By JIM MATTHEWS

www.OutdoorNewsService.com

Ammunition shortages will not stop this year’s Turner’s Outdoorsman Shooting Sports Fair, according Bryan Harris, president of the 16-store chain of shooting, hunting, and fishing stores in Southern California that sponsors the event each year.

“We knew early this year that there would be no Sports Fair if we couldn’t get ammunition,” said Harris. “So we asked all our vendors at the Sports Fair how much ammunition they would need and we went to ATK [the makers of Federal and CCI ammunition brands] and asked if they could allocate this amount over and above our regular allotment.”

Harris said it didn’t take long for the company to commit to the deal and fill the order.

“It was pretty amazing,” said Harris. “They understood how important the Sports Fair was to our industry as a whole and came through in a big way. Without ATK, there’s not a Sports Fair.”

This year’s event will be May 31-June 2 at Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises in Corona.

Harris said ATK isn’t the only ammunition supplier for this year. Many of the sales representatives from other companies were able to get allotments from the companies they represented for use in their own shooting booths, but the amount of ammunition required to put on this event is almost mind-boggling to non-shooters. Harris said there are usually over 1 million rounds fired during the three days of the Fair.

Harris then laughed. “You’ll be able to shoot a gun cheaper at the Sports Fair than you can simply buy ammo anyplace,” said Harris. Almost all of the vendors sell the ammunition at cost to people who want to shoot their company’s firearms.

This year’s event is being held exactly 30 years after the very first Fair was held in 1983. Besides having ammunition, it also has the most targeted slate of seminars ever put together for shooters and hunters who attend this year. And sadly, it is also serving as a memorial for the visionary man who started the Sports Fair all those 30 years ago. Mike Raahauge passed away May 6, and for the thousands of hunters and shooters across Southern California who’ve hunted on his public pheasant and duck hunting clubs, shot sporting clays or rifles or pistols on his ranges, or attended one of the hunter safety classes at his facility, it will be a little melancholy, but Raahauge’s vison is continuing.

The Sports Fair remains the first and largest hands-on gun show in the nation where anyone attending the show can actually shoot nearly everything on display, which includes firearms from major manufacturers around the world.

Raahauge recognized there was a real need for the shooting public to be able to have the opportunity to try out firearms before making a purchase. So he convinced all the manufacturers and importers to bring their latest guns to one location and allow the public to shoot the guns. Shooters and hunters love the event, and the firearms industry saw gun sales boom in the days and weeks after the Sports Fair.

The Sports Fair was cancelled in 2009 because of ammunition shortages like this year. But, as Harris said, the Sports Fair was too important to the industry to not have.

Surveys conducted from 2006 through 2008 showed that more than 25 percent of the people who attended the Sports Fair eventually bought a specific gun they had shot during the event, usually within the first two months after the Fair. Harris said that with the influx of new shooters into the hunting and shooting sports, he expects that number to be higher today.

“Because of the ammunition shortage, I think we’ll have people coming to the Fair to shoot the same model gun as they bought recently but haven’t been able to get ammunition for it,” said Harris.

Besides the opportunity to shoot a wide variety of guns, the event has always focused on education, from gun safety and home defense to improving hunting skills. This year, there are two new seminars that should be extremely popularly.

First, Michel and Associates, a law firm specializing in firearms issues, will be giving daily presentations on existing gun laws and the slate of potential restrictions currently in the state legislature all three days of the Fair. Second, Freddy George, a well-known mixed martial arts and cross-training fitness expert, will give seminars each day on how to disarm assailants and defend yourself against attackers if you’re not armed.

These two seminars dovetail nicely into the type of information and instruction available throughout the show at the Firearms Training Associates shooting booth. At FTA, shooters are able to shoot falling steel plates with a wide variety of firearms designed for personal and home defense. FTA has one of Southern California’s premier home defense and concealed carry training programs. Its instructors are mostly current or retired law enforcement officers, and Bill Murphy, who runs the outfit, has written one of the most comprehensive books about defensive use of firearms.

The firearms law and self-defense seminars will join the usual slate of waterfowl hunting, upland bird hunting, and hog hunting seminars presented each year, with the focus on the most popularly hunted species in this year. And knife sharpening, well everyone has a knife and most people have poor skills when it comes to honing the blade.

In addition, Paul Cacciatori of Starlight Kennels has been a fixture at the Sports Fair since its inception, and he will again be giving his demonstration on how he trains good field dogs, focusing on discipline and retrieving. These seminars are always one of the most popular at the Fair and they are given all three days of the event.

This year, Web Parton, a dog trainer from Arizona, will conduct seminars on the importance of providing rattlesnake avoidance training to hunting dogs and pets. Rattlesnake bites are increasing in frequency in Southern California and the venom is become more toxic, so keeping pets from being bitten is the best treatment. Parton does these sessions all over Southern California and Arizona and has developed a reputation as one of the best in his field. His seminars immediately follow Cacciatori’s sessions each day of the Sports Fair (but in a different location).

Historic firearms are also a part of the Fair. Steve Peterson’s Living History Range has vintage firearms from the mid-1800s, including a Gatling Gun, up through World War I and II military firearms, and to modern sniper rifles in .338 Lapua. And all can be shot.

