star with the
San Jose Sharks, placed first with 53.96 pounds, with two great draws. He
got the first day weight of 28.95 pounds with Gutierrez and his second day
partner, Tim Turner of Kerman, gave him another 25.01 pounds. The tournament
anglers accounted for 970 bass in the two days, totaling 3,423 pounds for
an incredible average of 3.53 pounds.
Colorado Wildlife Commission sets 2001 big game license
numbers
DENVER -- The Colorado Wildlife Commission approved a slight
increase in the number of antlerless elk licenses will dramatically reducing
the number of antlerless deer licenses at its meeting May 3 in Colorado
Springs. The Commission unanimously approved recommendations of Division
of Wildlife game managers are designed to reduce Colorado's elk population
and increase the state's deer herd. Antlerless elk licenses will increase
from 106,899 in 2000 to 109,104 in 2001, a two percent increase. The increase
in hunting licenses is designed to help reduce an elk population that is
still well above the Division's population objectives. Colorado has more
than 260,000 elk, which is higher than the long-term objective of 188,000.
The state has far more elk than any other state or Canadian province. The
recovery of Rocky Mountain elk is one of the 20th century's most notable
wildlife success stories.
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were fewer than
2,000 elk left in Colorado. "We are still substantially over our population
objectives despite the fact we had a record elk harvest last year,"
said John Ellenberger, the Division's big game manager. "We're increasing
license to maintain the pressure on antlerless animals." The hunting
of antlerless animals is the Division's primary tool for managing deer and
elk populations. Hunters killed 60,120 elk in 2000, the largest elk harvest
in North American history. But Ellenberger said even that harvest resulted
in only a slight decrease of 1,300 in the state's elk population. "We'll
need at least another three to four years of large harvests before we will
come close to reaching our population objectives," Ellenberger said.
Bull elk licenses during the first limited rifle elk season will decline
seven percent from 22,252 in 2000 to 20,729 in 2001.
The 2000 bull harvest of 28,611 was one of the largest on
record. While Colorado's elk population is at near-record levels, the state's
deer population is well below the Division' population objectives on the
Western Slope. As a result, the Commission decreased the number of Western
Slope antlerless deer licenses from 10,667 in 2000 to 6,559 in 2001, a 39
percent reduction. Many game management units, including those in the San
Luis Valley, extreme southwestern Colorado, North Park, along the southern
Front Range and on the North Fork of the Gunnison River, will have few if
any doe licenses in 2001. Other areas, including Middle Park around Kremmling,
the northern Front Range and the area around Meeker, Craig and Rifle will
have fewer antlerless deer licenses than last year because herds have been
brought closer to the population objectives but some fawn/doe ratios have
fallen, Ellenberger said.
Either-sex deer licenses, will increase from 1,941 in 2000
to 3,538 in 2001. About 75 percent of the animals taken with either-sex
licenses are bucks. Buck licenses will decline 12 percent from 95,913 in
2000 to 84,298 in 2001. Hunters killed 37,940 deer in 2000, the best harvest
since 1998. The number of moose licenses will increase from 82 in 2000 to
131 in 2001 because the North Park moose herd is slightly over the population
objective and the illegal harvest of moose has fallen sharply in the last
three years. In 1998, 38 moose were illegally killed, primarily by elk hunters
who mistook then for elk. Last year, the number fell to less than 10, the
result of Division information efforts and regulation changes. The Commission
reduced pronghorn antelope rifle licenses by 10 percent, from 11,654 in
2000 to 10,460 in 2001 in accordance with population objectives. Limited
black bear licenses will decline three percent from 2,702 in 2000 to 2,612
in 2001. The Division adjusts the number of licenses available for a species
as its population increases or decreases due to various factors. "There
are a number of environmental factors that affect the big game animals in
Colorado," Ellenberger said. "Hunting pressure is one factor we
can control." END
SALTON SEA NEWS: Retired Salton Sea State Recreation
Area Superintendent Tex Ritter will be conducting an in-depth fishing clinic
this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the park's visitor center. Ritter
will teach anglers how to catch all four species of fish in the sea -- corvina,
croaker, tilapia, and sargo -- and how to clean them and demonstrate cooking
techniques. Prizes and fish fry will be included. The fee is $20. To sign
up, contact Tina Townsend at (760) 767-5311. The first Imperial Valley "Take
a Kid Fishing" Tournament will be held Saturday, May 19, beginning
at 6 a.m. out of Red Hill Marina on the Salton Sea. The event ends at noon.
Adult entrants must be accompanies by at least one child to enter. Entry
fee is $20 for adults, $5 for kids. Biggest three fish win cash prizes of
$500, $250 and $125. For more information, contact Gerry Merten at (760)
356-4084 or Rudy Schaffner at (760) 356-4100, or e-mail your request to
entry@mail.holtville.com.
The Salton Sea Beach Marina Memorial Weekend Fishing Derby
will be held from 6 a.m. Saturday, May 26, through noon Monday, May 28.
Entry fee is $10 per angler. First place for biggest fish is $500, second
place $100, and third place is $50. For information, call the Salton Sea
Beach Marina at 760-395-5212.
UASC FUNDRAISER: United Anglers of Southern California
will have its 10th annual fundraising banquet beginning 6 p.m., Saturday,
May 19, at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach. Advance tickets are $85
per person or $850 for a table of 10. For more information, call (714) 840-0227.
Don Kent will be presented with the Bill Ray Memorial Conservation Award
at this year's event.
EASTERN SIERRA TROUT FOLLOW -- jim matthews unplugged (outdoor commentary)
02may01
Biggest Sierra trout on opener was caught and released at Hot Creek?
Most everything that has been written about this past weekend's trout season
opener has focused on the big brown trout that were caught from June Lake
and Bridgeport's Lower Twin Lake. Matt French of Sacramento is roundly credited
with catching the biggest trout of opening weekend -- a whopping 12-pound,
15-ounce brown from June Lake. Harvey Neill of Smith Valley, Nev., caught
browns at 11-pounds, 13-ounces and 11-pounds, one-ounce from Lower Twin Lake.
Both anglers were trolling big plugs when they caught their trophy fish, and
there is no question these are the biggest trout to be caught on an opener
in several years. But I'm here to tell you those three trout might not have
been the biggest trout caught opener.
Paul Smith of Lake Arrowhead caught a brown trout from Hot Creek near Mammoth
Lakes that he guessed at 10 pounds, photographed the fish, and then released
it. That's the law on Hot Creek. It's a catch-and-release stream. The photos
were one-hour processed and a shot was dropped off at The Trout Fly in Mammoth
Lakes. Smith called a fishing chum back home to rub in that he didn't abandon
his teaching job and come with them to fish for the opening week of the season.
Then Smith and his partners went back fishing. They weren't due back home
until Thursday some time. We tried to get a cell phone number to find out
about the fish, but Smith was fishing without a cell phone. Imagine that --
someone not packing a cell phone. It's difficult to really tell the weight
of a fish from a photo, but guide Steve Osterman, who works at The Trout Fly
in Mammoth, didn't mince any words looking at the photo.
"It's approximately 15 pounds," said Osterman."I was told
it was about 10 pounds," I said."I'm looking at the picture and
it's bigger than 10 pounds, I guarantee it. It's got some girth to it. It's
at least 12 to 15 pounds," said Osterman. For anglers not familiar with
Hot Creek, it is a flyfishing-only stream in addition to being completely
catch-and-release. Osterman said Smith was fishing with a light leader and
a No. 18 pheasant tail nymph fly. A No. 18 is about the size of a single dandelion
seed. The big gold and black G-9 Rapala that French used to catch his big
June Lake brown is about the size of a hatchery rainbow trout. Having fly-fished
a little, I know that you just about can't get leader heavier than about six-pound
test through the eye of a No. 18 fly. It's likely that Smith was using something
on the order of two-pound test. Hot Creek is a weed-filled mess and the big
brown should have been able to break the leader handily by merely diving down
under a patch of weeds and then heading downstream.I can't wait to talk to
Smith later this week. There's bound to be a heck of a story here.
Crowley Update
Lake Crowley had the bulk of the fishing pressure this opener, as with most
openers. Jeff Topp at Crowley Lake Fish Camp estimated there were 8,000 to
10,000 people on the lake for the weekend. According to the Department of
Fish and Game's boat angler survey, most of them caught limits of trout. But
Curtis Milliron, the DFG Bishop biologist who's been studying Crowley fisheries
for several years, was a little perplexed about what was happening at Crowley.
"We don't know what happened to the Kamloops rainbows," said Milliron.
Crowley is planted with several strains of rainbow trout each fall, including
the Kamloops strain. Normally, they make up a lot of the opening day harvest
on the lake. While they are smaller than some of the other strains, they are
easier to catch. This year, they were almost absent, in spite of heavy plants
last fall. Milliron admits that he's baffled. There are two likely scenarios.
First, the fish simply aren't there. Milliron believes this is likely the
case. Another strain of trout, the Colemans, were bigger than they've ever
been on a trout opener. Milliron figures that the mild winter and lack of
competition from the Kamloops led to the greater growth in the Colemans. That
still wouldn't tell Milliron what happened to the Kamloops. The second scenario,
which Milliron would like to believe, is that the mild spring allowed the
Kamloops to run up Crowley's tributary streams earlier than normal, spawn
right before the opener, and then drift back into the lake where they are
having a little postpartum depression and simply not eating while they recuperate.
Did anyone count cormorants and pelicans on Crowley last fall after the little
Kamloops were planted?
Anglers aren't too worried either way. Crowley is planted with nearly a half-million
trout each year and the fishing was excellent on the opener. Boat anglers
landed .88 trout per hour and the average catch was 4.1 fish. The trout averaged
about 1 1/4 pounds, and 1/3rd of them were greater than 15 inches long. All
those numbers are higher than normal. Topp said the biggest trout from Crowley
was a 7-pound, 10-ounce brown caught by Jim Early of Simi Valley trolling
a Cultiva Mirror Shad in McGee Bay.
Opener Ice Fishing
Tracy Rockel at Ken's Sporting Goods in Bridgeport didn't mean to make it
sound like she thought the anglers who went up to the Virginia Lakes for trout
opener to fish through a couple of feet of ice were crazy, but you could hear
it in her voice.
"We had a couple of guys who went up to Virginia," said Rockel.
It was as if she were trying to keep from snickering. "But they had limits
in an hour." Maybe they are originally from Minnesota and just miss home.
Eighth largest largemouth of all time caught at Dixon
While thousands of anglers were driving up Highway 395 last Friday, Mike
Long of Poway was pitching a Castaic Soft Bait trout lure -- about the size
of most fish the Sierra anglers would catch -- in front of a huge largemouth
bass at Dixon Lake in San Diego County. Long hooked and landed the huge bass
and found it weighed 20-pounds, 12-ounces, the eighth largest ever caught
on rod and reel. After weighing the fish, Long released the bruiser back into
the lake. And Dixon's not even a catch-and-release water.
OUTDOOR NEWS UPDATES -- ons -- 02may01
Jim Reese goes for his third WON BASS win at Clear Lake KELSEYVILLE -- Jim
Reese of Ukiah will go for his third straight Clear Lake victory on the WON
BASS Miller High Life Tour this Saturday and Sunday. He successfully defended
his Clear Lake title captured in 2000 and set a new Pro Circuit and Clear
Lake tournament record in the process. The "King of Clear Lake"
title surely was earned by Reese as he accumulated a record total of 59.93
pounds for 10 bass in the two-day tournament that saw 262 anglers competing.
It was the second straight year Reese set a WON BASS record total for 10 bass.
In 1999 he had a 58.20 pound total for a 5.8-pound average and in 2000 missed
by only an ounce of establishing an incredible 6-pound average. Another WON
BASS record fell for the biggest fish on the Pro Circuit in 2000 as Jared
Lintner of Arroyo Grande weighed in a 14.85-pound largemouth that hit on a
green four-inch Gitzit tube bait. The former record was 12.76 pounds by Aaron
Martens of Castaic in 1997.
The overall fishing was spectacular last year at the "Bass Capital of
the West," and Clear Lake gave up more than three dozen fish tipping
the scales at better than 7 pounds. The big fish each day in the Miller High
Life Daily Double is worth $1,500 to the angler, and second biggest bass is
worth $500 each day. First place on 2001 WON BASS Miller High Life Tour is
a $35,000 boat, motor and equipment package. For more information and tournament
results, see the Internet at www.wonbass.com
or contact WON BASS, 3197E Airport Loop Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; (714)
546-4370, ext. 38.
Hunters heading to Oregon must apply for big game controlled permits by
May 15
PORTLAND -- California hunters waiting until the last minute to apply for
this fall's Oregon controlled big game hunts have until Tuesday, May 15 to
purchase and return tag applications. Hunters may also apply by faxing or
mailing the form provided in the 2001 Oregon Big Game Regulations on page
21. All fax or mail-in applications must be received in Portland by May 15.
The applications cost $4.50 each per species. Actual tag numbers will be established
during the June Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, and the lottery
draw process will begin immediately afterward. Results from the drawings will
be available on June 20, at which time successful applicants may begin purchasing
controlled hunt tags. Hunters who are unsuccessful in the draw may participate
in general season hunts with tags available over-the-counter. For more information,
contact the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at (503) 872-5264, by writing
ODFW, PO Box 59, Portland, OR 97207, or on the Internet at: www.dfw.state.or.us
.
Nonresidents who want a Utah buck deer permit should apply by May 21
SALT LAKE CITY -- Nonresidents who want a Utah general buck deer hunting
permit for this fall should strongly consider applying for one in May. Results
of Utah's 2001 Big Game Draw were posted April 30, and general statewide archery
buck deer and Northern, Central and Northeastern region general buck deer
permits for nonresidents are still available. A second draw for these permits
will be held. Applications for the draw will be accepted until 5 p.m., May
21, with results of the draw posted by June 30. Beginning July 26, any remaining
resident or nonresident permits will be available to Utah residents and nonresidents
on a first-come, first-served basis. This is the first time Utah residents
have been allowed to purchase permits not taken by nonresidents and they'll
probably buy most of them.
"If nonresidents want a Utah buck deer hunting permit for this fall,
it's crucial that they get their application in by 5 p.m., May 21," said
Judi Tutorow, wildlife licensing coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife
Resources. The following nonresident Utah general buck deer permits are still
available: Statewide archery 868, Northern rifle or muzzleloader 1,997, Central
rifle or muzzleloader 579, and Northeastern rifle or muzzleloader 1,205. Both
the Southeastern and Southern Regions had their quotas sold out in the first
drawing. Hunters who have an American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa
credit card can apply for one of the remaining permits online at the Utah
Division of Wildlife Resources' Internet web site (www.nr.state.ut.us/dwr/dwr.htm).
Nonresident hunters who don't have a credit card can apply by mailing an
application and a cashier's check or money order. The same application form
used in the initial Big Game Draw will be used to apply in the draw for remaining
permits. Applications are available on the Division's web site or by calling
any Utah Division of Wildlife Resources office, including its Salt Lake City
office at (801) 538-4700.
SIERRA III -- the scourge of hatches -- jim matthews unplugged (outdoor
commentary) 25apr01
New Zealand mud snail invades the Eastern Sierra
No one wants to be a prophet of fishery doom on the eve of one of the most
hallowed events in trout fishing -- this weekend's opening of the trout fishing
season throughout the Eastern Sierra Nevada. But there is a dark cloud looming
on the horizon. The cloud is in the form of a tiny, dark snail called the
New Zealand mud snail. It is invading North American trout fisheries and is
rapidly choking out the food chain. The fishery biologists are looking at
the data and gasping, and then whispering among themselves when they envision
the scenarios. The mud snail could dramatically change the face of fisheries
in North America. "It really scares me. We're not going to be able to
contain this," said Dawne Becker, a fishery biologist with the California
Department of Fish and Game in Bishop.
Becker said the small species was discovered in the Owens River in 1999,
and it is spreading rapidly and dramatically. It has been in the Western United
States since at least 1987, when it was first found in the middle sections
of the Snake River in Idaho. It had found its way to the Madison River by
1989, and by 1994, it was throughout the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. By
1997, it had spread to over 300 miles of the Snake River, moving both upstream
and down. The small snail, which grows no bigger than 12mm, or about 1/2-inch,
with most being 3.5mm to 5mm, can reproduce prolifically. Most importantly,
it rapidly displaces other organisms. In the upper Madison River, it has already
been found at densities of 300,000 to 1,000,000 snails in a square meter of
stream bottom, and it comprises up to 95 percent of the total invertebrates
at some sites.
Anglers who love flyfishing should probably reread that paragraph. The invertebrates
the mud snail is displacing are the mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies that
constitute the main forage for wild trout. The mud snail could spell doom
for the prolific hatches that exist now on waters like Hot Creek, the upper
Owens River, and other wonderful fisheries in the West like the Madison and
-- God forbid -- the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. Not only might the hatches
be ravaged, but the densities of the fish will fall dramatically because the
mud snail has almost no nutritional value to the fish. In fact, in species
like trout, the snail can close its operculum, the door to its snail shell,
and survive passage through the fish's gut.
In the Owens River, surveys at three sites in 1999 found that it comprised
a mere one percent of the invertebrate biomass at one site, four percent at
another, and was absent at a third. Just one year later, the numbers were
29 percent, 35 percent, and one percent at the same three sites. "It's
had to displace something. We need to research this thing and see its impacts.
But it may already be too late," said Becker. Fishery agencies could
be in a situation where they are merely going to be able to document the decline
and loss of aquatic diversity and fisheries. The New Zealand mud snail has
already hitch-hiked all over the world, arriving in England's Thames River
in about 1883 and by the 1940s it was found in much of Europe.
It's impacts there? Unfortunately, little is really known because so little
baseline data was collected prior to the snail's arrival. There is only anecdotal
evidence from the memories and writings of anglers that fisheries and invertebrate
populations have crashed. Descriptions of blizzard-like hatches of insects
that brought fish to the surface by the thousands were considered exaggerations,
literary license abused by fishing writers of early England. But maybe they
weren't exaggerating. We will know here soon enough here. Americans have made
the study of their favorite trout waters a religion. Aquatic insects have
been catalogued, size and duration of hatches charted, and biomass of the
trout fishery measured. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that
if Hot Creek has a conversion to mud snails then its currently prolific hatches
of mayflies, caddisflies, and midges will decline. The small stream will lose
it's appeal to anglers without those major hatches and if its rich trout resource
dwindles.
In the short term, fishery managers are trying to stop the spread of the
snail by asking anglers to make sure they clean and thoroughly dry their waders
and other gear that might carry a snail from water to the next. Anglers will
be asked not to move trout from one water to the next, even dead ones, or
clean fish in places other than where they were caught. New Zealand mud snail
will become In the long term, it may prove that the New Zealand mud snail
only will dominate under certain conditions and that -- as with whirling disease
-- the snail will not cause more than localized problems for trout fisheries.
Still, as a fly-fisherman, this is a plague I find myself fearing because
it could severely impact the insect populations that cause such delight in
me and the trout. There is something magical about watching a major hatch
of mayflies or caddisflies exploding through a stream's surface. That magic
may be in jeopardy.
Mono County won't let the proposal to protect LADWP lands fade away.
Anglers who will be in the Eastern Sierra on Monday evening are encouraged
to attend a public hearing on the revived proposal to protect Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power lands in Mono County through a conservation
easement. The easement would mandate that no development ever take place on
LADWP lands and that public access is granted in perpetuity -- forever. A
similar proposal advanced by the Wildlands Conservancy, a conservation organization
specializing in land acquisitions for wildlife and the environment, would
have protected all of the LADWP lands in the Eastern Sierra -- all 320,000
acres.
This proposal was scuttled last week by Inyo county opposition organized
by cattlemen and dinosaurs within the LADWP spreading outright lies about
the proposal. But Mono County officials want to move forward with the plan,
at least in their county, and sportsmen can attend a 6 p.m. meeting Monday
in the Mammoth High School gymnasium to show their support. Come in your fishing
hats and vests and waders to let them know you are a sportsman who wants his
grandkids and their grandkids to see the Sierra just as you're seeing it today.
A mountain lion disaster just waiting to happen.
At Rancho Cuyamaca State Park in San Diego County, there is a cooperative
study on mountain lions being done by the DFG and state parks. The study needs
radio-collared lions, but state park rules forbid the use of dogs to tree
the big cats. But apparently the lions at Cuyamaca are prone to do things
lions other places don't often do: eat carrion left by other predators or
man -- specifically, road-killed animals. A few have also attacked humans,
and in one instance consumed a woman hiker. So the plan was to keep an eye
out for road-killed deer and then put traps around one to catch a cat or two
for radio-collaring. A ranger came across a freshly-killed deer one evening
and hoisted the still-warm carcass into the back of his truck. He went home
and plans were made to put the deer out with traps the next morning. During
the night, the deer was removed from the truck in his driveway. Gone. A lion
had taken the deer 200 yards, ate its fill, and covered the rest.
The researchers were elated. They found the deer carcass, set traps around
it, and hoped to catch their first lion for the study. But on checking the
snares the next day, they found all the traps sprung, and the deer carcass
was ripped from its tie-down and again hauled away. A closer look revealed
that a fox had come to the carcass, was caught in the snare, and then killed
and eaten by the lion. The deer carcass was found again, more snares were
set, and the next night a big male lion was captured, tranquilized, collared,
and released. Within days, this big cat was spotted in a local resident's
driveway. Seeing the collar they assumed the cat was someone's pet and initially
started to get out and herd it into their car.
The cat's menacing demeanor made the couple retreat back into their vehicle
until the cat left. This same cat was suspected of leaving claw marks on the
side of another truck, apparently jumping into the back to look for more dead
deer. "This lion is clearly not intimidated by people. It is a dangerous
animal, but because of this study, this cat will continue to roam all over
the mountain," said a local resident. "The state is courting disaster
with this one. Normally, a cat exhibiting this behavior would be destroyed,
but now someone is going to get hurt." Do I need to add anything here?
Mechanical duck decoys go on trial.
Roboducks, Wonderducks, and a whole variety of waterfowl decoys that have
wings that spin or flap are coming under scrutiny by the state Department
of Fish and Game and Fish and Game Commission. Can regulation or banning be
far away? According to a DFG press release, "In the last two years, the
use of mechanical duck decoys... has increased, and so has the debate about
whether they should be permitted for waterfowl hunting. Some hunters claim
that widespread use of the devices will dramatically increase the waterfowl
harvest, resulting in the need to reduce bag limits and seasons. Others, however,
feel the devices will help recruit and maintain hunters by increasing hunter
success."
Of course, there is no evidence to date -- after some pretty exhaustive
studies -- that there is any biological impact. In fact, most hunters who
use the decoys will tell you that the birds are already wising up and the
decoys are not as effective as they were when there weren't dozens of them
at every public hunting area and duck pond in the state. Still, a handful
of purist hunters are rattling the "ban them all" chains, the DFG
and Commission are playing along. If you want to comment on the issue, there
is a workshop being held by the DFG at the Long Beach City Hall in the City
Council Chambers, 333 West Ocean Blvd., 6 to 8 p.m., Monday, May 7.
The Fish and Game Commission has also scheduled three meetings to discuss
and adopt hunting regulations for waterfowl. These meetings are scheduled
for Friday, June 15, at the Memorial Hall in Bridgeport; Saturday, August
4, at the Resources Building Auditorium in Sacramento; and on Friday, August
24, at the Santa Barbara City Council Chambers. I've always been of the opinion
that we shouldn't go out on slippery slope and try to regulate ethical hunting
behavior because it will just be a matter of time before everyone's ox is
gored.
A former DFG director, Boyd Gibbons, once suggested that bear hunting with
dogs was unethical and should be banned, but he forgot that he hunted gamebirds
with dogs. To an outsider, it seemed pretty stupid and hypocritical. In the
non-hunter's eye, if one was bad, they both were. But Gibbons was sure he
could sell the non-hunting public his pointing dog hunt over the backwoods
tradition of baying hounds. To an insider, it just seemed biased and prejudicial.
Very slippery stuff. If we're killing too many ducks, reduce the limit, shorten
the season, but don't ban mechanical ducks. Don't ban 3 1/2-inch, 12 gauges
or 10-gauge shotguns. Those types of things are just more Gibbons-type elitism.
Let's just manage the resources to the best of our ability, set sound seasons
and limits, and teach ethics around campfires and not in legislative halls.
Cattlemen, DWP kill proposal to have Sierra lands protected as open space.
-- matthews 18apr01
The doors for developing Los Angeles Department of Water and Power lands
in the Eastern Sierra slipped back open this week. A proposal by the Wildlands
Conservancy, working in conjunction with the state Wildlife Conservation Board,
would have placed all of the city's lands owned in the Eastern Sierra -- 320,000
acres in all -- into a conservation easement that would have kept the lands
in open space for all time. That plan has been scuttled. David Myers at Wildlands
said that opposition in Inyo County, orchestrated by cattlemen who lease LADWP
lands working with insiders in the city's water and power agency who didn't
want the conservation easement, led to the agreement dissolving.
"The cattlemen organized the off-roaders against us and the sportsmen
never showed up in support," said Myers. "There are a lot of people
up there who hate (the Department) of Fish and Game. They got trashed up and
down and backwards. There was no way of getting around the negativity."
Most of what was said about the proposal in the Owens Valley was fiction.
I received faxes and phone calls after the news of the project came out that
the DFG and Wildlands were planning "to close all lands to public access,"
that "all dirt roads would be closed," and that hunting and fishing
would be banned and the region turned into a park. People were confusing the
conservation easement on LADWP lands with a wilderness proposal being circulated
for U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management federal lands.
Anyone who saw the terms of the proposal knew those were outright lies.
Even the cattle grazing would remain intact. It was simply a deal to make
sure the LADWP never sold the lands for development and kept everything else
the status quo. The whole intent of having the Wildlife Conservation Board
involved was to assure that public access would remain forever on those lands.
That is part of the problem for the cattlemen, who still feel like the land
they lease from the LADWP is their land. More and more people are using the
Owens Valley, and it is causing more problems for the ranchers. There is more
trash, gates are left open, cattle are harassed. These are real concerns for
these people. Ironically, the Wildlands proposal also would have provided
for an endowment that would have led to permanent staffing to do not only
biological monitoring of natural resources, but also simple things like picking
up trash and keeping gates maintained.
Fortunately, the plan probably will not die. The concept is a winner. Mono
County supported the proposal emphatically. The majority of the public in
Inyo County, some 70 percent who's livelihoods depend on recreation, supported
the plan. There is almost universal public support from the recreational users
of the Eastern Sierra. This is a good idea who's time has come. Anglers who
visit the region for the trout opener in two weeks might want to talk with
the owners of the resorts and restaurants where they spend their money. Tell
them it's a shame that a handful of people who mostly misrepresented what
was happening have stolen away a proposal that would have benefited the public
for all time.
Bridgeport Reservoir resort WILL be open.
Will the marina be open? Will there be boat launching? Boat rentals? The
questions were swirling without answers for the main resort and marina on
Bridgeport Reservoir, formerly called Falling Rock Marina, on the eve of the
Eastern Sierra trout opener. As of Monday, most of the questions have been
answered. Steve Marti and Lori Eitel-Marti, long-time marina and resort operators
who also run Twin Lake Resort, have signed a contract with the Walker River
Irrigation District to run the facility. The resort, which will be called
Bridgeport Reservoir Marina & RV Park, will indeed be open for trout season
opener and reservations are being taken. The boat launch will be open. New
docks are being constructed, and a fleet of rental boats has been ordered.
The only question unanswered was whether the rental boats will be available
opening weekend. The answer at mid-week was "maybe."
"I know this is short notice for everyone," said Clint Koble,
who will be managing the new-old resort. "But we just found out Monday,
too. No one is going to be getting much sleep around here for the next two
weeks trying to get everything ready." The new phone number for the facility
will be (760) 932-9292, but it will not be installed until April 24. However,
anglers can make reservations by calling Twin Lakes Resort at (760) 932-7751.
Salton Sea corvina bite takes off.
After a lull caused by a series of spring storms, the corvina bite at the
Salton Sea has exploded again this week, according to reports from all over
the the sea. Steve Roberts, an Upland angler who fishes the sea regularly
all spring and summer, said the bite really took off Saturday as the surface
temperatures climbed above 72 degrees again for the first time in nearly three
weeks. "As soon as the temperature hit 70 to 71 degrees, the bite kept
getting better and better this past Saturday," said Roberts. "We
only had two fish before 1 p.m., but we landed another 40 fish or so after
that." Roberts said they ended up keeping limits of five each. Don and
Linda Roberts, from San Diego, and Floyd Munson, also of Upland, were fishing
with Roberts. Don, who is Steve's brother, had the big fish of the 20 corvina
the group kept, and it was a 14-pound, 5-ounce fish, the best in Roberts'
boat this season.
"There were lots of big fish caught out of Red Hill this weekend,"
said Roberts, "Lots of fish over 10 pounds and up to about 15 pounds."
The best action has been on 3/8 to 1/2-ounce leadheads fish with split-tail
(Scampi-like), grub, or swimbait tails. Green and root beer have been the
best colors, according to Roberts. The hot spots out of Red Hill have been
the old jetty, Mullet Island, Black Rock, and the Bird Sanctuary. But the
bite has expanded beyond the south end of the sea this week. While talking
with Judy Olympius at Salton Sea Beach Marina (on the west shore) Wednesday
she shouted out to three anglers unloading their boat. "Did you guys
do any good!" You've all listened to conversations through a phone that
someone had set down on a counter, and know how you generally only hear one
side of the conversation, and not all of that. "Really!.... An 18-pounder
and one at 16 3/4 pounds..... Oh my!"
It turned out that Roger Robacher, along with fishing buddies Ed and Jim
Boyer, all San Bernardino, caught -- or should I say kept -- nine corvina
to 18 pounds Wednesday fishing from Salton Sea Beach to Desert Shores. The
trio were fishing Lunker Lures while drifting just offshore in this area.
Steve Horvitz, head ranger at the Salton Sea Recreation Area on the east shoreline,
said the state park jetty has been producing more and more corvina with each
warm day, and that boat anglers were getting fish from North Shore all the
way to Bombay Beach, with fish showing at Salt Creek and Corvina Beach.
Horvitz had a photo of Arnold Carpenter and Kent Grissom, both Salton Sea
Beach, with limits of five corvina each to 15 pounds. That was Horvitz estimating
the size based on the phone. He said the bigger fish were as long as the anglers'
legs. So that's about right. The two anglers were trolling with Thinfins from
Varner Harbor to Corvina Beach in only four to six feet of water. Horvitz
said that one of his rangers photographed a gutted corvina that was estimated
to weigh 30 pounds caught from shore off Salt Creek. It seems like the Salton
Sea bite is really starting to take off. If the last couple of years are any
indication, this incredible fishing will not slow down now until sometime
in October or early November.
National Forest meetings for updating forest plan.
The San Bernardino National Forest has set up six meetings in late April
to get input from the public on updating the forest plan that will chart management
of the forest for the next 10 to 15 years. Gene Zimmerman, supervisor of the
San Bernardino National Forest, said many forest users who participated in
the first round of meetings on the new plan had requested information on the
data available to the forest that will be used in updating the forest plan.
That data will be available at all of the upcoming meetings, and the public
will have the opportunity to provide additional information or comment.
The San Bernardino is just one four Southern California forests in the process
of updating general management plans. Forest users can review data collected
from the first round of meetings for all four forests -- which include the
Cleveland, Angeles, and Los Padres national forests -- and learn more about
the forest planning process by logging on the Cleveland National Forest website
at www.r5.fs.fed.us/cleveland/
and then click on "Forest Planning." The following is a list of
San Bernardino National Forest workshop meeting times, dates and locations:
7-9 p.m., Monday, April 23, at the Rick Novack Community Center, Hesperia.
7-9 p.m., Tuesday, April 24, at the Big Bear Discovery Center, Big Bear.
7-9 p.m., Wednesday, April 25, at the Bonnie Oehl Elementary School Multipurpose
Room, Highland.
7-9 p.m., Wednesday, April 25, at the Hootman Senior Community Center, Running
Springs.
6-8 p.m., Wednesday, April 25, at the Portolla Community Center, Palm Desert.
6-8 p.m., Thursday, April 26, at the Garner Valley Commons, Garner Valley.
For directions to any of the locations, you can call the San Bernardino National
Forest headquarters at (909) 383-5588.