For the kids, there will be a fishing lake, a rock climbing wall, air soft guns, slingshots, and BB guns shooting booths. The kids, any anyone else who wants to try, can also try their hand at shooting remote-controlled model planes out of the sky with paintball guns.

The California Rifle and Pistol Association and the National Rifle Association are also on hand to provide information on the latest state and national gun control efforts. Most of the region’s sporting conservation groups -- from Ducks Unlimited to Quail Forever -- are on hand to talk about their work in this region.

If you want to see and do everything, give yourself plenty of time -- or plan on coming more than one day. The Shooting Sports Fair will be open from noon to 6 p.m. Friday, May 31, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 1, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 2. Admission is $12 for adults and parking is $5. For more information or directions, call Mike Raahauge Shooting Sports Enterprises at 951-735-7981 or go to www.raahauges.com. There is also information on the Turner’s Outdoorsman web site at www.turners.com.

Big game hunting

applications are due

no later than June 2

Applications for limited big game hunting tags must be completed no later than June 2. The application process can be completed at Department of Fish and Wildlife office, license agents, or on line through the DFW website. You can also call 800-565-1458 to complete the process over the telephone. Mail applications are no longer accepted.

All hunting tags for premium deer hunts, along with all elk, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep, tags are issued through the drawing process. Hunters who applied last year should have received the 2013 California Big Game Hunting booklet in the mail, but the application guide – which shows all hunts, tag quotas, drawing success rates, and has information on game harvest from last year for all hunts – is also available on the DFW’s website (www.dfg.ca.gov).

The DFW also has fund-raising random drawing hunting tags for deer, elk, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep. Hunters can purchases as many opportunities as he or she likes in these special fund-raisers, and these four tags generated over $300,000 for the DFW’s wildlife programs in the 2012 drawings. Each drawing entry costs $5.97 per entry.

All drawing results will be available June 21.

‘Top Hooker’ new reality

Fishing show debuts

June 2 on Animal Planet

Animal Planet will debut a new reality fishing series beginning 10 p.m. Sunday, June 2, when the first episode of “Top Hooker” debuts. The show pits 10 expert anglers with diverse fishing backgrounds against each other in zany and demanding fishing challenges that eliminate contestants one by one until a single angler is crowned the Top Hooker. The show is hosted by comedian Reno Collier.

“Top Hooker” came from the same minds that created the popular shooting series “Top Shot,” and Animal Planet is so convinced the show will be a hit they are already looking for contestants for season two. The show producers are looking for competitive and skilled anglers who are willing to take on off-beat and different fishing challenges that prove both their fishing prowess and adaptability to unusual fishing conditions. This winner of season one will take home $30,000. Season two? Well, it could be more. Interested anglers should send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your name, age, phone number, location, a recent photo (without hat and sunglasses please!) and a brief explanation of why you are capable of being America’s next Top Hooker. You have to do this no later than June 11.

This is the full disclosure part of this story. I am the “fishing” consultant on this show, and everyone knows I’m crazy.

[For a sneak preview of the show, visit here.

Comprehensive hog hunting

seminar this Saturday

at Bass Pro Shop in Rancho

A comprehensive seminar on hunting wild hogs in California will be given by outdoor writer Durwood Hollis and long-time hunting guide Ron Gayer beginning 10 a.m. Saturday (May 25) at Bass Pro Shops in Rancho Cucamonga.

Both Hollis and Gayer have extensive experience hunting wild pigs in California. Hollis began hunting hogs in the state nearly 50 years ago and has taken a number of big boars during that time, including perhaps more on public land than anyone alive. Gayer, a former guide on the vast Tejon Ranch, as well as guiding in several other western states, has been responsible for putting countless hunters on their very first wild pig.

A wide range of subjects, including wild hog history in California, how to read sign, hunting strategy, guns and loads, where-and-when-to-go, how to select a guide, important hog hunting gear, field care, home meat cutting and much, much more. And every attendee will receive a packet of public land hunting maps, including new hunting areas in San Diego County.

If you want to get into the wild pig hunting game, then this is a must-attend seminar. The cost is $40 and seating is very limited, but there are still a few spots for this Saturday’s event. To register call 909-605-3719.

END

JIM MATTHEWS’ PICKS OF THE WEEK

1. The Salton Sea tilapia bite has been as hot as the weather. One angler had over 300 tilapia for five hours of fishing. The fish are running from a half-pound up to nearly three pounds with most in the one to 1 1/2-pound range. The bite is mostly on nightcrawler pieces fished right on the bottom, and longer casts from shore are getting bigger fish. In fact, most anglers are throwing well off the shore and jetty to get fish now. The best source for information is the new campground store adjacent to the state park jetty. The number if 760-289-9455 and the store is open 6 to 10 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

2. Bluegill action is excellent at both Lake Perris and Lake Skinner and I’m combining them into one spot this week. Most of the bluegill and redear are still on spawning beds at both lakes and there are a lot of nice fish from a half-pound to over a pound at both. The fish are in most of the coves in three to 10 feet of water. For an update on these bites, check with the Lake Skinner store at 951-926-1505 or the Skinner marina at 951-926-8515. Or you can call the Lake Perris marina at 951-657-2179.