SALTON SEA, ADD ONE: Retired Salton Sea State Recreation Area Superintendent
Tex Ritter will be conducting an in-depth fishing clinic May 12 from 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. at the park's visitor center. Ritter will teach anglers how to catch
all four species of fish in the sea -- corvina, croaker, tilapia, and sargo
-- and how to clean them and demonstrate cooking techniques. Prizes and fish
fry will be included. The fee is $20. To sign up, contact Tina Townsend at
(760) 767-5311.
SALTON SEA, ADD TWO: The first Imperial Valley "Take a Kid Fishing"
Tournament will be held Saturday, May 19, beginning at 6 a.m. out of Red Hill
Marina on the Salton Sea. The event ends at noon. Adult entrants must be accompanies
by at least one child to enter. Entry fee is $20 for adults, $5 for kids.
Biggest three fish win cash prizes of $500, $250 and $125. For more information,
contact Gerry Merten at (760) 356-4084 or Rudy Schaffner at (760) 356-4100,
or e-mail your request to entry@mail.holtville.com.
SALTON SEA, ADD THREE: The Salton Sea Beach Marina Memorial Weekend
Fishing Derby will be held from 6 a.m. Saturday, May 26, through noon Monday,
May 28. Entry fee is $10 per angler. First place for biggest fish is $500,
second place $100, and third place is $50. For information, call the Salton
Sea Beach Marina at 760-395-5212.
JUNIOR RIFLE EVENT: The Apple Valley Junior Rifle Club will have a
50-yard prone rifle event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the club range,
16699 Stoddard Wells Road, Victorville. Entry is $4 for members, $8 for non-members.
For more information, contact Ray Vidana at (760) 244-9097.
IN-WATER BOAT SHOW: The 28th Annual Newport In-the-Water Boat Show
will be held May 2-6 at Newport Dunes and Marina. The show, which has displays
of boats in and out of the water, is the largest boat show in Orange County
and will feature nearly 500 craft from makers all over the world. Show hours
are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to
6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call (949) 757-5959 or log on to www.goboatingamerican.com.
COWBOY ACTION SHOOTING: The 20th Annual End of Trail Wild West Jubilee
will be held April 27-29 at Raahauge's Ranch in Norco. The event is also the
World Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting and will attract shooters from
all over the world to participate and dress in era clothing for three days.
The event is open to the public for $10 per day with children 12 and under
free. Parking is $2. For more information, call (714) 694-1800 or log on to
www.sassnet.com.
UASC FUNDRAISER: United Anglers of Southern California will have its
10th annual fundraising banquet beginning 6 p.m., Saturday, May 19, at the
Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach. Advance tickets are $85 per person or $850
for a table of 10. For more information, call (714) 840-0227. Don Kent will
be presented with the Bill Ray Memorial Conservation Award at this year's
event.
TROUT OPENER I -- matthews column 11apr01
East Walker cleanup goes well. In late December, an oil tanker went off
the road under icy conditions in the canyon below Bridgeport Reservoir. The
driver of the truck was tragically killed in the crash, and over half of the
tanker's 63,000-gallon load of No. 6 fuel oil was spilled into the East Walker
River. It seemed like just another chapter of woe for one of the state's premier
trout fisheries, one that has been nearly destroyed repeatedly by various
acts of man.
But on the eve of this year's trout season opener, which is set for April
28 throughout the Eastern Sierra Nevada, the extensive clean-up of the river
is complete, and anglers will find little evidence of the oil spill on the
East Walker. Losses to the trout fishery were minimal -- only 47 total trout
were found dead during the cleanup and not all of those may have been killed
by the spill. Rick Gieser at Ken's Sporting Goods in Bridgeport said that
"overall the impact on the trout was nothing. The only thing not certain
is the impact on insect life [that supports the trout fishery] in the river."
"They did a fabulous job on the clean up and keeping people informed,"
said Gieser of the Department of Fish and Game, which supervised the cleanup,
and the clean up companies hired by the trucking company's insurance firm.
For anglers who like to fish the East Walker River on the trout opener, Gieser
said the clean up may have actually been a blessing in disguise. The accident
occurred about 2 1/2 miles below Bridgeport Reservoir, and the clean-up, which
removed some 600 cubic yards of material, continued downstream to Murphy's
Pond. This stretch of the river was so choked with streamside willow growth
that it was nearly impossible to fish, especially when flows were up -- as
they are during most of the trout season. In the process of cleaning up the
stream course, willows were removed, access to the river cleared, and a lot
of streamside brush removed. As a bonus, the crews also cleaned up all the
trash along the river.
"They opened up another two miles of good fishing water that most guys
could never get to before," said Gieser.
BRIDGEPORT MARINA CLOSED?: It looks as though the launch ramp and
marina on Bridgeport Reservoir will be closed for opening weekend of trout
season. Bridgeport Lake Resort (formerly Falling Rock Marina) does not have
rental boats, and apparently there are no plans for it to be open for the
April 28 opening of the season. Ken Battson, who holds the lease on the resort
property from the Walker River Irrigation District, could not be reached for
comment, but a spokesperson for WRID said the resort was going to be open
later this year but not for the opener. Battson had run the Bridgeport operation
last year, along with the Lower Twin Lake Resort. Steve Marti has taken back
over the Lower Twin Lake operation and it will be open this year. There was
fear in Bridgeport that both resorts would be closed not just for the opener,
but for the whole season.
BIG BROWNS BACK IN UPPER TWIN LAKE: Norm Annett, who runs Mono Village
on Upper Twin Lake out of Bridgeport expects his lake to produce a few trophy
brown trout when the season opens in a couple of weeks. Why? For the past
five years, Annett has been planting the lake with brown trout he's purchased
from private hatcheries. "We finally started to see the fruits of our
labors last fall when 10 and 12 pound browns were caught. We could tell by
the coloring they were from the fish we'd planted. I think we're going to
have a good opener," said Annett. Annett has been raising brown trout
in three ponds in the meadow above the resort. Last year, he released 2,500
browns from 2 1/2 to nearly seven pounds after the season closed. They joined
hundreds of other browns from two to four pounds he released over the course
of the trout season last year and the previous seasons. This year, Annett
will release more trout than ever before -- some 6,500 browns are slated for
release this season -- up from about 1,000 fish he released his first year.
He'll also be raising some rainbows this year -- a species that is more likely
to be caught quickly by anglers.
Annett is trying to get Upper Twin's reputation as a trophy brown trout
fishery restored with his private plants. The DFG, since losing its Whitney
stain of brown trout to a whirling disease outbreak a few years ago, has planted
fewer and fewer browns each year in the region. Upper Twin's brown trout fishery
slowly seemed to dry up. Annett is hoping his program will bring it back and
early results from last year are good signs his plan is working. Upper Twin
has been ice-free for about two weeks, and that should bring the browns up
to feed. Maybe a 12 to 15 or 20-pounder will be caught here again. The Upper
and Lower Twin Lakes used to produce several brown trout over 10 pounds each
opening week of the trout season.
FROGS AND TROUT: Many anglers have become concerned that the almost
certain listing of the Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog (MYLF) as a threatened
or endangered species will spell doom for all high elevation trout fishing
throughout the Sierra Nevada. Bishop DFG fishery biologist Curtis Milliron,
who is supervising the MYLF work in the southern portion of the Eastern Sierra
said anglers will probably gain more than they'll lose in the work that is
going to be done over the coming years. Because of the proposed listing the
DFG has committed a lot of money and manpower to looking at high elevation
fisheries and MYLF populations and habitat. Milliron will have a seasonal
staff of 10 to supervise this summer for this project.
"This is absolutely not a frog management project. It is a resource
assessment to determine fish populations and their quality in relation to
frogs and their habitat. We're going to get qualitative and quantitative handles
on the resource and examine use patterns to determine where it makes sense
to make changes," said Milliron. The changes are more likely to improve
many existing high elevation fisheries than eliminate them. Marginal fisheries
or those in prime frog habitat may go to the frogs, but many poor fisheries
will probably see a better stocking regime and better quality fish. The bottom
line to Milliron is that the MYLF has forced the DFG to look at high elevation
habitats, and it will make fisheries better in addition to "giving back
something to native fauna." Fishermen need not be too concerned.
REDLANDS MAN WINS WON BASS EVENT -- 11 apr01
Nollar wins at Lake Mead; wind shortens tournament to one day HENDERSON,
NV. -- It was wintertime again at Lake Mead this past Saturday as the temperature
dropped into the 40s and winds to over 50 mph forced WON BASS to cancel the
first round of the Miller High Life Lake Mead Invitational. When the field
of 310 anglers got on the water Sunday, the weather was magnificent, with
light winds early and almost no wind after noon. Some impressive fishing resulted
with one of the tournament veterans walking away with his first major tournament
win. Dave Nollar of Redlands, who has been tournament fishing since the early
days of Western Bass in the early 19701s, topped the field with a weight of
16.72 pounds for 5 bass < thanks in part to AAA John Virant of Camarillo,
who boated the tournament's largest bass at 6.15 pounds.
"Dave took me to the spot and I just got a couple of casts into the
right spot," said Virant. That was all right with Nollar, as Pro and
AAA anglers share whatever weight they catch, so both won their respective
divisions. "It's best a long time coming, I hope you guys don't have
to wait this long to win one," said Nollar at the awards ceremonies.
The retired high school vice principal also had retired from tournament fishing
during the 1990s but came back with a vengeance last year and finished among
the top six in the WON BASS Daiwa Cup finals. They reported catching many
fish Sunday in the Overton area of the Virgin Basin on Lake Mead, with the
larger fish coming on spinnerbaits. The slow sinking Senko worm also accounted
for many fish, said Nollar. First place at all WON BASS Miller High Life Tour
invitationals is a $35,000 Ranger/Mercury bass boat package, so Nollar took
home that prize while AAA Virant pocketed $1,500 for AAA first place plus
$1,500 for the daily big bass award. The second largest bass, 5.69 pounds,
earned $500 for Pro Tom Phillips of Corona.
Nollar also became the first WON BASS angler to win a tournament as a Ranger
Cup angler, which became effective in March. Ranger boat anglers are eligible
to register for the Ranger Cup and if they win a sanctioned tournament they
get a $1,000 bonus, or a bonus of $500 if they are the highest non-winner
in a Ranger during the tournament. Gregg Warne of Mesa, AZ, bidding for his
second Lake Mead victory (he won in 1990), settled for second spot with 16.49
pounds and winnings of $7,500, while his AAA partner Jason Marquez of Lake
Havasu City, AZ, won $1,000. They used ProLine double willow leaf spinnerbaits
and fished close to Callville Bay for their fish. Coupled with $5,000 in blackjack
winnings on Saturday when the tournament was delayed, Warne had quite a big
weekend.
In third place were Charlie Davidson of Temecula and Pat Donoho Jr. of Las
Vegas with 14.66 pounds. Charlie won $5,250 while Pat went home with $900.
They caught 8 fish and culled down to their 5-bass weight. Byron Velvick of
Boulder City, NV, and AAA James Hundley of Temecula had 14.37 pounds for fourth
place. Hundley won $800, but Velvick, a two-time U.S. Open winner, was a huge
winner in the option pools and his winnings totaled a whopping $7,950. He
also is the current leader in the South Region after two events. Complete
results of the big tournament are posted on the WON BASS website at wonbass.com.
PRO STANDINGS Lake Mead, Callville Resort, April 8, 2001 Place, Name
Hometown Fish Total Money 1 Dave Nollar Redlands 5 16.72 $36,000 2 Gregg Warne
Mesa AZ 5 16.49 7,500 3 Charlie Davidson Temecula 5 14.66 5,250 4 Byron Velvick
Boulder City NV 5 14.37 7,950 5 Mike Esmay Lake Havasu City AZ 5 14.36 3,000
6 Micah Jones Kingman AZ 5 13.98 2,000 6 Fred Ward Peoria AZ 5 13.98 3,020
8 Cameron Karber Phoenix AZ 5 13.55 2,680 9 Greg Hines Mesa AZ 5 13.17 2,000
10 Marc Knudsen Henderson NV 5 13.01 2,000 11 Tom Phillips Corona 5 12.93
1,500 12 Bill Case Orange 5 12.87 1,000 13 Guy Williams Fontana 5 12.69 1,000
14 David Collins Las Vegas NV 5 12.53 1,000 15 Tim Klinger Boulder City NV
5 12.39 1,000 16 Scott Frazier Santee 5 12.19 700 17 Cary Serklew San Juan
Capistrano 5 12.18 700 18 Gabe Bolivar Ramona 5 12.12 700 19 Jim Jared Dolan
Springs AZ 5 11.94 700 20 Jack Gadlage Logandale NV 5 11.65 700 21 Ken Howden
Mesa AZ 5 11.64 600 22 Michael D. Sisco Henderson NV 5 11.63 600 23 Bobby
Lanham Scottsdale AZ 5 11.56 600 24 Kenneth Davis San Diego 5 11.37 600 25
Wes Carey Alta Loma 5 11.17 600 26 Phil Draper Pinon Hills 5 11.15 500 26
Casey Iwai Laveen AZ 5 11.15 500 28 Art Berry Lakeside 5 11.09 500 29 Bobby
Doss Orcutt 5 11.05 500 30 Bob Palashewski San Diego 5 11.00 500 31 Tim Blanchard
Lake Havasu City AZ 5 10.88 250 31 Glen Levison Cypress 5 10.88 250
AAA STANDINGS Lake Mead, Callville Bay Resort, April 8, 2001 Place,
Name Hometown Fish Total Money 1 John Virant Camarillo 5 16.72 $3,000 2 Jason
Marquez Lake Havasu AZ 5 16.49 1,000 3 Patrick S. Donoho N. Las Vegas NV 5
14.66 900 4 James Hundley Temecula 5 14.37 800 5 Albert Albiar Shafter 5 14.36
2,900 6 Ben Bankston Corona 5 13.98 450 6 Robert Urchike Chandler AZ 5 13.98
450 8 Dan Osgood Escondido 5 13.55 350 9 Jay Riggs Rosamond 5 13.17 350 10
Greg Cyphers Las Vegas NV 5 13.01 350 11 L.J. Seitz Lake Havasu City AZ 5
12.93 1,100 12 Daniel Lutz Henderson NV 5 12.87 300 13 Don Hilton Las Vegas
NV 5 12.69 300 14 Jerry DeWoody Walnut Grove 5 12.53 300 15 Thomas Elliott
Downey 5 12.39 300 16 Fletcher West, Jr. Fort Mohave AZ 5 12.19 275 17 Larry
White Peoria AZ 5 12.18 275 18 Joe Stella Temple City 5 12.12 275 19 Scott
Robertson Fontana 5 11.94 275 20 J.J. Gibbs Lake Havasu City AZ 5 11.65 275
21 Jeff Dean Lake Havasu City AZ 5 11.64 250 22 Devin McDonald Mesa AZ 5 11.63
250 23 Mike Simon Henderson NV 5 11.56 250 24 Joe Uribe, Sr. Hawthorne 5 11.37
250 25 Tim Barrett Rancho Cucamonga 5 11.17 250 26 Rick Crawford Vista 5 11.15
225 26 Mike Kurosaki Gardena 5 11.15 225 28 Todd Herman Gilbert AZ 5 11.09
705 29 Liz Jones Chatsworth 5 11.05 225 30 Tammy Morrow Placentia 5 11.00
225 31 George Arakelian La Habra 5 10.88 225 31 Ralph Wells Castaic 5 10.88
225 33 Real Andrews Santa Clarita 5 10.87 320
TURKEY SEASON OPENER -- SPRING TURKEY OPENER HAD PERFECT WEATHER, MIXED
HUNTER SUCCESS
The Southern California turkey season kicked off with gorgeous weather for
opening weekend this past Saturday and Sunday, but hunters -- from the Fort
Hunter-Liggett on the Central Coast to the San Bernardino Mountains and on
south into San Diego County -- had mixed success. The problem was that there
was intense hunting pressure on public lands which brought success rates down
to very low levels. Two local hunters did manage to take their first birds
this year.
Jim Gross, a Redlands hunter who went to Fort Hunter Liggett with displaced
Mississippi hunter Jimmy Rizzo, who now lives in Orange County, shot a jake
(yearling) bird opening Saturday. He and Rizzo took two of the six birds reported
on the military base that is open to public hunting. Phil Morreale of Perris
hunted on public land in San Diego County. He said he'd been scouting for
the past month and finally found a nice flock of birds on Cleveland National
Forest lands and went back there at the crack of dawn opening day. "There
must have been 50 other hunters in this little valley. We didn't think the
birds would stay around all those people so we headed up in the hills,"
said Morreale. A bird answered their calls, and he shot a jake with a 3 1/2-inch
beard by 7 a.m. Morreale said he's hooked on turkey hunting now.
Overall, hunter success rates were very low. In the San Bernardino Mountains,
there were reports of only one bird being taken in Holcomb Valley. Department
of Fish and Game warden Lt. Diane Hermans of Big Bear said her squad did not
check a single bird in over the weekend. "I'd say, between the whole
squad, we contacted a 100-plus hunters from Miller Canyon to my end out in
the Holcomb Valley, but no one saw turkeys or spoke to anyone who saw turkeys,"
said Hermans. Jim Davis, the DFG biologist for this same area, said there
were a lot of hunters for opening weekend on the north side of the San Bernardinos.
"There were more hunters than birds. I think things will settle down
after this opening weekend, and it will get a little better as the crowds
thin out," said Davis.
Andy McCormick, the public relations specialist for Turner's Outdoorsman
chain of stores and an avid turkey hunter, said he found birds in both the
San Bernardino Mountains and in San Diego County hunting from Saturday through
Monday, but wasn't able to get a gobbler into shotgun range. "I saw a
monster tom near Lake Henshaw [on private land]. His beard was dragging on
the ground," said McCormick, but all he could do was watch the bird from
the road. Hunters with access to private lands fared much better, thanks to
less pressure that allowed the hunters to work the birds. John Massie, a former
Department of Fish and Game biologist who lives in Ramona, shot a bird opening
day on a private ranch near his home and said there was a lot of gobbling
opening morning. He and his hunting partner each shot young jakes.
Massie said that in pre-season scouting he was seeing big gobblers with
one or two hens and decided that it would be difficult to draw in a mature
bird, but he knew that jakes would be roaming around looking for hens. Just
before noon, Massie said they attracted a group of three jakes to their decoys
and were able to take a pair of birds at the same time. Massie said that the
next day, the action had completely shut down. There wasn't any gobbling and
they only saw three hens after seeing so many birds the day before. Massie
said that other hunters reported the same phenomena, even on private lands
where there was no hunting pressure. "It just blows you away when something
like that happens," said Massie. "It certainly wasn't caused by
hunting pressure where we were, but it was like the birds all just went into
dispersal overnight. I can't explain it."
Jim Brown, who manages the recreation program for the San Diego City Lake,
said the drawing hunt on their lands was unproductive but that both groups
of hunters -- two in Bloomdale Creek and two in Santa Ysabel -- saw birds.
The Santa Ysabel hunters missed an opportunity after calling in two mature
toms and two jakes. Brown, himself, hunting on private land said he called
in "an absolutely enormous bird roughly the size of a Volkswagen,"
but spooked it before getting a shot. The spring turkey season runs through
May 6. The limit is one bearded bird per day and three for the spring season.
HUNTER SAFETY CLASS SCHEDULE -- matthews 04apr01
Hunter Education/Handgun Safety Class schedule First-time hunters in California
are required to pass a 10-hour hunter education class before purchasing a
hunting license. These classes also satisfy the California requirement for
a safety course before a handgun may be purchased. The following is a list
of regularly scheduled classes coming up in the next month:
Saturday, April 14, at Mike Raahauge's Shooting Enterprises' Sporting Clays
Range, Norco. Registration is 6:30 a.m. and the fee is $35 per student, which
includes instruction, hunter safety certificate, lunch and refreshments. Participants
must register at a Turner's Outdoorsman store or Raahauge's Shooting Enterprises
and bring their hunter safety booklet the day of class. Classes are normally
the second Saturday of each month. Contact: (909) 735-7981.... Saturday, April
14, at the Inland Fish and Game Conservation Association Range, Redlands.
Registration is 7:30 a.m. and the fee is $8 per student. The class includes
live-firing and students should bring a lunch and drinks for the all-day class.
Classes are held the second Saturday of each month at the Inland Range. Contact:
(909) 781-HUNT.
Saturday, April 14, at Baker Press, Ontario. Fee is $3 per student. This
class is held the second Saturday of each month. Contact Girard Rudd at (909)
930-9470.... Saturday, April 14 at the San Gabriel Valley Gun Club. There
are classes the second Saturday of each month at the club. Fee is $15 per
student and the class runs from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Contact: (626) 358-9906....
Sunday, April 15, in Rancho Cucamonga, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Price is $10
per person. Kids under 16 are required to pick up a study book in advance.
Contact Gene Hubler at (909) 987-0811. Hubler runs classes the second Sunday
of each month.... Saturdays, April 21 and 28, in El Segundo. Class is 2 p.m.
to 7 p.m. each day and limited to 20 students who pre-register. Contact Myke
Sheets at (310) 376-0348.
Saturday, April 28, at the Maywood Rod and Gun Club, Perris. The club runs
a hunter safety class the fourth Saturday of each month at its range in Perris,
except for Nov. and Dec., when the class is the third Saturday. Contact Bob
Williams at (909) 685-3908.... Saturday, April 28, at Prado Tiro, Chino. The
one-day class begins 7:30 a.m. the fourth Saturday of each month in the Airgun
Hall. Cost is $15 (includes ammunition and range fees). Bring a lunch, snacks,
and drinks. Contact: (909) 656-3359.... Sunday, May 6, at the Walmart, Victorville.
This class is held the first Sunday of each month, and the first and third
Sundays in June and September. Fee is $15 per student. Students can sign up
and pick up a study book at the sporting goods department in Walmart or call
Ken Crawford at (760) 948-4218.
Qualified hunter education instructors are available within a short distance
of most any Southern California location, and courses are conducted throughout
the year. For a recorded list of volunteer hunter education instructors, their
locations and telephone numbers, call (562) 590-5670, or access the list via
the Department of Fish and Game website at www.dfg.ca.gov.
Spanish language instructors can be found in Santa Ana, Orange County, Colton
in San Bernardino County, Escondido in San Diego County, and Lompoc in Santa
Barbara County. And in Los Angeles County, Spanish language hunter education
courses are available in Baldwin Park, Canoga Park, Inglewood, and Torrance.
OWENS VALLEY SPORTSMAN'S WINDFALL -- 28mar01
Anyone who has ever fished or hunted in the Eastern Sierra has probably
spent a good portion of their time on Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power property. If you fish Crowley each opener, shoot ducks on the upper
Owens, or chase doves or quail along the lower Owens, you are doing it on
LADWP lands. If you are lucky enough to get drawn for an Owens Valley tule
elk tag, you will probably shoot your bull on LADWP land. If you like to walk
in and fish Walker or Parker Lake, you are likely to spend some of your time
on LADWP land. The city owns most of the valley. Phil Pister, a retired Department
of Fish and Game fishery biologist, has often said the LADWP's land acquisitions
in the region were both the best and the worst thing that could have happened
to the valley.
The "worst" because of the way the city "purchased"
land and water rights and then dewatered some streams. The best in the way
they purchased land and water rights and kept it in open space, open to the
public, with permanent flows in the Owens River. Without the LADWP, the region
would have been alfalfa fields and orchards and all the streams would have
been diverted or pumped dry, like in the San Joaquin Valley. But the City
of Los Angeles was ruthless in its acquisition of land in the region, buying
land and water rights even from unwilling sellers. But it did keep the valley
fairly pristine. David Freeman, the LADWP general manager who is wearing a
hero's hat these days because the city is not facing an energy crisis because
of the Owens Valley power generation, has often said that the city "stole
that land fair and square" when talking about that dark chapter in the
city's history.
Perhaps it is with a sense of remorse for their past sins, the LADWP is
on the verge of entering into an historic agreement to preserve all 320,000
acres of its holdings in the Eastern Sierra. Working with the Wildlands Conservancy,
the city will sell this group and the state Wildlife Conservation Board a
conservation easement on all of its Sierra lands, keeping them in open space
forever. The lands will never be developed or sold off to developers. The
end may not justify the means, but at least this dark-cloud story has a silver
lining. There is a happy ending. Many water and power companies are selling
off key properties to recoup financial losses or reap major profits for shareholders.
The result is that open space is being lost to development. Many had feared
that at some point in the future, the LADWP would begin selling off Owens
Valley lands for development, squeezing out hunters and fishermen who've used
the lands for years.
The Wildlands Conservancy, which engineered the huge land purchase in the
East Mojave to consolidate public land holdings there, worked with Freeman
to preserve these lands as open space and to assure that the public continues
to have access for all time. "Hunters and fishermen were one of the key
groups we felt we were negotiating for and will continue to negotiate for
in this agreement," said David Myers, the executive director of Wildlands.
"Everyone I know who has a history with the Owens Valley, it is with
fishing or hunting." The total cost for the conservation easement is
$25 million. Wildlands has already raised $8.35 million and expects to raise
another $4.15 million. The remaining half of the purchase price will come
from the state Wildlife Conservation Board, which has already pledged to enter
into the agreement. Public access for recreation will be guaranteed in the
deal.
The impact of the sale of development rights isn't probably significant
for most hunters or fishermen who use the Sierra now, but a generation or
two from now, as development gobbles up open space all over our state, our
children and grandchildren will find the Eastern Sierra Nevada from Bridgeport
to Olancha little changed from what we see today: a sportsman's paradise.
And that would be a good thing.
EL CAPITAN CRAPPIE ACTION
The excellent crappie action at El Capitan is the buzz of local panfish
anglers all over the region. San Diego City Lakes biologist Larry Bottroff
said that something on the order of 6,500 crappie have been caught over the
past three weeks. That is out of an estimated population of something over
20,000 crappie. Anglers are likely to lands 12 to 15,000 of the fish before
the bite dwindles. Bottroff said that some years the combination of fishing
mortality and natural mortality eliminates over 95 percent of the crappie
population. Amazingly, the fish rebound quickly. The key to a water year that
supports a good spawning effort by the fish, not the harvest numbers.
"The only way we could have consistantly good crappie fishing is to
be able to control the water levels in the spring and summer," said Bottroff.
And that will never happen so anglers should be happy there was a great spawn
in 1999 and that there are a pile of 3/4-pound to one-pound crappie at the
lake right now. Other spots also with good crappie numbers but less fishing
pressure. Look at Lake Sutherland, also in San Diego County, and Silverwood
Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. Both have fewer fish, but some better
quality fish.
COMING UP
Spring turkey season opens Saturday throughout California. Conditions look
good for hunters with the nice weather. The limit is one bearded bird per
day and three for the spring season, which continues through May 6.... There
are two Friends of the NRA (National Rifle Association) dinner/fundraisers
coming up in the next month in Southern California. In spite of a national
shift away from gun control and anti-hunting legislation, California hunters
and gun owners problems are only going to get worse this. The NRA still provides
one of the only unified voices in support of gun owners and hunting in Sacramento.
Dates and contacts of these fundraisers are as follows: April 7 in Ridgecrest,
contact Tom Wiknich at (760) 375-1004 and April 14 in Paramount, contact Randy
Tidwell at (562) 630-4304.
NEW
NEVADA RECORD STRIPER -- matthews column 21mar01
A.C. Plug maker sets new Nevada striped bass record
Perhaps thankfully, Allan Cole doesn't count how many times he casts his
huge, homemade plugs when he's after trophy fish. It had been a long dry spell
for Cole, the Bullhead City angler who designed the famous A.C. Plug. Prior
to last Thursday, Cole had fished for 30 days on the waters of Lake Mohave
and the Willow Beach area of the Colorado River for striped bass and had exactly
one strike. That strike turned out to be a 19-pounder. Last Thursday, Cole
was getting down to the point where you say each cast is your last. It was
one of the first truly warm days of the year and Cole was thinking more about
a nap than a trophy fish.
"I'd gotten up at 4 a.m. and was on the water by a little after five,"
said Cole, formerly a long-time Lancaster resident and well-known in the Southern
California fishing community. "I was thinking it was another one of those
days. I was getting ready to leave." Then he made another one of those
"last casts." Something big thumped the 12-inch lure, but missed
it. Then it swirled again and started following the big bait, engulfing it.
Cole knew it was a big fish, but he didn't think it was as big as it was until
he had it along side the boat and safely in the huge net he uses.
The striper weighed 63 pounds at the Cottonwood Marina scale. That weight
surpasses the Nevada state record of 60.14-pounds caught by Herman Britz of
Las Vegas a couple of season ago. The fish is also just shy of the Colorado
River (and Arizona State) record of 67.1-pounds caught by Jeff Smith of Henderson,
Nev. All three of the huge stripers were caught on Cole's homemade A.C. Plugs,
perhaps the most effective lure ever designed for big largemouth bass and
stripers. Cole's tally has 78 stripers over 40 pounds caught on his plug,
with Cole catching 18 of them himself.
The success of the big bait with largemouth bass, however, is what has given
the lure nationwide fame. Bart Crabb, author of the book, "Quest for
the World Record Bass" is blunt when he says Cole's A.C. Plug is "the
best big bass lure ever made." Crabb says it has caught more largemouth
bass over 10 pounds in its short existence than any lure in history. With
its success, Cole even had the plug manufactured under a contract with the
Fred Arbogast lure company for a couple of seasons until Arbogast was sold.
Anglers who had fished by the Arbogast lure and those made by Cole himself,
say Arbogast's version was pretty dismal. Allan began selling his homemade
A.C. Plugs to local tackle shops again, mostly here in Southern California
and on the Colorado River. Recently, Cole signed a new contract with Luhr-Jensen,
a Northwest lure maker, and his homemade versions are going to become scarce
commodities. Under the contract, Allan can only supply his homemade lures
to two stores in Southern California (Gallion's in Castaic and Fish'n Fools
in Granada Hills). This won't be a big deal if Luhr-Jensen does a better job
of making the production lure than Arbogast did. But you might want to stock
up just in case.
The results from last week just prove yet again, that the A.C. Plug can
catch the whoppers.
SPRING
TURKEY HUNTING ROUNDUP -- matthews 14mar01
It's time to talk turkey. Spring turkey season opens March 31 statewide,
and the prospects for Southern California hunters is generally bright, but
repeated snow and rain may make access difficult and change birds' patterns
from past years. "I'm a little worried that we won't be able to get back
to where the birds are," said Jimmy Rizzo, a spokesman for the National
Wild Turkey Federation Orange County Chapter and a veteran bird hunter from
Mississippi. Rizzo hunts the San Bernardino National Forest near Lake Arrowhead,
and repeated snows in this area the past month have left the area with a blanket
of white. Dirt roads are impassable now in many of these areas, but with two
weeks until the opener, hunters are optimistic that a dry spell with encourage
the snow to melt off the roads to allow access.
Steve Loe, a biologist with the San Bernardino National Forest, said his
agency staff is getting reports of birds in the usual areas. "That upper
end of Deep Creek is the most common place where we hear people reporting
sightings," said Loe. "The Holcomb Creek drainage is also a good
area, and I think hunters will see birds in that area along the edge of the
burn." Loe also said that these have been at least one or two groups
of birds that have taken up residence in the town of Fawnskin on the north
shore of Big Bear Lake. While hunting is not allowed near the houses, John
Massie, a recently retired Department of Fish and Game biologist from Ramona
who has worked with turkeys for years, points out that there is a spring dispersal
of birds that will send them miles away from their usual fall and winter haunts.
Massie said that birds wearing radio harnesses in San Diego County moved
from three to 12 miles once the spring nesting season began. The hens spread
out in search of suitable nesting habitat and the gobblers spread out in hopes
of attracting the wayward hens. Massie said the birds in San Diego County
have done better than the higher elevation San Bernardino Mountains' population,
reproducing and spreading their range more dramatically. While birds are on
private lands throughout the region from Palomar Mountain south to Interstate
8, there are also populations on public lands. Two of the more popular areas
are the Barker Valley and Love Valley regions of the Cleveland National Forests
west of Lake Henshaw. Both of these areas require that hunters hike in to
the best hunting areas.
The recent additions to the Cleveland National Forest in the Anahuac Spring
area are also very good, but hunters need to have maps from the forest office
that show the public and private boundaries. This area was one of the most
heavily hunted areas in the southern part of the state last year, and that
kind of intense pressure on the birds alters their spring behavior, making
them almost impossible for hunters to bag. "But after a few days without
disturbance, they go back to being turkeys again," said Massie, encouraging
hunters to hunt mid-week when possible to avoid the crowds. Maps that show
the additions are available from the Cleveland Forest Supervisor's office
by calling (619) 674-2901.