3. The yellowtail bite was breaking wide open from Ensenada all the way up into the Channel Islands, with some exceptional reports from Catalina Island on Tuesday this week. But these fish are showing at all of the local islands, on offshore kelp paddies, and at kelp spots all along the coast. These are also mostly quality fish from 15 to 25 pounds (although more and more smaller fish are showing to the south). The bite is simply unprecedented in recent years so it would be wise to go now in case it doesn’t last long. Any of the landings from San Diego up into the Los Angeles region can give you the latest.

FRESHWATER HOT SPOTS

TROUT: Big Bear Lake has excellent fishing locally with rainbow to three pounds for both trollers and bait anglers. Hemet is also pretty fair and Green Valley has been good since its opener. Jess Ranch also remains good. The Sierra remains very good throughout with some runoff messing up streams a little, but not much. Top bets continue to be Crowley Lake, Lower Twin Lake, Bridgeport Reservoir, and Convict Lake, but the entire June Lake loop has been good. The Bishop Creek drainage is very good. Other good bets include the upper Kern River.

BLACK BASS: The largemouth and smallmouth bass all over the region are providing generally good action with fish mostly out of their post-spawn funk and whacking plastics, reaction baits, and topwater. Best bets in this good action are Lake Perris, El Capitan, Lower Otay, Sutherland, Skinner, Casitas, Castaic, Diamond Valley, and Piru with waters like Pyramid, Cachuma, Silverwood, and Hodges are all fishing well. The Central Coast waters of Margarita, Lopez, and Nacimiento are all good. The Colorado River’s smallmouth and largemouth bites are good in Havasu and the main river below the dam. The lower river backwaters are also wide open. The bite is good in Mohave and reservoirs further upriver.

STRIPED BASS: The aqueduct at Taft has an incredible volume of fish, and more and more fish are over the 18-inch minimum size. This is hands-down the best striper bite in the region, but over the past week, Pyramid has been excellent, too, and Silverwood is not far behind. Diamond Valley and Skinner are still off. On the Colorado River, the bites are mostly slow, but a few fish are starting to show at Havasu and the Willow Beach stretch is pretty good on quality fish.

PANFISH: The tilapia action at the Salton Sea is still easily the top pick with very good action on fish to 2-8, but a lot of fish at one to 1-8. The crappie bites have mostly died, but the bite on the slabs averaging 1-8 at Lake Isabella is still going on and there’s a very good bite at Big Bear Lake on small fish. You can also get some nice pumpkinseed at Big Bear again, too. The Piru crappie bite is still kind of a secret hot bite, also for quality fish. Silverwood still has a pretty good bite on smaller crappie. The redear/bluegill bites took off just about everywhere with good action most places. Skinner and Perris are perhaps the top bets, but the action is good most places now.

CATFISH: The heavily planted lakes are kicking off their seasons. Irvine received a huge plant two weeks ago and the bite has been just fair, but Corona Lake and Santa Ana River Lakes are both very good to excellent thanks to weekly plants and both got plants of trophy fish this week. For wild fish, the bites are perking up a lot of places this week with some good catches at Diamond Valley, Castaic, Pyramid, and Isabella. The Colorado River also has good action on both channel catfish and flatheads just about everywhere now. Flatheads to 45 pounds were reported in the past week.

For our complete fishing report, including the water-by-water reports and our saltwater update, please go to our partners at FISHHOUND at this direct link:

http://www.fishhound.com/pro/directory/user/ONS---Fishhound-Pro-Staff-%28Outdoor-News-Service%29

OR our partners at 976-FRESH (a division of 976-TUNA) at this direct link:

http://www.976-fresh.com/

MATTHEWS’ PICKS OF THE WEEK
1. The Salton Sea tilapia bite is back into the top pick slot with excellent action reported right before and right on the heels of the storm front that just moved through the region. More bigger fish are starting to show with tilapia to 2-8 reported this week. The bite is mostly on nightcrawler pieces fished right on the bottom. The best source for information is the new campground store adjacent to the state park jetty. The number if 760-289-9455 and the store is open 6 to 10 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
2. The crappie bite at Lake Isabella stays in the top picks as “Crappie Mania” continues. The bite is excellent on fish to two pounds for anglers fishing from shore, float tube, or boat and the best bite is on live, small shiner, but the jig fishermen tossing small crappie jigs with meal worms or Crappie Nibbles are also getting a lot of fish. Boulder Gulch, Paradise Cove, Rocky Point and Piney Point are the hot spots. For an update on this bite, call Bob’s Bait in Bakersfield at 661-833-8657.
3. Crowley Lake in the Sierra Nevada is still in the top picks because the trout action remains very good and a number of nice quality brown trout and cutthroats continue to show. Excellent weather is forecast for the region, unlike this past weekend, and limits of nice trout are likely on tap. The Sacramento perch are even biting already and will add some ice-chest fodder. For an update on this bite, check with the folks at Crowley Lake Fish Camp at 760-935-4301.