TURKEY NOTES: The DFG's aggressive relocation program is on hold
this year because of a lawsuit mandating that the agency prepare an Environmental
Impact Report on the potential impacts of turkeys on other fauna. The statewide
turkey coordinator for the DFG, Scott Gardiner, believes the agency will be
back in business moving birds by next winter.... The DFG has captured about
40 wild turkeys off Rancho Cuyamaca State Park in San Diego County since the
first of the year and shipped the birds to Nevada's Division of Wildlife for
release there. The state park biological staff would like to see all of the
birds removed from the park, saying they are a non-native species. Unfortunately,
the DFG can't relocate the birds to other areas in San Diego County because
of the current hold on relocations until the EIR is completed.
If this spring is like any of the past several in California and other Western
states, there will be at least two or three turkey hunters who will make the
yelping sounds of a hen turkey and have a mountain lion stalk them. In most
cases the lions have backed down when they realized their mistake, but several
mountain lions are shot each year in the West when they rush hunters. You
almost can't talk to a veteran turkey hunter who hasn't called in a coyote
or bobcat with his hen yelps.
Turner's Outdoorsman is hosting a series of three seminars at its different
stores nearest the best turkey hunting in Southern California. First planted
in Southern California in 1989, turkeys have become one of the most popular
hunted species in the region with as many hunters pursuing the big birds as
chasing deer. Success rates have been much lower than for deer, however, because
most hunters are still learning about the spot.
Which is why Turner's is offering the turkey seminars. The seminars are set
for this Thursday at the Turner's San Marcos store, Friday at the San Bernardino
store, and the big, all-day event will be Saturday at Raahauge's in Norco.
At all three events you can get calling pointers and scouting tips from the
pro staff from Hunter Specialties. There will also be hunters and DFG staff
on hand to help direct you into areas throughout Southern California where
birds have been seen or killed the last couple of years.
The all-day event will have more extensive seminars, gun patterning pointers,
and information on gear. To register, call the San Marcos store at (760) 741-1570,
San Bernardino at (909) 388-1090, or Mike Raahauge's Shooting Enterprises
at (909) 735-7981.... A more intimate seminar is being hosted by the Orange
County Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March
24 at the Izaak Walton League clubhouse in Santa Ana (1714 W. Santa Clara
Avenue adjacent to the Riverview Golf Course). Veteran turkey caller and hunter
Jimmy Rizzo will conduct this seminar.
Turner's Outdoorsman hosting wild hog hunt on Tejon Ranch
CHINO -- Turner's Outdoorsman and Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises have
teamed up to host a special hunt for wild hogs on the Tejon Ranch April 20-22,
according to Andy McCormick at Turner's. "This hunt is going to be a
blast," said McCormick. "Those who go will be staying at one of
the two hunting lodges on the Tejon and will be able to hunt on their own
the whole weekend." There will also be a drawing for a new Marlin Guide
Gun in the new .450 Marlin round. Cost for the hunt is $500 per hunter and
it includes all food, two nights stay in the Tejon's lodges, and a one-hog
permit on the ranch. The hunt is not guided, so hunters will need to provide
their own transportation and field care of game. The event is limited to 24
hunters. Jim Matthews, editor of the California Hog Hunter newsletter, is
coordinating the reservations and will be along on the event. For more information,
call Matthews at 909-887-3444.
HUNTER SAFETY CLASS SCHEDULE
First-time hunters in California are required to pass a 10-hour hunter education
class before purchasing a hunting license. These classes also satisfy the
California requirement for a safety course before a handgun may be purchased.
The following is a list of regularly scheduled classes coming up in the next
month: Saturday, Mar. 24, at the Maywood Rod and Gun Club, Perris. The club
runs a hunter safety class the fourth Saturday of each month at its range
in Perris, except for Nov. and Dec., when the class is the third Saturday.
Contact Bob Williams at (909) 685-3908.... Saturday, Mar. 24, at Prado Tiro,
Chino. The one-day class begins 7:30 a.m. the fourth Saturday of each month
in the Airgun Hall. Cost is $15 (includes ammunition and range fees). Bring
a lunch, snacks, and drinks. Contact: (909) 656-3359.... Saturday, Mar. 24,
in Riverside. Contact: Art Evans at (909) 359-4278.... Sunday, April 1, at
the Walmart, Victorville. This class is held the first Sunday of each month,
and the first and third Sundays in June and September. Fee is $15 per student.
Students can sign up and pick up a study book at the sporting goods department
in Walmart or call Ken Crawford at (760) 948-4218....
Saturday, April 14, at Mike Raahauge's Shooting Enterprises' Sporting Clays
Range, Norco. Registration is 6:30 a.m. and the fee is $35 per student, which
includes instruction, hunter safety certificate, lunch and refreshments. Participants
must register at a Turner's Outdoorsman store or Raahauge's Shooting Enterprises
and bring their hunter safety booklet the day of class. Classes are normally
the second Saturday of each month. Contact: (909) 735-7981.... Saturday, April
14, at the Inland Fish and Game Conservation Association Range, Redlands.
Registration is 7:30 a.m. and the fee is $8 per student. The class includes
live-firing and students should bring a lunch and drinks for the all-day class.
Classes are held the second Saturday of each month at the Inland Range. Contact:
(909) 781-HUNT.... Saturday, April 14, at Baker Press, Ontario. Fee is $3
per student. This class is held the second Saturday of each month. Contact
Girard Rudd at (909) 930-9470....
Saturday, April 14 at the San Gabriel Valley Gun Club. There are classes
the second Saturday of each month at the club. Fee is $15 per student and
the class runs from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Contact: (626) 358-9906.... Sunday, April
15, in Rancho Cucamonga, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Price is $10 per person. Kids
under 16 are required to pick up a study book in advance. Contact Gene Hubler
at (909) 987-0811. Hubler runs classes the second Sunday of each month.
Qualified hunter education instructors are available within a short distance
of most any Southern California location, and courses are conducted throughout
the year. For a recorded list of volunteer hunter education instructors, their
locations and telephone numbers, call (562) 590-5670, or access the list via
the Department of Fish and Game website at www.dfg.ca.gov.
Spanish language instructors can be found in Santa Ana, Orange County, Colton
in San Bernardino County, Escondido in San Diego County, and Lompoc in Santa
Barbara County. And in Los Angeles County, Spanish language hunter education
courses are available in Baldwin Park, Canoga Park, Inglewood, and Torrance.
MORONS AMONG US -- matthews column 7mar01
I’ve decided that brain damage is pervasive in this country because
I don’t want to believe the alternative. Robert E. Andrews, a Democratic
Congressman from New Jersey, introduced House Resolution 731, last Tuesday.
The bill would “prohibit the discharge of a firearm within 1,000 feet
of any federal land or facility.” That would mean no hunting on all federal
lands -- Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, or U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service lands. The intent of the bill, I can only assume, is some
sort of misguided attempt to prevent people from shooting other people at
a public facility.
Never mind that it is already against the law to shoot someone, at someone,
or unsafely. This bill would allow us to tack on another offense for the nutcake
who shoots up a Post Office. It might, sort of, sound good on paper, but it’s
a waste of paper in having a practical impact -- unless you want to ban hunting
for most Americans. I doubt that even a nut from New Jersey would suggest
that. What is he thinking?
I was visiting with Riverside gunsmith Jim Gronning this week, and on the
walls of his office were photos of junior rifle shooters from California who
had won several national championships. He explained how their program had
involved perhaps 1,000 young shooters statewide. The best of the group were
tutored by some of the finest marksmen and women in the nation and the California
junior team was simply unbeatable. These kids were shooting in the National
Match Course. Several had won scholarships to prestigious military schools
based on both their academic abilities and the ability to shoot X-rings out
of targets.
Of course, the whole program is gone now thanks to the assault weapon ban.
It is a felony for anyone under 18 to handle a so-called assault gun, even
a registered one, even one that is a custom made, match gun, like those Gronning
had made up for competition shooting. So the assault gun ban will have two
affects. First, bans like it in other countries have had a major impact on
crime. Assault and murder rates go up with every gun ban because criminals
and rapists know they are less likely to be looking down the barrel of a gun.
Of course, the politicians who push these measures won’t tell you this,
and heaven forbid anyone would look at the facts. Second, the law has deprived
a bunch of shooters -- in this case junior shooters who could have earned
college educations with their skills -- of a recreational activity. What was
our state government thinking?
My two boys recently watched “Schindler’s List” for the first
time on video. Like everyone who saw that movie, they were held nearly breathless
for its entire duration; their muscles tensed, stomachs in knots. Both had
been studying the Holocaust in school and knew this was history, not a movie,
not make believe. Millions of Jews and Gypsies and other “lesser”
humans were murdered by Hitler’s madmen. Almost ironically, the boys
watched “The Patriot” the same weekend. After watching Mel Gibson’s
make-believe movie family fight the British, my youngest son, who is 12, wanted
to know why the Jews didn’t have guns to fight Hitler. Why indeed?
For the Jews, it started with gun and heritage registration lists, then
partial confiscation, then total confiscation, then proclamations from Hitler
about how safe society had become, and then work camps, and finally places
like Nuremberg. Of course, that could never happen here. We have too many
guns and too many people who would never give them up. We’re too enlightened.
Never mind that our prisons are almost exclusively home to people of color.
More and more laws are aimed at controlling groups. People who make movies.
People who raise money. People who own guns. People who come to California
to work. Pick a group you don’t like.
I’m afraid of racism and prejudice. They are based on ignorance and
some sort of misguided self righteousness. They are beliefs devoid of history
and knowledge. They may even be rooted in fear itself. Gun control is all
about prejudice against something most people who live in urban America don’t
know or understand. Something they fear. Is based in ignorance. Anti-hunting
sentiment is all about that holier-than-thou vegetarian who believes it is
OK for a coyote to eat meat it kills, but not for a human to eat wild game.
That is self righteousness. All forms of prejudice are wrong. So I hope people
who are still pushing these types of agendas simply aren’t paying attention.
Or perhaps they have brain damage. I don’t want to believe the alternative.
FISHING SEASON IS STARTING -- matthews outdoor column 28feb01
The rain might make it hard to recognize, but fishing season is about to
kick off in Southern California. Anglers really only go dormant for two or
three months here, but that's all over now. It's time to get the gear out
and change the line. How do I know these things? There are a litany of reasons.
-- The 55th Annual Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show kicks off next
Wednesday, March 7, and runs through March 11 at the Long Beach Convention
Center. This event always functions as the defacto beginning to the fishing
season, regardless of the weather. This year's show has never been bigger
with over 1,500 booths and 250 fishing boats on display. Exhibitors offer
incredible bargains on fishing tackle. You can book exotic fishing trips all
over the world. And you can learn about the latest tactics during the dozens
of seminars daily.
-- The early trout season opener in the Eastern Sierra kicks off this Saturday.
This is kind of a pre-opener "opener." It only affects the small
streams from Independence Creek south in Inyo County, but the Department of
Fish and Game stocks all of the small creeks and Diaz Lake, and anglers have
an excuse to go to the Sierra almost two months before the real trout opener
the last Saturday in April. Ironically, the early opener also coincides with
when the fishing starts to get really good on the waters that are open all
year in the region -- like the lower Owens River and Pleasant Valley Reservoir.
The fly fishing on the Wild Trout stretch of the Owens is the best it's been
since last fall.
-- The bass fishing has really started to take off this week, in spite of
the rain. There have been more big fish caught at more places than since last
April. Dixon Lake cranked out a 16-pound, six-ouncer, Perris had a 15-8, 14-pounders
were caught at Lake Murray and Lake Success, Casitas had six bass over 10
pounds this past week, and the bass anglers at Castaic aren't reporting their
big fish, trying to keep that bite a secret. It won't work Everyone knows
both Castaic and the Castaic Lagoon were planted with trout this week, which
means the bruisers will be up chasing the big bait. An easy prediction to
be right about: More than 30 bass over 10 pounds will be caught in the next
week.
-- You know the bass are getting aggressive and about to spawn when you
start catching them two at a time. Joe Tamulonis, an 85-year-young angler
from Banning who fishes Lake Perris every week on his own, was trolling a
small Rapala off Sail Cove this week when he hooked up. When he slipped the
net under the fish, there were two largemouths, one on each treble hook. One
weighed 4.4 pounds and the other 2.8 pounds. "That's never happened to
me in my life," said Tamulonis. "And I fish a lot." As a sidelight,
Lake Perris is "lower than I've ever seen it," according to Tamulonis.
There is ramp repair and construction ongoing, but the word is that the lake
will be back up by March 15. Currently, it is 13 vertical feet below full
pool. The water will be surging in there if the March 15 goal is met. That
should stimulate the fish.
-- Cibola Lake, a backwater of the Colorado River south of Blythe near Palo
Verde will reopen to fishing March 15. That is usually during the peak spawn
and fishing is excellent. New rules this year restrict the lake to hand-powered
boats or those with electric motors -- no gas engines. The float tubers will
like that. It's kind of a secret spot for the locals, but you should know
about it.
-- There were more reports of crappie bites starting to take off all over
the region this week. Some were pretty dramatic, such as the good action at
El Capitan which has been producing good stringers of fish to nearly three
pounds for anglers fishing small shiners. Because of the weather, others were
more tentative. A couple of nice fish were caught at Lake Perris. The bite
under the Silverwood docks has been spotty but productive for the veterans.
The north end of Piru saw a few slabs caught. There were good reports from
the south side of Topoc Marsh near Needles on the Colorado River, at French
Gulch at Lake Isabella, and from Buena Vista Lakes near Taft.
-- And our saltwater spots -- the ocean and the Salton Sea -- are just waiting
for a couple of days of warm weather to break wide open. Within 10 days, there
will be excellent catches of yellowtail and white seabass from San Diego to
the Channel Islands and the halibut action will shift into high gear. And
the corvina, croaker, and tilapia bites at the Salton Sea will make this spot
the single best place to fish in America.
Fishing season is beginning here. Don't let the rain and the snow, which
makes it seem like the middle of winter, fool you. Within days we will have
forgotten all the rain. It will be 90-plus degrees in the low desert, and
the fish will be biting everywhere. Don't miss the early hot bites. Get ready
to go.
55th Annual Fred Hall set to run March 7-11 in Long Beach
LONG BEACH -- The 55th Annual Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show will
be held March 7-11 at the Long Beach Convention Center. This year's show,
which functions as the kick off to the fishing season in Southern California,
will feature over 1,500 booths and 250 boats. Virtually all of the nation's
tackle manufacturers will be on hand to show their latest products, from AFTCO
to Zebco, they'll all be at this show. Fishing destinations from all over
the world will be featured. There will be two casting ponds where anglers
can actually try out the products. Fresh and saltwater bins will allow anglers
to view fish and watch their reactions to lures during hourly seminars. The
Hall show will also feature the Fly-Fishing Exposition, which is a show within
the show, with one of the largest displays of fly-fishing related products,
seminars, and travel destinations in the country.
There will be a kid's trout pond where kids can fish free throughout the
show and more than 10,000 young anglers are expected to catch fish in the
pond. The show is open 2 to 10 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday,
and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10 for adults with kids 12 and
under free. For more information, call (562) 436-3636.
Tejon Ranch has scheduled next `Pig-O-Rama' for March 16-18
The Tejon Ranch will host its third Pig-O-Rama the weekend of March 16-18,
and there will be at least two more of these popular events in 2001, according
to Don Geivet, the game manager at the ranch. Entry fee is again $300 (and
all hunters must also have a $20 insurance policy), and the hunter bagging
the biggest field dressed hog between noon Friday and 5 p.m. Sunday will win
a $500 prize. There may also be an additional prize for the hunter who shoots
a wild hog closest to a "blind boogie" weight -- the weight of a
hog shot by ranch staff prior to the Pig-O-Rama. The deadline for entry into
the event is March 2. For more information, contact Don Geivet, Tejon Ranch
Company, P.O. Box 1000, Lebec, CA 93243, or call (661) 663-4208 or (661) 663-4209.
San Gabriel Valley Chapter of Quail Unlimited hosts 13th Annual Gun Dog
Showdown March 10
CHINO -- The 13th annual Gun Dog Showdown will be held beginning 7:30 a.m.,
Saturday, March 10, at the Prado Regional Park dog draining facility on south
Euclid Avenue here. The off-season event offers sportsmen a chance to get
out into the field with their hunting dog in a trial designed to promote a
little sportsman-like competition between breeds. It will pit pointing breeds
against flushing breeds to see which are better suited for the rigors of upland
game hunting in a friendly event, while establishing bragging rights for the
best upland bird dog. The trial will feature planted chukar in an effort to
better simulate an actual hunting environment. Hunter-dog teams will be judged
based on time and shells expended to shoot and retrieve three birds. There
is a $40 registration fee and a $25 rerun fee. There is also a $9 fee for
entry into the park. For more information, contact Tim Bovard at (909) 624-7411
or e-mail the San Gabriel Valley QU Chapter at sgvqu@onebox.com.
Application deadlines approaching for nonresident big game hunters
California hunters looking to hunt game out of state this fall will have
to apply for hunts very soon, and some opportunities have already slipped
away for 2001. For example, the deadline to apply for deer licenses in southwest
Utah was Jan. 31, and those tags have all sold out in the first drawing the
past two years. Leftover deer tags in other parts of the state will still
be available in the second drawing in May, however. February 1 was also the
deadline to apply for elk in Wyoming, but the deadline for other big game
species in Wyoming is March 15. Idaho sells its general deer and elk tags
on a first-come, first-serve basis beginning December for the following year.
The southeastern deer tags always sell out within days of being offered, but
other general deer and elk tags are still available. The drawing hunt deadline
in Idaho is April 3, and this is the first year non-residents may apply for
a moose permit.
Montana's big game combination licenses are issued through a drawing with
a March 15 deadline, while other special hunts have a late-May deadline. Arizona's
application for all fall big game seasons is in April. Hunters can link to
all of the different Game and Fish agencies through the California Department
of Fish and Game's website link page at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/html/links_st.html.
Information on fall hunting seasons is currently available on most of the
Western states' web sites.
Arizona G&F Commission considering crayfish rules
YUMA, Ariz. -- If you thought the California ban on waterdogs was bad, crawdads
are likely to be next if what's happening in Arizona is any indication. Last
Friday and Saturday, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission adopted severe restrictions
on the possession, transportation and importation of live crayfish. The rule
changes will compliment the Game and Fish Department's campaign for people
to catch and eat as many of these delectable nuisances as they can. Mike Demlong,
amphibians and reptile program manager, explained in a recent "Arizona
Wildlife Views" article (January-February edition) that crayfish are
not a natural part of Arizona's aquatic ecosystems and are negatively impacting
sport-fishing opportunities, native species, and the ecosystems that support
these species.
"Whether you call them crayfish, crawfish, crawdads, or aquatic cockroaches,
those little freshwater invertebrates that look like miniature lobsters have
become a significant pest in many parts of Arizona," said Demlong. Crayfish
compete for habitat and resources with native species. They impact native
fish, insects, frogs, snakes, turtles and snails (they also eat all of those).
Crayfish ravenously consume submerged aquatic plants. In high country trout
streams, for instance, research studies have shown that crayfish will not
only eat all the other aquatic species in the system, they will eat the aquatic
vegetation as well, which ruins the aquatic environment for all the species
-- including sportfish such as the native Apache trout. Some streams can end
up with only one primary resident -- crayfish. The Arizona Game and Fish Department
last summer mounted a public awareness campaign to have people catch and eat
all the crayfish they can to help the environment. Now, the Arizona Fishing
Regulations make it illegal to transport live crayfish -- except in a small
area around Yuma on the Lower Colorado River. This year Game and Fish is mounting
a more concerted public awareness campaign on crayfish.
WATERDOGS BANNED? -- matthews column 21feb01
State plans to ban waterdogs for use as bait
In December, the Fish and Game Commission adopted a regulation that would
ban the use of waterdogs for bait throughout the state of California. The
new regulation is set to be implemented beginning sometime around March 15.
Most anglers are a little surprised to learn this news. Perhaps shocked is
a better word. Waterdogs, the immature form of the salamander, are perhaps
the single most effective live bait that can be used by bass anglers, especially
in the spring when bass are spawning and protecting their young. Banning them
for use would have a major impact on bait sales and angler success in the
spring. It is a great bait for beginning anglers to use because they are easy
to fish and often lead to success. The Commission adopted the regulation under
pressure from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in hopes of protecting the
native California tiger salamander, a federally listed species. The Department
of Fish and Game, apparently without any evidence to refute or support the
biology provided by the USFWS and some flawed data in gathered on the economic
impacts the ban would have, went along with the proposal.
Woefully inadequate public notification of the proposal, which moved through
the Fish and Game Commission late last year, makes it seem like the Commission
intentionally kept the regulation quiet. In talking with tackle shops from
Bakersfield to San Diego County, I was unable to find a single one -- all
of them licensed bait dealers -- who received notification when the Commission
was having hearings about the proposal to ban the sales of imported waterdogs
for bait sales. State law requires that the Commission file public notices
of their meetings and proposed actions and make an effort to contact those
who will be most affected by the change. Yet, there is no evidence that all
licensed bait dealers in California -- those most affected by the change --
received any notification of the proposal that would affect their livelihood.
Rick Klein of the Bait Connection, a bait Corona distributor, said that
in the documentation provided to the Commission by the DFG said there would
be no financial impacts over the loss of waterdog sales. Klein sells between
around 250,000 waterdogs to bait and tackle shops in the Los Angeles, Riverside,
and San Bernardino region and that another distributor in the San Diego regions
sells an equal number. Since waterdogs fetch over a buck a piece on the retail
marketplace, that is over a half million dollars in sales. Tim Baker, who
is the main tackle buyer for the Turner's Outdoorsman chain of stores operating
throughout Southern California, said that "the biggest impact isn't just
on waterdogs, it's on the additional sales that go with them -- sinkers, hooks,
line and things that people buy when they come in to get waterdogs."
Abdelmajid Awad, owner of the Lakeside Market in Moreno Valley, said he
sells over 1,000 waterdogs a week once the bass bite gets going at Lake Perris.
Awad said that he first learned of the ban on waterdog sales two weeks ago
when he received a letter from the DFG. "I had heard this was going to
happen. Once in October, I called the state Fish and Game and they told me
that as far as they knew, waterdogs were not going to be banned," said
Awad, who renewed his bait license on that assurance. He said he had called
the Long Beach office and the staff there forwarded his call to Sacramento
to make sure he received accurate information. Well, so much for good information.
But apparently common sense and good information aren't required to make changes
that ultimately will cost people in the fishing industry millions of dollars
and make fishing a little more difficult for beginners and veterans alike.
Apparently, the threatened California tiger salamander apparently will hybridize
with the imported salamanders/waterdogs brought in from out of state, according
to the USFWS. This federal agency provided evidence this has happened in a
laboratory but apparently not in the wild. It also said that it had evidence
that someone "purposely," in the words of DFG spokesman Steve Taylor,
introduced these non-natives into the wild where the threatened salamanders
live. The implication was that anglers would try to get rid of native salamanders
for some reason. That implausible argument makes me wonder about the rest
of their supposed data.
I would bet you that stray house cats eat a bunch of endangered Steven's
kangaroo rats around Moreno Valley, or could. Yet the USFWS hasn't suggested
that we ban cats statewide -- or even in Moreno Valley for that matter. Rainbow
trout hybridize with golden trout, but we haven't banned rainbows except from
waters where goldens occur. The reality is that imported waterdogs are not
used for bait in waters where native salamanders live anywhere in Southern
California. No place. In fact, they probably aren't used as bait anywhere
in the state where the native critters live. Yet some knee-jerk reaction has
banned one of the best baits in the state based on USFWS science that has
no basis in fact, faulty DFG economic data, and a Commission notification
process that failed miserably at alerting the affected parties.
The Fish and Game Commission needs to pull this regulation back from of
the Office of Administrative Law, where it awaits final approval and rethink
this issue, looking more critically at the claimed possible waterdogs impacts
on the native species and the economic of the issue. You can ask the Fish
and Game Commission to do this by calling its office today at (916) 653-4899.
Tackle shop owners are especially encouraged to make the call.
NEWS STORY ON CIBOLA PUBLIC MEETING -- matthews-ons 21feb01
Hunters participate in pubic hearing at Cibola on reduced hunting program.
CIBOLA, Ariz. -- A total of 55 hunters showed up at the Cibola National
Wildlife Refuge, many driving 200 or more miles, to attend a public hearing
on the proposal to reduce the goose hunting program from seven days a week
to three days a week at Farm Unit 2, according to Ron Coleman, a Sierra Madre
hunter who attended the Saturday meeting. "Nobody showed up to support
what they're doing," said Coleman. The proposal, drafted by refuge manager
Mike Hawkes, is implying that the decline of the number of birds using the
Cibola area is somehow linked to seven-day hunting and the birds' inability
to use the 300-acre Farm Unit 2 until after the hunting season closes.
Cibola once attracted from 22 to 25,000 Canada geese or more each winter,
but the number using the refuge is now about half that many. Coleman said
that what the refuge staff and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was doing at
Cibola was in direct violation of new policy which specifically prohibits
refuge staff from trying to micro-manage waterfowl populations, which are
managed on a flyway-wide basis. "Are 300 acres (of Farm Unit 2) important
for the Pacific Flyway? Hardly," said Colemen. He said both refuge manager
Hawkes and deputy regional manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's
Southwest Region, Donnie Browning, failed to provide data on whether or not
the subpopulation of Canada geese that use the lower Colorado River Valley
is declining or merely have changed their use patterns. Use of the refuge
by geese has changed several times over the years.
Coleman said that many hunters were also upset with the USFWS staff for
already having made the decision to go to three-day hunting before there was
any public hearings or a draft "compatibility determination" document
to review, as required by law. Most hunters did not even know a draft document
existed until the Saturday meeting. Even though the comment period on the
proposed change was extended until Feb. 24, Coleman said that was also inadequate
under the law because the draft document had not been distributed until this
week. Many hunters refused to attend the meeting after the USFWS regional
chief of refuges, Dom Ciccone, told one hunter two weeks ago that he had already
signed the compatibility determination document to change the hunt program
to three days a week. Ciccone and Hawkes later denied that a document had
already been signed. Ciccone said he'd reviewed or signed only a draft. That
was the first time anyone knew there was a draft document they could review.
"I have been to two previous meetings and all our comments fell on
deaf ears," said Kenny Sakuda, one who boycotted the meeting. "How
could you not know what you're signing? You'd have to be brain-dead or smoking
something. There's just no way I buy this. They were just wiggling their way
out of this jam." Sakuda said he was convinced, in spite of the USFWS'
staff repeated denials, that the document was already signed, but they realized
the violated policy without having adequate public notification and hearings.
"We have their attention now," said Coleman, "We're making
them have to justify this. There are some serious chinks in their armor and
they know it." Coleman said he hopes the refuge staff will distribute
the complete draft of the proposal and all of the scientific documentation,
if any, and make this all available to hunters via mail and on the refuge's
web site for at least 30 days before closing the comment period. The supportive
data is the critical issue.
"Show me some data," said Sakuda. "They don't have any supportive
data. Hawkes is just grabbing this off the cheek of his butt." Written
comments on the proposal to reduce the Cibola hunting program can be sent
to Mike Hawkes, Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, Route 2, Box 138, Cibola,
AZ 85328, or comments can be faxed to (520) 857-3420. For more information,
you can call the refuge at (520) 857-3253. Copies of comments should also
be mailed to Donnie Browning, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 1306,
Albuquerque, NM 87103. Ron Coleman has also organized an informal group to
protect the seven-day hunting program at Cibola, and you can reach Coleman
at (626) 355-9216, via e-mail at colejean@pacbell.net,
or by writing Coleman at P.O. Box 304, Sierra Madre, CA 91024.
TIME FOR MORE SHOREBIRD HUNTING -- matthews column 14feb01
After all of the rains this past week, the world is a wetland. I have been
seeing a multitude of ducks and shorebirds in flooded fields and flood control
areas. It has been hunting weather three weeks after the close of most seasons.
Four of us ended the bird seasons this year pursuing game few hunters make
a conscious effort to chase. We hunted snipe, and it was a great way to end
the season. The weather was wonderful, there were lots of birds, we had seven
Labradors to entertain us throughout the day, and then we sat around after
hunting, told stories, scratched tired dogs' ears, and watched the sun go
down.
Snipe season extended to Feb. 4 this year, making it the last of the gamebird
seasons to close. While we were hunting snipe, we saw at least 2,000 ducks,
flocks of long-billed curlews, killdeer, sora, yellowlegs, mountain bluebirds,
mourning doves, northern harriers, kestrels, redtail hawks, and even pheasants.
It was a great day to be in the field. We were participating in a field sport
that is slowly passing from the scene. Shorebirds were once the preferred
game of restaurants and for purchase at markets during the era when wild game
was commercially hunted. Their great numbers and rich flavors made them popular
and inexpensive. Many were shot nearly into extinction, and the hunting of
nearly all of these species was ended when the first game laws were enacted.
Over the past century, we have lost most of our shorebird hunting tradition,
with snipe really the last of the shorebirds still hunted in the western United
States, even though most of the shorebird species have recovered their numbers
and many are far more populous than snipe. Mexicos more liberal laws still
allow many of these great game and table species to be hunted, but this country
has been reluctant to suggest we open up other seasons on shorebirds -- mostly
because they don't want to battle the anti-hunting environmental groups over
the issue. It's certainly not about biology.
There are a whole host of shorebirds than can and should be hunted, and
by including them in the list of hunted species, it would give state and federal
agencies additional funds to actually do the necessary habitat and monitoring
work on these shorebirds. Right now funds collected from hunting licenses
and excise taxes on sporting equipment are not and can not be used to fund
research or habitat work on these species.
I'd like to propose that we open up one or two shorebird species each year
on a limited basis. A limited number of permits would be sold for each species
or group of species, and there would be daily bag limits, a season punchcard,
and a mandatory return of the permit. This would allow the state and federal
agencies to gather data on bird numbers and distribution, hunter interest,
and hunting impact on these birds' numbers. The cost of the permit would cover
the costs of gathering the data and perhaps even funding a study or two on
these neglected species. I'd pay $25 to $50 for a shorebird permit that allowed
me to hunt long-billed curlews, whimbrels, and dowitchers -- even if the season
bag limit was only six or eight curlews and whimbrels and 20 or so dowitchers.
I've long been fascinated with long-billed curlews as a game species. I
see them in large flocks as early as August when I'm scouting for doves in
the fields around Brawley, and I see them as late as March when I'm photographic
shorebirds at local wetlands. They are spooky birds, but I've seen ancient
curlew decoys and suspect that might have been how they were hunted. I know
they could be stalked and jumped. I really don't have a clue how to hunt them
because we've lost that tradition. I'd like to have it back. Long-billed curlews
are big birds, nearly as large as a hen pheasant and reports from a hunting
buddy who has shot and eaten them in Mexico makes me want to roast up a few.
The time has come for us to quit losing hunting opportunities and push the
state Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
expand our hunting opportunities. In a world where the places and times we
can hunt are becoming more and more restricted, adding to the number of species
we can hunt is a very real and biologically sound way we can increase our
opportunities.
Snipe season gave us an extra week of hunting this year. A permit hunt for
sandhills cranes on the Colorado River, a punch-card for curlews, the including
of dowitchers in with the snipe season, these are all things the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service could permit that would extend opportunity. The time
has come for hunters to start asking for these things.
Tejon Ranch has scheduled next `Pig-O-Rama' for March 16-18
The Tejon Ranch will host its third Pig-O-Rama the weekend of March 16-18,
and there will be at least two more of these popular events in 2001, according
to Don Geivet, the game manager at the ranch. Entry fee is again $300 (and
all hunters must also have a $20 insurance policy), and the hunter bagging
the biggest field dressed hog between noon Friday and 5 p.m. Sunday will win
a $500 prize. There may also be an additional prize for the hunter who shoots
a wild hog closest to a "blind boege" weight -- the weight of a
hog shot by ranch staff prior to the Pig-O-Rama. The deadline for entry into
the event is March 2. For more information, contact Don Geivet, Tejon Ranch
Company, P.O. Box 1000, Lebec, CA 93243, or call (661) 663-4208 or (661) 663-4209.