FRESHWATER HOT SPOTS
TROUT: The Sierra trout season remains the hot bite with very good action about everywhere in the region. Top bets continue to be Crowley Lake, Lower Twin Lake, Bridgeport Reservoir, and Convict Lake, but the entire June Lake loop has been good. The biggest trout of the season so far remains the 17-pound brown from Lower Twin Lake out of Bridgeport on Wednesday last week. The Bishop Creek drainage is very good. Other good bets include the upper Kern River and Big Bear Lake. Hemet Lake is also now getting DFW plants every two weeks, including this week. Locally, the Santa Ana River Lakes, Corona Lake, and Irvine Lake are all still the top bets, with Jess Ranch also in the mix. Outside of those four waters, all of the San Diego area lakes trout bites are starting to wind down with final plants in most places last week or before. San Bernardino County park lakes are done with plants now with the exception on some late DFW plants.
BLACK BASS: The spawn is pretty much over most places, but the largemouth and smallmouth bass all over the region are still providing generally good action with males still shallow and protecting fry. Plastics, jigs, and reaction baits are the rule of thumb now. Best bets in this good action are Lake Perris, El Capitan, Lower Otay, Sutherland, Skinner, Casitas, Castaic, Diamond Valley, and Piru with waters like Pyramid, Cachuma, Silverwood, and Hodges all fishing well. The Central Coast waters of Margarita, Lopez, and Nacimiento are all good and Margarita might be the best spot on the Central Coast if not the whole region. The Colorado River’s smallmouth and largemouth bites are good in Havasu and the main river below the dam. The lower river backwaters are also wide open. The bite is good in Mohave and reservoirs further upriver.
STRIPED BASS: The aqueduct at Taft has an incredible volume of fish, and more and more fish are over the 18-inch minimum size. This is hands-down the best striper bite in the region. The lakes getting regular trout plants have all have decent striper bites the week of DFW plants for quality fish. Top bets for a big striper on trout-like swimbaits have been Castaic, Pyramid, Willow Beach on the Colorado River, and Diamond Valley. Silverwood is good for fish under six pounds and may have the best overall bite right now. Skinner’s striper bite also looks to be coming back on, and there were a few more fish at Diamond Valley this week. But no place is better than just fair overall. On the Colorado River, the bites are mostly slow, but a few fish are starting to show at Havasu.
PANFISH: The tilapia action at the Salton Sea is easily the top pick with very good action on fish to 2-8. The crappie bites have been bouncing up and down, mostly down. Top bets this week are the good bites at Isabella and the spotty bites at Elsinore and Henshaw. The Sutherland bite came back on this past week and produced some nice fish. Silverwood still has a pretty good bite on smaller fish. Cachuma is also just fair with light pressure. Also the first crappie of the season were reported at Perris two weeks ago, but none since. The redear/bluegill bites took off at Perris in the east end and off the island, and bite broke wide open at Lake Skinner last week. Most places with bluegill and redear are now starting to produce good numbers of fish.
CATFISH: Mostly slow catfish action again this week. The exception is on the Colorado River where both the channel catfish and flathead bites are starting to break wide open. A number of flatheads to 30 pounds were report all up and down the lower river again this past week. Other places to watch include Irvine Lake, Corona Lake, and Pyramid. The stocked catfish season is also beginning at Hesperia Lake with weekly plants.

For our complete fishing report, including the water-by-water reports and our saltwater update, please go to our partners at FISHHOUND at this direct link:

http://www.fishhound.com/pro/directory/user/ONS---Fishhound-Pro-Staff-%28Outdoor-News-Service%29

OR our partners at 976-FRESH (a division of 976-TUNA) at this direct link:

http://www.976-fresh.com/

By JIM MATTHEWS

www.OutdoorNewsService

Mike Raahauge, one of the pioneers and legendary figures in Southern California’s hunting and shooting industry, died Monday morning. He was 72.

Raahauge is best known for the shooting and hunting complex in Prado Basin on the Santa Ana River River in Corona. Raahauge’s Pheasant Hunting Club has been in operation since 1971, opened by Mike and his father Linc Raahauge that year.

As the facility grew, Raahauge added trap and skeet fields, a “Star Shot” shotgun range, and then a Sporting Clays range. Before the shooting sports entered its current boom, Raahauge saw the handwriting on the wall -- or perhaps he was the one doing the writing -- and designed a huge new sporting clays range across the basin from his existing facility. It also included rifle, pistol, and law enforcement ranges. Today, Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises’ shooting complex is considered one of the finest facilities of its kind in the nation, and it remains one of the few complete shooting facilities left in Southern California.

Lesser known, Raahauge also operated a duck hunting club in the Prado Basin that was open to the public on a day-hunt basis. His pheasant and duck hunting programs, because of the location, still represent one of the closest places for urban Orange County and Los Angeles hunters to get a day in the field.

“He wasn’t simply a big figure in the shooting sports of Southern California,” said Steve Comus, a former writer at Western Outdoor News and now head of publications for Safari Club in Arizona. “He was personally responsible for the advancement of the shooting sports in the entire area. Absent Mike Raahauge, the shooting sports in Southern California would not be as big or as vibrant as they are today.”