CIBOLA COMMENT PERIOD EXTENDED -- matthews column 7feb01
The public comment period on the proposal to reduce the goose hunting from
seven days a week to three days at the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge on
the Colorado River has been extended to Feb. 24, and an open house has been
scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, at the refuge headquarters,
according to Mike Hawkes, refuge manager. Hawkes has proposed eliminating
the seven-day hunting program at Farm Unit 2, where there are 18 goose hunting
pit blinds. He wants to replace the current hunt with a three-day-a-week hunting
to improve the quality of the hunt and to allow the geese to use the feed
in the hunted farm unit. Currently, the birds do not use the hunted unit until
after the season closes.
The proposal has drawn a firestorm of protest from goose hunters who use
refuge for hunting because they don't believe there is a biological need to
restrict the hunting program or that it would improve what is considered to
be the finest public land goose hunting in the West. Hawkes said the Canada
goose population that uses the lower Colorado River in the winter increased
from 1973 through 1991 peaking at over 20,000 birds, but that its has been
in a steady decline ever since, which is in contrast to all other populations
of geese throughout the Pacific Flyway, which are growing. "I think we're
harassing them too much and they're leaving," said Hawkes. "It's
got to be something because we've been in a steady downward trend."
Ron Coleman, a Sierra Madre hunter who has organized the effort to retain
the seven-day hunting program, said that Hawkes has no supportive biological
data to show the downward trend has anything to do with the hunting program
at Cibola. Coleman points out that there was more hunting pressure on the
birds at Cibola when they were at their peak numbers in the late 1980s through
1991. The refuge then had seven-day hunting, longer hunting hours, and a firing-line.
Since then, the firing line has been closed and hunting hours shortened. Ken
Sakuda, a 10-year veteran of hunting Cibola, said that "hunters feel
they're being the scapegoats for the reduction in geese." Sakuda said
that hunters would be the first to support reductions in bag limits or expansion
of feeding areas at Cibola -- even to the point of funding the efforts --
if there was any documentation of problems.
"All we have now is the refuge manager guessing about what the problem
might be and divining a solution that probably doesn't have anything to do
with the problem," said Coleman. The fact that goose numbers have declined
can not simply be pinned on the Cibola hunt, said Coleman and Sakuda. But
they also feel they are being misled about what data is available and what
has already been decided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff. Hunter
Jimmy Banker of Apple Valley was told by Dom Ciccone, the regional chief of
refuges in Albuquerque earlier this week that the document, called a "compatibility
determination," to change the hunt to three days a week had already been
signed.
"We're fighting something that has already happened. This public notice
and public hearing are a scam," said Banker. Both Hawkes and Ciccone,
who's signatures would appear on the document, said Wednesday that the compatibility
determination had not been signed, and that the public scoping sessions were
needed before such a document could be final. Ciccone backpedaled and said
there was a draft document that he may have confused with a final document
when he said the document was already signed.
Until Wednesday, none of the hunters knew of a draft document they could
review to see if there was any scientific evidence to support reducing the
hunting opportunity at Cibola. The hunters had only seen the brief public
notice issued in early January. Coleman said that Hawkes has been rather stingy
in providing information. All the hunters participated in a survey taken after
the 1999-2000 waterfowl season a year ago, but none have been provided information
on its results, information that would have a bearing on the compatibility
determination.
Hunters can attend the public meeting from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb.
17, at the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge headquarters. Written comments
on the proposal to reduce the hunting program can be sent to Mike Hawkes,
Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, Route 2, Box 138, Cibola AZ 85328, or comments
can be faxed to (520) 857-3420. For more information, you can call the refuge
at (520) 857-3253.
HUGE
BASS CAUGHT KICK OFF BASS SEASON -- matthews column 31jan01
Success Lake has lived up to its name. One of the 25 largest bass of all
time was caught this past Saturday when Larry Kerns of Exeter was slow-jigging
a Silver Buddy in 32 feet of water at Success Lake in the western Sierra Nevada
near the town of Porterville. The 19.03-pound largemouth Kerns caught is both
a lake record and the largest bass caught in the nation this year. According
to Bart Crabb, the author of "The Quest for the World Record Bass,"
the fish is the 21st largest ever caught by an angler. And, as usual in fishing
stories, the bigger fish might have got away.
"I had one on 10 minutes before the 19-pounder that might have been
bigger," said Kerns. "But I feel blessed. That's the fish of a lifetime
for me." Kerns said his best fish prior to Saturday's fish was a mere
nine-pound, four-ounce fish. Dave Taylor at the Lakeside Minnitt Mart in Porterville
said that Kerns has "been on a roll lately. He's won or been in the money
of every tournament since October -- and I keep track of three clubs in this
area." The lake previous record at Success was 17-pound, 13-ounce specimen
caught in February, 1997 by Johnny Juareca of Porterville, but it appears
that Success is also on a big fish roll. On Monday, Buzz Carrillo of Porterville
landed a 15-pound, 12-ounce bass while fishing a lure similar to the half-ounce
Silver Buddy used by Kerns, a locally made lure called the Hazzard Shad.
Both lures are very similar to the widely-known Sonar, and all three can
be jigged vertically or fished crank-bait style, but they get little use on
waters much south of Bakersfield. Kerns and Taylor said that Success has become
an excellent spot for trophy largemouths. "It is planted with trout,
there are lots of crawdads, and it's got tons of shad. You can go across them
and your meter turns black -- there are billions of them," said Kerns,
describing his fish-finding sonar screen when going over a school of baitfish.
He also said the two-fish, 15-inch minimum size restriction also assures too
many fish aren't harvested from the lake. The huge largemouth will unofficially
kick off the big bass season in California, when thousands of anglers will
begin flocking to waters throughout the state in hopes of catching a world
record largemouth bass, a fish that will weigh more than the 1932 catch made
by George Perry in Georgia that weighed 22-pounds, four-ounces. Back then
Perry merely ate the fish after weighing it. Today, anglers hope the fish
will bring enough fame and fortune that it will feed them for the rest of
their lives.
Where and when a bass bigger than Perry's fish will be caught, if ever, is
a question of some debate. Twenty years ago, the bet probably would have been
only a two-to-one bet after an 18-pound, 11-ounce fish and then a 21-pound,
three-ouncer were caught just two months apart in early 1980. No one collected
on that bet then, however. Ten years ago, the bet would have been even money
that Castaic Lake would crank out a new world record. During a seven-day period
in March, 1991, bass at 21 3/4-pounds and 22-pounds were caught. It seemed
likely that a bass weighing four ounces more would be landed. But it wasn't.
It looked like the record was broken March 1, 1997, when a huge bass was caught
in Northern California's tiny Spring Lake near Santa Rosa. The fish weighed
approximately 23 pounds before being released, but lack of a certified weight
eliminated the fish for contention.
So where will a world record bass be caught today, if anywhere. Many anglers
are looking toward a new reservoir near Hemet -- Diamond Valley Reservoir
(formerly called Domenigoni and then Eastside). This reservoir is expected
to be opened to fishing as early as next year and if growth rates of the bass
already in the lake are any indication, Diamond Valley may indeed be the gem
that finally topples the Perry standard. Mike Giusti, a Department of Fish
and Game biologist in charge of designing and monitoring the fishery at this
new reservoir, said nearly 6,000 juvenile Florida-strain bass were released
into the rising water of the lake in 1999. Those fish are already 12- to 15-inches
long and a mere 13-incher weighs a solid two pounds. The fish hatched in the
spawn during the spring of 2,000 were from six- to 10-inches long in December,
and Giusti estimates there are already over 250,000 of these fish in the lake.
Diamond Valley will be planted with over 100,000 trout each year, and it
is packed with silversides, shad, sculpin, bluegill, green sunfish and crawdads.
All of these things are great big bass chow. Anglers are expecting that in
eight to 10 years, this new reservoir may indeed be home to the world record
largemouth bass. Time will tell.
Bass fishing class at UC Riverside features well-known local anglers
RIVERSIDE -- A bass fishing class featuring two well-known local bass fishermen
will be offered through the University of California, Riverside Extension
program starting Feb. 15. The class is called "I've Caught Something!
Bass Fishing: Novice to Pro," and will runs for three Thursdays from
Feb. 15 through March 1.
The course will be taught by two well-known, champion bass fishermen. Raymond
Koetter is a tournament angler and the founder and past president The Bass
Club of San Diego. He spent four years as California State Director of the
Military Bass Anglers of America and four years as vice president of the San
Diego Council of Bass Clubs. Co-instructor David Zimmerlee was the number
one bass fisherman in the U.S. for seven years after catching a 20-pound,
15-ounce largemouth in Lake Miramar in 1973, a fish that was the state record.
A bigger bass was not caught in the entire United States until 1990. Zimmerlee
has also placed among the top five in over 300 tournaments. He was the district
director for the Military Bass Anglers Association. Both men are frequent
speakers on the subject of bass fishing.
This information-packed course for everyone over 12 years of age, helps
participants to understand bass and provides tips in how to be a successful
angler, whether you are a beginner or participate in tournaments. Topics include
what bass eat, oxygen needs and cover; how bass react in different situations;
the proper use of baits and lures; rod and reel selection and use; knot tying;
fishing under different conditions; how to locate bass; and what to buy and
what not to buy. The class meets on at the UCR Extension Center, 1200 University
Avenue, Riverside. Course fee is $50. For more information or to enroll, call
(909) 787-4105 or toll-free (800) 442-4990.
GUNSTOCK PROTEST -- matthews column -- 24jan01
Hunters and shooters, I want your attention for a minute. I need to know
if you are happy with the stock on your factory long gun. After spending a
recent evening using camouflage duct tape and foam insulation to build up
the cheek piece on a short, single-shot rifle so it would "fit"
my youngest son, I was again reminded of one of my pet peeves: Manufacturers
who design -- and I use that term loosely -- gunstocks that don't fit the
shooter. The idea of the gunstock is to have your cheek supported while you
look right through the sights. I don't think is such a difficult concept,
but apparently the gun makers are a little fuzzy on this.
Virtually every major maker of rifles today has stocks that are too low.
They are just about perfect for use with iron sights. Throw that gun up and
you are looking right down the barrel. Put a scope on that same gun, especially
one of those monsters that have 40 to 50mm objective lenses that are so vogue
today, and you have to raise your face up off the stock to see through the
scope. This is not conductive to good shooting and it increases the likelihood
that you're going to get bashed on the cheekbone when the gun recoils.
The flaws in rifle stock-making are four-fold. First, they don't make any
stocks to fit a kids' length of pull. Second, they don't make stocks to fit
women and smaller-framed men. And third, they don't make stocks for big guys
with long arms. The one stock they do make has the biggest flaw of all: the
comb (that part of the stock where the cheek rests) is way to low for use
with scopes. Yet, these same rifle makers will give us 14 different versions
of the same gun. Look at a Winchester, Ruger or Remington catalog and you
will find at least one or two synthetic-stocked versions of their popular
bolt-action hunting rifles, a laminated-stocked version, walnut-stocked versions,
versions with short barrels, and versions with long, heavy varmint barrels.
Look at the Browning catalog and you will find versions that have thumbhole
stocks. But they all have the same length of pull and combs that are two low
for use with scopes. Brainy, eh? Especially since no one hunts or shoots with
iron sights and hasn't for about 40 years.
Why don't they bring out stocks with higher combs and different lengths
of pull instead of all these other cosmetically different stocks that don't
fit shooters? Small, medium, large, and extra large -- wouldn't that designation
make more sense? So why don't they do it? I don't have an answer for you.
My nearly-12-year-old son can now shoot a 12-inch pull (the distance from
the trigger to the butt of the stock), so this past weekend I took one of
my Contender single shot rifles and added just over an inch of padding to
raise the comb up enough so he was looking through the low-mounted scope on
this gun when his cheek was resting on the stock -- er -- resting on the taped
down padding. I like the look of the gun with all the padding and tape, but
I am "the duct tape pro," according to some clever friends I have
who bought me a tee-shirt and cape with that motto. But why couldn't I get
him a stock that fit without doing all the classy custom work? Because they
don't exist.
The problem isn't just with rifles either. Earlier this year, I hacked 1
1/2-inches off a so-called "youth" shotgun buttstock for him to
use for birds. For years, I hunted with a guy who had added two inches from
a 2x4 to his Model 870 stock. No small and extra-large stocks are available
for shotguns either. Now a lot of shotgun stocks fit average-sized guys pretty
well, but even those of us who can live with factory shotguns continually
curse rifle stocks. The only people these rifle stocks fit are guys who are
between 5-10 and six-feet tall who use iron sights. Since I quite frankly
don't know anyone who uses iron sights, these stocks don't fit anyone. I've
said that before haven't I?
I have complained about these problems to the gun makers for several years
without results. Now, I want to enlist your help. If you feel, as I do, that
most of the gunstocks made for rifles or shotguns are out of whack, drop me
a letter or e-mail, with your complaints, and I'll collect them all together
and forward them to the right people at the major companies. (Heck, if you
think I'm full of it, I'll forward those notes, too.) Before you write, however,
go check your gun safe, and note how many of your rifles require that you
lift your head up off the comb to see through the scope. Tell me if you have
a modified gun you've sawed on or added to so they fit you, your wife, or
kid? Tell me the problems. Then send the note to me (Jim Matthews, Outdoor
News Service, P.O. Box 9007, San Bernardino, CA 92427-0007, e-mail the note
to odwriter@aol.com, or fax it to 909-887-8180).
That Contender was a pretty nice looking gun before I started wrapping it
up with duct tape and foam, but now it fits my son and he'll shoot better
for it.
MYLF (Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog) AND TROUT -- matthews -- 17jan01
Followers of Chicken Little would have you believe the sky is falling on
Sierra Nevada trout fishing because of a critter called the mountain yellow-legged
frog, a species that is being considered for listing under the federal Endangered
Species Act. A wire service story this week suggested that all stocking of
trout would be stopped in high elevation waters in the Sierra Nevada in an
effort to protect the frog's tadpoles, which live two full seasons and sometime
more in high elevations Sierra lakes before becoming adult frogs. There's
no question trout eat the tadpoles. In waters where trout have been planted,
there are simply no frogs left in most instances.
The Department of Fish and Game, however, has no intentions of ceasing to
stock high elevation waters, it is merely accelerating an evaluation process
that has been ongoing for several years. According to Dianna Jacobs, special
assistant to the DFG director, the state may indeed "stock fewer waters
this summer, but we have no intention to stop all stocking." The plan
is for the DFG to evaluate data it already has compiled on where MYLFs live
and where they don't. Where they occur, trout stocking is likely to cease
immediately, if any is being done. Where they don't occur, those waters are
likely to continue to be planted, even this year. The problem is that hundreds
of waters planted by air have never been surveyed for MYLFs. The DFG is merely
going to look at those places during an intensive survey this summer so they
can get more information about where they can plant next year.
"We're not abandoning biodiversity and we're not abandoning fishermen,"
said Jacobs. In the short term, even if the DFG didn't plant for two or three
years, backcountry anglers would not be able to tell a difference because
the DFG only plants fingerlings which take at least two seasons to reach catchable
size. So if you are a Sierra backcountry fishing buff, don't panic.
Record Rainbow Update, Part One: The story on the 23.76-pound trout
reportedly caught at Santa Ana River Lakes a couple of weeks ago continues
to evolve. Craig Joachim, the Anaheim angler who caught the trout, has now
withdrawn the fish for consideration as a state record. An angler who said
he was next to Joachim the morning the fish was caught disputes that the fish
was caught on rod and reel. "I want to tell you that fish was not caught,
it was netted," said Dan Dandurand, a Riverside postal carrier. "I
was standing there right next to him. I know positively, I was there.... He's
was just one hell of a nice guy, I just have a problem with him saying he
caught the fish when I know he didn't. If I didn't say something about this,
I'd be as guilty as he is." While Joachim still disputes Dandurand's
claim, he has withdrawn the fish for state record consideration saying he
didn't want all the negative publicity.
Record Rainbow Update, Part Two: The Santa Ana River Lakes website
(www.fishinglakes.com)
had an on-line poll going until Joachim withdrew the record application to
see if anglers thought if hatchery trout should qualify for record status.
Their poll came out 78 percent to 22 percent in favor of hatchery fish. Of
course, it was a single question poll that only asked if the record should
be 100 percent wild or if it could be a hatchery fish. Most of you who responded
to my column two weeks ago almost unanimously thought that a trout "grown"
to record size in a hatchery pond and then released, only to be caught two
or three days later, should not qualify. There was a lot of sensible discussion
about whether or not fish that may have started their lives in a hatchery
but had to grow to record size in the wild should or should not qualify.
State Park Fees: Just a reminder that state park fees have dropped
as of the first of the year. How much? Last year is cost $6 to enter Silverwood
or Lake Perris. This year, the day use fee is a mere $3. An annual pass is
only $35. There is also no $5 launch fee any longer. Camping has dropped from
$18 to $12 (although that varies a little at some parks). Now if we could
just get the DFG to cut it's license fees in half.
Fishing Licenses On-Line: While the DFG isn't cutting the fees on
fishing licenses, they are no easier to get. As part of Governor Gray Davis'
new one-stop California Web Portal that offers access to host of online information
and state services, anglers can now get annual fishing license on-line. There
is a direct link to the license purchase site from the DFG web site at www.dfg.ca.gov.
Or you can get there from the state site at www.ca.gov.
DFG information officer Steve Martarano wanted to test the system. He ordered
his license on Monday and had it in the mail by Wednesday. The site promises
that you'll get the license and whatever stamps your order in seven days.
If you need the license quicker than that, the site will direct you to your
nearest retail fishing license agent. Now I don't know if this is a short-term
deal, but the DFG was also throwing in a license holder when you order on-line.
Personally, I'd rather they cut the price in half like state parks has done.
POSSIBLE RECORD TROUT FOLLOW -- matthews column -- 10jan01
Glad you don't hold back. Last week's column on Craig Joachim's 23.76-pound
rainbow trout from Santa Ana River Lakes generated some heart-felt response,
and by a huge margin, those of you who bothered to call, fax, write or e-mail
said his fish should not be considered as a state record. Some of you said
it in a little stronger words than that, however.
-- "I believe that put-and-tank trout should be considered for state
records only under the following condition. Apply Boone and Crockett status
to the following species: White-faced Herefords, Guernsey's, Texas Longhorns,
Black Angus ...." e-mailed Joe Sullivan from Canyon Lake.
-- "Under no circumstances should a farm-raised fish, stocked in a
tiny little lake qualify as anything other than a lake record. It if qualifies,
maybe I'll purchase one of these fish and put it in my bathtub. Or better
yet, I'll raise a largemouth bass to 30-pounds in my pond and submit that.
I wonder how fast it will grow if I inject steroids into it's food,"
wrote Rick Wilson of San Diego.
-- "Raising a lunker on a farm, feeding it manufactured food, then
dumping it into unknown environment without its normal food, then allowing
several hundred people to tempt it with a variety of man-made baits may be
profitable and provide good recreation, but it certainly is not sporting.
Why bother transporting and planting big hybrid fish? Just let the highest
bidder drop a line into the farm pond, haul out the fish and have the paperwork
ready and waiting to FAX to DFG. Put-and-take has its place, but not in the
record books," said Glenn Tibbett, who lives in the high desert.
-- "Jim, why would we want to keep track of these `test tube' fish!
What will come next? Will we stand on the bank and have some lake personnel
hook the fish on your line right out of the truck and see if you can land
it?" wrote Eric Kirsch of Norco. Most anglers pointed out how these hatchery
trout at lakes like Santa Ana River Lake, Irvine, and local county parks live
their whole live in a hatchery where the food supply is steady and rich and
predators few. That is a far cry from their wild brethren who scrap for each
bite of food and have to dodge herons, cormorants, and bigger trout to get
big enough to qualify for a record.
-- "I'd be much prouder of my five-pound trout from Big Bear Lake than
a 25-pound pen raised cloned trout," wrote Larry Sutton of Huntington
Beach.
-- "Personally, I'd rather catch a six-inch native up at my secret
spot than the 23 pounders they are getting at Santa Ana," wrote Dave
Bruce of Pinon Hills.
Bob Lee of Corona told of fishing the Sierra for over 50 years and catching
"real" trophy brown trout from Rush Creek that weigh from one to
three pounds. "This 23 3/4 pound trout is a joke. A state record it is
not. I would be humiliated to have it recognized as such. Maybe we purists
are a dying bred but I felt compelled to answer your article. This is a first
for me." One of two lone dissenting voices:
-- "If it was caught legitimately with rod and reel and not netted,
gaffed or shot, the record should stand," e-mailed Chuck Luck of Barrow,
Alaska.
Shot!? Only in Alaska, where the fish are huge, would someone consider shooting
fish. And don't ask me what someone in Alaska is doing reading this column.
You can make what you want of that. The problem solvers of the lot came up
with a sensible solution that serves all masters:
-- "I am of the opinion that we should create a new `Hatchery Stocked'
category. This way a fisherman that catches either `wild' or `stocked' lunkers
will get their deserved notoriety," wrote Brian Holliday of Redlands.
-- "The organizations that list record book animals do not allow specimens
that come from game farms or places like that, and I think that is a fair
way to do business. Wild specimens only from wild stock. Of course, you could
always start a new category that only lists planted fish or fish from stocked
lakes or rivers. Maybe that is the answer! Differentiate between absolutely
wild specimens and those which are genetically enhanced. There you go. Problem
solved. If only it could be that easy, eh?" wrote Russ Ackley of Palmdale.
-- "For people who think that catching freshly planted fish that weighs
over the state record should be a record, the DFG should have a category for
them (even though that's cheating, and not fishing at all.) But for all those
real, wild trout fisherman out there (who are the coolest people on earth),
there should be another category." wrote 12-year-old high desert reader
Daniel Tibbett.
That last comment sort of sums up how I feel, too.
(As a footnote to this column, Bill Andrews and Doug Elliott, owners of the
concession at Santa Ana River Lakes and Corona Lake, have a poll set up on
their website asking what anglers think about Joachim's fish being named the
state record. You can vote at: http://www.fishinglakes.com/poll.htm.)
OUTDOOR NEWS SHORTS -- ons -- 10jan01
Apple Valley Gun Club hosting classes for indoor junior rifle club
VICTORVILLE -- The Apple Valley Gun Club is hosting an seven-week course
for junior rifle shooters up to 21 years old beginning Thursday, Jan. 18,
at its range at 16699 Stoddard Wells Road, Victorville. The goal is to add
members to the club's 50-foot indoor junior rifle club. The club will provide
target rifles, targets, jackets, equipment and coaching. Ammunition can be
purchased at a low cost at the club. The only other fee is a $15 annual club
membership fee, and this fee can be waived for low-income families. For more
information, contact Tony Maldonado at (760) 245-0260, Ray Vidana at (760)
244-9097 or Dave Halbrook at (760) 843-7358.
Fishing licenses now available on the Internet
SACRAMENTO -- The California Department of Fish and Game is now offering
annual fishing licenses over the Internet. The program is part of Governor
Gray Davis' new one-stop California Web Portal that will offer access to an
expanded array of online information and state services, including the ability
to purchase annual sport fishing licenses. The new "My California"
web portal is located at www.ca.gov, or there is a direct link from the DFG's
web site at www.dfg.ca.gov.
"We want to continue to make it easier for our customers to access our
services, and this will be a big help for anglers to get their fishing sport
licenses and stamps for the 2001 season," said Robert C. Hight, DFG director.
"We're thrilled we were able to begin providing this service as one of
the kick-off features for the Governor's `My California' web portal."
One of the featured links off "My California" is to the Department
of Fish and Game's (DFG) new E-License site, which allows direct Internet
purchasing of California annual sport fishing licenses and stamps. Once the
easy online transaction is complete, anglers will receive their license in
the mail within seven days. Those wishing to purchase a license for immediate
use are still encouraged to drop by their nearest authorized fishing license
agent. A search engine to find those agents is available on the E-License
site.
Riverside Quail Unlimited banquet set for Feb. 24
NORCO -- The Riverside Chapter of Quail Unlimited will have its annual fundraising
banquest beginning 5:30 p.m., Feb. 24 at Raahauge's Shotgun Sports facility
here. Riverside QU is one of the most active habitat chapters in the nation,
earning national recognition for its habitat development and restoration projects
throughout Southern California, and this annual dinner provides funding for
much of its annual work. The event will feature a prime rib dinner and a live
auction and raffle. Dinner tickets are $60 per person, which includes membership
in Quail Unlimited, dinner, and a chapter hat. Junior memberships with dinner
are $25, and a dinner-only ticket is also $25. There is also a sponsor package
for $250 that includes a conservation print, leather duffle bag, sponsor pin,
and plaque. For more information or to purchase tickets, call Mark Norland
at (909) 737-1574 or Randy Stephens at (909) 597-0423.
San Gabriel Valley Chapter of Quail Unlimited hosts 13th Annual Gun Dog
Showdown March 10
CHINO -- The 13th annual Gun Dog Showdown will be held beginning 7:30 a.m.,
Saturday, March 10, at the Prado Regional Park dog draining facility on south
Euclid Avenue here. The off-season event offers sportsmen a chance to get
out into the field with their hunting dog in a trial designed to promote a
little sportsman-like competition between breeds. It will pit pointing breeds
against flushing breeds to see which are better suited for the rigors of upland
game hunting in a friendly event, while establishing bragging rights for the
best upland bird dog. The trial will feature planted chukar in an effort to
better simulate an actual hunting environment. Hunter-dog teams will be judged
based on time and shells expended to shoot and retrieve three birds. There
is a $40 registration fee and a $25 rerun fee. There is also a $9 fee for
entry into the park. For more information, contact Tim Bovard at (909) 624-7411
or e-mail the San Gabriel Valley QU Chapter at sgvqu@onebox.com.
California hunters need to apply this month for Utah deer licenses
SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's 2001 buck mule deer seasons might be months away
but it's already time for out-of-state hunters to apply for a hunting permit.
Utah's general buck deer application period has been moved to January and
applications for the 2001 seasons will be accepted until Jan. 31. Statistics
from the 2000 seasons are still being compiled but statistics from 1999 show
about one-third of Utah's buck deer hunters took a buck during the state's
general seasons. Hunters also may obtain these items the following ways:
-- by visiting the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources' Internet web site
at (www.nr.state.ut.us/dwr/dwr.htm). Once on the web site, hunters may apply
for a Utah big game permit by clicking on the "Big Game Permits Apply
Here" icon on the right side of the home page.
-- by calling any of the following UDWR offices: Salt Lake City office (801)
538-4700, Ogden office (801) 476-2740, Springville office (801) 489-5678,
Vernal office (435) 789-3103, Price office (435) 636-0260, Cedar City office
(435) 865-6100.
The offices are open Mondays through Fridays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MST)
with the exception of the Salt Lake City office, which opens at 7:30 a.m.
In 2001, general buck deer hunters may apply for a statewide Utah archery
permit, or a rifle or muzzleloader permit for a specific region of the state.
The following number of Utah general buck deer permits are available to out-of-state
hunters: Statewide Archery 1,600, Northern Region 2,200, Central Region 800,
Northeastern Region 1,400, Southeastern Region 1,500, and Southern Region
2,200. Hunters who obtain a general buck deer archery permit may hunt in any
of the Division's five general season regions. They may not hunt on limited
entry units within those regions, however. Draw results will be available
by April 30. Out-of-state hunters are encouraged to apply in the draw, as
it provides them the best and most convenient way to obtain a permit. In 2000,
all of the Southern Region nonresident permits were issued through the draw
and most of the Southeastern Region nonresident permits were also.
HUGE HATCHERY TROUT -- matthews column 03jan01
In the past week, there have been four trout over 20 pounds caught in Southern
California, including two fish from the Santa Ana River Lakes that are bigger
than the currently listed state record for inland waters of 23 pounds.
Last Wednesday, Craig Joaquim of Anaheim landed a 23.76-pounder on two-pound
test line, and then on Sunday John Romero of South El Monte caught a 23.25-pound
trout. At Irvine Lake, Gil Biado of Pico Rivera was towed around in his float
tube for over an hour while battling a 21.85-pound trout, that is now listed
as the lake record trout for Irvine. Rusty Dorsett of Pico Rivera caught a
20.15-pounder the same week at Irvine.
I've poured over the fishing reports and I figure that something in the
neighborhood of 200 trout over 10 pounds have been caught in the region since
Christmas. For decades, the biggest trout caught in Southern California came
from Big Bear Lake, and anglers bragged if they were three pounders.
What has happened is pretty simple. Private lakes asked private hatcheries
to grow them a few of the biggest fish they could raise, even if it took a
couple of years. In time, five-pounders were garnering all the headlines,
then seven and eight pounders, and then a few 10 pounders. Pretty soon anglers
didn't pay much attention unless the trout were 15 and 16 pounders. For the
past couple of years, Mt. Lassen Trout Farms in northern California has been
able to produce fish that reach the 20 pound class. All four of the 20-plus-pounders
caught the past week were swimming in the hatchery ponds at Phil Mackey's
trout farm up north in December. The two bruisers caught at Santa Ana River
Lakes were stocked the Tuesday after Christmas. Joaquim's fish reportedly
got stuck momentarily in the pipe on the stocking truck it was so big, but
it was uninjured and hungry enough to gobble a plastic scented bait the next
day and become a new state record.
Well, maybe it will be a new state record. There are already some suggesting
that a state record fish should be a wild fish, not a hatchery-raised trout.
But where do you draw the line? The current 23-pound record was caught last
January out of Lake Natoma by a youngster, which probably had a lot to do
with why the Department of Fish and Game gave it record status. Prior to that
catch, the DFG didn't distinguish between a landlocked or inland rainbow and
one that ran to the ocean for the bulk of its life, listing a 27-plus-pound
steelhead as the rainbow trout record in California. But when a kid caught
a big trout, they created a new category, and now that record is in jeopardy,
and some are making up excuses why the big hatchery fish shouldn't qualify.
Where do we draw the line for records? The Natoma Lake fish was probably
stocked as a 12-incher and may have come from eggs supplied by Mt. Lassen
Trout Farms, too. Can only trout stocked smaller than 12-inches quality as
record fish. Smaller than five pounds? Or 10 pounds? Or will the DFG, not
wanting to deal with all the flack, merely go back to their old ways and throw
out anything smaller than the current steelhead record? And if they do that,
what happens when "the mad fish scientist," as Phil Mackey's wife
calls him, comes up with trout that grow to 30 pounds in his ponds, which
he probably will? I'm curious what you think. Should Joaquim's 23 3/4-pound
trout be the new state record and why? You can send me e-mails (odwriter@aol.com),
faxes (909-887-8180), or call my office line (909-887-3444) and either leave
a message to give me your thoughts directly if I'm in the office.
Those of you who've read my columns for years know that I don't much care
for hatchery fish when they are planted in waters that will sustain wild trout.
I like them fine for our urban lakes and the seasonal fishing programs here.
I like them fine in local mountain lakes where there is not alternative to
hatchery fish. I like them at lot at wild-looking places, like Lake Crowley,
where they are stocked small and grow up like wild fish and provide great
fishing for lots of anglers that wild fish couldn't possibly support.
I also have to confess that I've been amazed with what Mackey and his staff
at Mt. Lassen have been able to do with the size and color variations of rainbow
trout. His big fish are sterile (triploid) fish that don't waste energy trying
to spawn. They grow big and they grow fast. They are a perfect fish to use
in put-and-take programs, and it is a shame the DFG doesn't use Mackey's fish
instead of its inferior hatchery mutants. His Lightning Trout, planted only
at Santa Ana River Lakes and Corona Lake here in Southern California, and
the new Thunder Trout, which will first be planted in two weeks at those same
two lakes, are beautiful color variations that he's been able to isolate and
breed true.
They all add excitement to fishing. Something that is lacking from DFG-run
programs. Private fish growers, working with city, county and private lake
operations have created put-and-take programs that have done more to cultivate
interest in fishing than anything the DFG has done in over a decade.
But should the big hatchery trout qualify as a state record?
OUTDOOR NEWS SHORTS -- ons -- 03jan01
Apple Valley Gun Club hosting classes for indoor junior rifle club
VICTORVILLE -- The Apple Valley Gun Club is hosting an eight week course
for junior rifle shooters up to 21 years old at its range at 16699 Stoddard
Wells Road, Victorville. The goal is to add members to the club's 50-foot
indoor junior rifle club. The club will provide target rifles, targets, jackets,
equipment and coaching. Ammunition can be purchased at a low cost at the club.
The only other fee is a $15 annual club membership fee, and this fee can be
waived for low-income families. For more information, contact Tony Maldonado
at (760) 245-0260, Ray Vidana at (760) 244-9097 or Dave Halbrook at (760)
843-7358.
NATIONAL
PARK HYPOCRISY -- jim matthews column 6jun01