An industry visionary, Mike Raahauge saw the decline in the shooting and hunting sports three decades ago and was always looking for ways to bring new shooters and hunters into the sport. Thirty years ago this year, Raahauge started the Raahauge’s Shooting Sports Fair, the original hands-on gun show where participants can actually shoot all of the firearms on display. Unlike other big ticket items people purchase, Raahauge recognized that shooters interested in a new firearm purchase couldn’t “test drive” the firearm before the purchase. The Sports Fair gave them an opportunity to do just that. It remains one of the only shows of its kind in the nation, and firearm sales blossom at gun shops throughout the region in the weeks after the Sports Fair, which is annually attended by around 15,000 people.

About the same time, Raahauge also organized one of the largest hunter safety training programs in the nation, providing classes for first-time hunters in Southern California. As the years rolled by and the classes grew, eventually involving a promotional partnership with Turner’s Outdoorsman, many classes would have over 100 students. A recent count showed that over 100,000 people have attended hunter safety classes at Raahauge’s facility, far more than any other program in the nation.

Raahauge was instrumental in putting together the annual Youth Safari Day event in conjunction with the Orange County Safari Club chapter. The event exposes urban youngsters to a wide range of outdoor sports, from kayaking to rock climbing to shooting of .22s and archery gear. There are nature walks in Prado Basin and fishing for catfish in a pond on the complex. This year will mark that event’s 15th anniversary.

Raahauge also donated his facility to hundreds of hunter-conservation and gun rights fundraisers over the decades, even starting a Southern California-based waterfowl group called Southern California Ducks, fondly known as “Bucks for Ducks,” when larger organizations wouldn’t spend any money on improving waterfowl habitat in this region. Today, both California Waterfowl and Ducks Unlimited recognize the importance of wetlands in this region, and all the fundraising dollars garnered from here, and spend big chunks of money in Southern California. Organized upland bird hunting conservation groups that operate throughout Southern California today all had their beginnings at Raahauge’s when the now defunct group, Quail Unlimited opened its first regional office that was effectively headquartered there. Today there are chapters of upland bird conservation groups scattered across Southern California, but most had their roots at Raahauge’s.

“Just think about how many lives that man has touched,” said Andy McCormick, a long-time friend of Raahauge and president of Legacy Sports International in Reno, Nev. “He’ll be a tough one to replace, that’s for sure.”

All of that was the public Mike Raahauge. The private man was dedicated to his large circle of friends and family, and he opened up his facility to the community for events they could ill-afford to have other places. His large banquet hall (a remodeled chicken coop, if the truth were told) was host to dozens of weddings each year. For friends in need, he’d donate the space and help organize his own fund-raising event, arm-twisting his industry buddies for donations and to attend and buy dinner tickets. Then he would turn over all the proceeds to a friend battling cancer or who was struggling to pay his wife’s medical bills.

“The only thing bigger and louder than his voice was his heart,” said McCormick.

The “big heart” theme ran though many comments from friends on hearing the news of Raahauge’s death.

“When I think about Mike passing away, all I think is that he spent his entire life giving to others, that his heart was so big and so generous that it finally just wore out from giving so much,” said Bob Robb, a long-time friend who now lives in Arizona. “With a big voice and big body, he was like the old-time cowboy movie stars, loud and boisterous and ready to brawl with anybody, anytime, who crossed him or his friends. But if you did him right and he liked you, he would give you the shirt off his back without blinking.”

Mike Raahauge was also a passionate dog lover (he had a painting commissioned featuring one of his favorite setters, Tigger), bought jackets like many women buy shoes, loved to laugh and tell stories, and as long-time employee Carolyn Morse said, “was always stirring the pot.”

Most of the pot-stirring stories can’t be told in a public forum. But ask anyone who knew Mike Raahauge and they will have one of those stories -- or two hours of them, depending on how long and how well they knew the man. There is a tale about an Arab sheik who couldn’t hit pheasants in the field and bought three shots in Raahauge’s pheasant pens, and another about a long-range marksmanship competition that came to involve a Sparkletts truck parked in the wrong place at the wrong time.

While services for Raahauge will be private, the family recognizes that he touched so many lives that many people will want to pay their respects and share their stories. This year’s Shooting Sports Fair will be held May 31-June 2, and the family will be on hand to greet all of the people who have called Mike Raahauge a friend over the years. There will be a number of special activities honoring Raahauge over the three days of the event, and an opportunity for anyone with a Raahauge story to record their remembrance for the family.

Raahauge was married to his wife Elaine for 48 years and his son Pat Raahauge and daughter Cindy Shenberger were with him when he died at home as his battle with cancer drew to a close. He is survived by a sister Trudy and a brother Terry, and he has seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to a charity of your choice in Raahauge’s name or that you help support SoCal Top Guns (socaltopguns.com), a local youth shooting organization.

END

MATTHEWS’ PICKS OF THE WEEK
1. The crappie bite at Lake Isabella moves into the No. 1 slot after the second week in a row of “Crappie Mania.” The bite is excellent on fish to two pounds for anglers fishing from shore, float tube, or boat and the best bite is on live, small shiners, but the jig fishermen tossing small crappie jigs with meal worms or Crappie Nibbles are also getting a lot of fish. Boulder Gulch, Paradise Cove, Rocky Point and Piney Point are the hot spots. For an update on this bite, call Bob’s Bait in Bakersfield at 661-833-8657.
2. Crowley Lake in the Sierra Nevada was wide open for the trout opener and produced an excellent number of quality fish from four to seven pounds, including some very nice browns. A smart angler would head up this weekend, avoid the crowds, cash in other excellent weather, and get limits of fish. The perch are even biting already. For an update on this bite, check with the folks at Crowley Lake Fish Camp at 760-935-4301.
3. A second Sierra choice and the No. 3 pick for this week is Lower Twin Lake in the Eastern Sierra out of Bridgeport. The overall fishing is very good, but it’s the number of trophy brown trout being caught here that is garnering all the attention, including a 17-pounder caught on Wednesday evening this week. This is a trollers' game, but you face the opportunity of a lifetime to get a trophy brown. For an update on the bite, call Twin Lakes Resort on Lower Twin at 760-932-7751.

FRESHWATER HOT SPOTS
TROUT: The Sierra trout season opened this past weekend and the bite was excellent just about everywhere with most lakes ice free and sporting low water which concentrated the fish. Crowley Lake, Lower Twin Lake, Bridgeport Reservoir, and Convict Lake were the hot spots, but the entire June Lake loop was good. The biggest trout of the season so far was a 17-pound brown from Lower Twin Lake out of Bridgeport on Wednesday this week. The Bishop Creek drainage was also all ice-free and excellent. Other good bets include the upper Kern River and Big Bear Lake. Hemet Lake is also now getting DFW plants every two weeks. Locally, the Santa Ana River Lakes, Corona Lake, and Irvine Lake are all still the top bets, with Jess Ranch also in the mix. Outside of those four waters, all of the San Diego area lakes trout bites are starting to wind down with final plants in most places this week or already over. San Bernardino County park lakes are done with plants now.
BLACK BASS: The spawn is pretty much over most places, but the largemouth and smallmouth bass all over the region are still providing generally good action with males still shallow and protecting fry. Plastics, jigs, and reaction baits are the rule of thumb now. Best bets in this good action are Lake Perris, El Capitan, Lower Otay, Sutherland, Skinner, Casitas, Castaic, Diamond Valley, and Piru with waters like Pyramid, Cachuma, Silverwood, and Hodges all fishing well. The Central Coast waters of Margarita, Lopez, and Nacimiento are all good and Margarita might be the best spot on the Central Coast if not the whole region. The Colorado River’s smallmouth and largemouth bites are good in Havasu and the main river below the dam. The lower river backwaters are also wide open. The bite is good in Mohave and reservoirs further upriver.
STRIPED BASS: The aqueduct at Taft has an incredible volume of fish, and more and more fish are over the 18-inch minimum size. This is hands-down the best striper bite in the region. The lakes getting regular trout plants have all have decent striper bites the week of DFW plants for quality fish. Top bets for a big striper on trout-like swimbaits have been Castaic, Pyramid, Willow Beach on the Colorado River, and Diamond Valley. Silverwood is good for fish under six pounds. Skinner’s striper bite also looks to be coming back on, and there were a few more fish at Diamond Valley this week. But no place is better than just fair overall. On the Colorado River, the bites are mostly slow, but a few fish are starting to show at Havasu.
PANFISH: The crappie bites have been bouncing up and down. Top bets this week are the good bites at Isabella, Henshaw, and Elsinore (in about that order) The Sutherland bite has been a little off this past week (but still producing some fish). Silverwood still has a pretty good bite on smaller fish. Cachuma is also just fair with light pressure. Also the first crappie of the season were reported at Perris last week, including some slabs, and a few of those fish continue to show. The redear/bluegill bites took off at Perris in the east end and off the island, and bite broke wide open at Lake Skinner this week. Most places with bluegill and redear are now starting to produce good numbers of fish.
CATFISH: Mostly slow catfish action again this week. The exception is on the Colorado River where both the channel catfish and flathead bites are starting to break wide open. A number of flatheads to 30 pounds were report all up and down the lower river again this past week. Other places to watch include Irvine Lake, Corona Lake, and Pyramid. The stocked catfish season is also beginning at Hesperia Lake with weekly plants.

For our complete fishing report, including the water-by-water reports and our saltwater update, please go to our partners at FISHHOUND at this direct link:

http://www.fishhound.com/pro/directory/user/ONS---Fishhound-Pro-Staff-%28Outdoor-News-Service%29

OR our partners at 976-FRESH (a division of 976-TUNA) at this direct link:

http://www.976-fresh.com/

By JIM MATTHEWS

www.OutdoorNewsService.com

MAMMOTH LAKES – It seemed more like July than the last Saturday in April. There have been balmy trout season openers before in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, but you didn’t have to look far for big snow banks, unplowed roads, and mountains draped in the white stuff even in those years. Not only was it warm this Sierra opener, but the snow was gone or fading fast everywhere. The only lake that had ice-fishing this opener was the Virginia Lakes out of Bridgeport, and for the anglers who had ventured out onto the ice early opening Saturday, it was a little dicey getting back to shore by early afternoon.

“By Sunday, there were only crazy people trying to go out onto the ice,” said Ricky Gieser at Ken’s Sporting Goods in Bridgeport. “One of our customers went through six feet from shore and ended up in water to his waist.”

The fishing hotspot for the opening week of trout season was Lower Twin Lakes just out of Bridgeport. Gieser said that four nearly identical 10-pound brown trout were caught by anglers trolling big lures that look like kokanees opening day. Two were landed by Daniel Perez of Pine Grove (and then he landed an eight-pounder the next evening). A 10-pound, three-ounce brown was also caught by Jerry Hill of Murphy, while the fourth at 10-pounds, four-ounces was landed by Steve Marti, the owner of the Twin Lakes Resort right on Lower Twin.

Then on Wednesday evening this week, a 17-pound brown trout was caught by Stan Stewart of Bishop, a fish that will likely end up being the largest trout caught in the Eastern Sierra for the whole fishing season. Maybe.

“Steven predicted that a 17-pounder would be caught this year,” said Lori Marti about her husband’s forecast for the 2013 trout season in the lake right out their front door. “Will it be the biggest of the season? I don’t know. You remember Jon Minami’s [former state record, 26-pound, eight-ounce brown trout from Lower Twin in 1983], so you know what the possibilities are.”

Both Upper and Lower Twin lakes out of Bridgeport have been ice free for two months and anglers are reporting the big brown trout are up on the surface in the lower end of Lower Twin Lake each evening feeding on kokanee and chubs schooled in big numbers there. “The water is just alive,” said Lori Marti. “Steve has the fever this year and he’s been fishing for the browns each evening.”

It’s also a very good likelihood hood that the big brown trout being caught this year in Lower Twin are products of a brown trout rearing program the Marti’s ran for a number of years out of their resort to enhance the trophy trout population in the lake. It appears to be paying off.

But the trout fishing this opener was generally good throughout the region, in spite of low water levels in most lakes and streams. Or maybe, it’s because the low water level has concentrated the trout into smaller areas.

Crowley Lake, usually the focal point of anglers the opening day of trout season, had its usual crowds for the opener, and perhaps one of the best fishing weekends in many, many years. Most anglers were reporting five-fish limits of trout after just a couple of hours of fishing. And the overall quality was excellent with most fish averaging around 12 to 14 inches and a pound, but with a lot of bigger fish, too.

The largest trout from Crowley was a seven-pound, 10-ounce brown landed by Kevin Ortiz of Eastvale while trolling a Rapala off Sandy Point, and the top rainbow was a seven-pound, three-ounce fish caught by Larry Alao of Mammoth Lakes. The Fred Hall Memorial kid’s tournament was won by Sawyer Rollans of Henderson, Nev., with a five-pound, four-ounce rainbow and second place went to Roman Luna of Riverside with a three-pound, seven-ounce rainbow.

In nearby Convict Lake, most anglers were reporting limits by 9 a.m., according to Dennis Morrison, the manager of the Convict Lake Resort, and the biggest trout weighed from the lake was a four-pound, one-ounce rainbow landed by Jeffery Diaz of Whittier who was fishing PowerBait off the south shore when he hooked his fish. Nick Snyder of Palmdale caught a five-pound, 13-ounce rainbow from Convict Creek just below the lake.

In the June Lake loop, there were a lot of three to five-pound rainbows reported from Silver, Gull and June lakes. The biggest fish and the best overall stringer was caught by Jacob Aguayo of Chino who landed five rainbows for 19 pounds total, including two nearly identical five-pound, six-ounce rainbows to top off his stringer. All of his fish were landed on a red and gold Thomas Buoyant lure. The best rainbow from June Lake was a five-pound, four-ounce rainbow landed by Mike Campbell from Southern California.

Lakes that normally offer Southern California anglers a unique opportunity to pretend they’re in Minnesota and do some ice-fishing were mostly or completely thawed this year, including South Lake in the Bishop Creek drainage, Rock Creek Lake above Tom’s Place, and Lake Mary in the Mammoth Lakes basin.

Overall, it was one of the best openers most anglers can remember when you measure the good fishing against the perfect weather and then mix in the number of trophy fish caught.

“I’d give it an 11 on a 10-point scale,” said one angler.

Well, it just can’t get much better than that.

END

By JIM MATTHEWS

www.OutdoorNewsService.com

MAMMOTH LAKES – Balmy weather and low water conditions will greet anglers heading to the Eastern Sierra Nevada for this year’s annual trout season opener on Saturday.

“While a lot of folks are pushing the negative, it’s supposed to be in the high 80s here in Bishop,” said Dave Smith at Culver’s Sporting Goods in that Highway 395 hub. “We’re going to have low water everywhere, yes, but you have to remember the fish will be confined in smaller areas. The fishing should be excellent.”

While many in the Eastern Sierra are worried about what the low water conditions will bring later in the summer, everyone agreed that the opener and early part of the season should be excellent for anglers. The lack of snowpack and warm weather this month also means that far more waters are ice-free for this opener than are normally available.

The U.S. Forest Service reports that virtually all of the roadside lakes in the Bishop Creek drainage are ice-free, including Sabrina, North Lake, South Lake, and Intake II. While they might all have lower water levels than normal, access is good to all these waters. The Department of Fish and Wildlife also stocked both forks of Bishop Creek and Intake II with trout this week for the opener.

Further north, the road all the way to Rock Creek Lake is open and the lake was ice-free and the inlets and outlet and it was expected to be clear by opening day. Convict Lake was ice free, and Lake Crowley has been ice-free for over two months. The Mammoth Lake basin also has less ice than normal for the opener. The Twin Lakes are ice free, and Lake Mary is mostly ice-free. Even George and Horseshoe had large areas of open water at mid-week. The road, however, is supposed to only be plowed to the gate (at Twin Lakes), so the upper lakes will be walk-in propositions.

All of the June Lake Loop waters -- June, Gull, Silver and Grant lakes -- are ice free and all four have been planted with hatchery rainbows by the DFW. Walk-in waters just off the loop -- Parker and Walker lakes -- are also mostly ice free.

In the Lee Vining region, Lundy Lake is also ice free and the road open. The Virginia Lakes still have ice, but it is rotten in many places with patches of open water and ice-fishing wasn’t recommended this year. The road is plowed to the lower lake and open.

Further north in the Bridgeport area, both Upper and Lower Twin Lake are ice-free and have been for a month or more, and Bridgeport Reservoir is very low but without ice. Even Kirman Lake, a popular hike-in lake known for large brook and cutthroat trout, is ice free.

Shop owners and anglers heading to the region have been concerned about the DFW’s trout stocking program and how it has been impacted by major lawsuits and new policies.

Tom Loe, a guide and owner of Sierra Drifters Guide Service, echoed the concerns of many local anglers. He was particularly concerned about news coming from the state saying that only triploid, or sterile, trout will be planted throughout the Sierra from now on.

Loe argues that many fisheries -- but specifically Crowley Lake and the upper Owens River -- will see poorer fishing if this is done because there will be no natural reproduction from hatchery fish that holdover in these fisheries. Anglers like Loe are concerned that the brown trout and cutthroat trout plants will cease or change, too, because of new rules.

Today, there is a large component of all three types of trout in the Crowley Lake-upper Owens River that are either wild-spawned fish or from DFW trout planted in the past. There is concern this wild component of fertile fish will decline without supplemental DFW plants, which would have a serious impact on two the Eastern  Sierra’s most popular and successful fisheries.

But DFW fishery biologist Jim Erdman in Bishop said Crowley Lake and the Owens River have been designated “brookstock or diploid” waters, or places where fertile trout can be planted because there are no native species impacted by the non-native trout planted in these waters. (Trout are not native anywhere in the Eastern Sierra south of the Walker River drainage, so all the trout from Lone Pine to Bridgeport have been planted by the DFW over the years.)

Erdman said Crowley will continue to receive about a half-million or more trout per year, and while the bulk of the rainbows planted may be triploid (sterile), the browns and cutthroats planted in the system will remain fertile or diploid fish. The lake is also likely to get periodic plants of fertile rainbows, too. Mixed with the fish that have been naturally produced in the lake’s tributary streams that are fertile (which make up as much as 25 percent of the trout population in the lake), Erdman was hopeful the Crowley Lake system would remain one of the best trout fishing complexes in the state.

Most of the Crowley Lake plants occur in the fall, when sub-catchable sized trout are released into the system for anglers to catch in following years. Trout released as four to five-inch fish in the fall are usually 12-inches by opening day, and even bigger in years where Crowley is frozen over such a short period of time. This is going to be one of those years where the trout from last year’s subcatchable plants will probably average 13 to 14 inches – and the fish planted previous years will be even bigger.

“With the weather and conditions, I think this is going to be one of the best openers in some time,” said Erdman.

END

By JIM MATTHEWS

www.OutdoorNewsService.com

The California legislature passed a bill this week (SB 140) that will steal $24 million in funds from an account created when citizens pay a fee to have a background check run and keep temporary paperwork on a potential gun buyer known as the Dealer Record of Sale (DROS).

The DROS fee is only supposed to be as much as it takes to process the paperwork, but it has been accumulating funds because the fee is excessively high. The fee is supposed to be adjusted down if this occurs, but of course, the legislature wouldn’t vote to reduce the fee so gun owners are charged less. Instead, they voted this week to send the “surplus” money to the Department of Justice to confiscate guns sold to “prohibited” people.

There are two huge parts of the legislation that are patently illegal.

First, the money charged for DROS fees were specifically earmarked to administer the paperwork involved with firearms transfers. To use it any other way is illegal. As Assemblyman Brian Jones (R-Santee) said, “if you go to the DMV and pay for a driver’s license, that fee is for processing the driver’s license, not for setting up sting operations for catching drunk drivers. If the legislature wants to raise extra fund for the DOJ, it would have to impose a tax, which requires a two-thirds vote.”

Second, Leno and those advocating the bill are advocating for illegally using the DROS information. The Gun Control Act of 1968 was federal legislation that set restrictions on firearm sales (most notably banning mail-order sales), but it also prohibited the states and the federal government from creating a registry of gun owners. Under DROS, once a sale of a firearm is approved, the information is supposed to be destroyed, but Leno is suggesting that they can use DROS information against state-lists of prohibited gun owners and go back and confiscate guns and arrest those who have them illegally.

The bill is supposedly only aimed at “registered” guns purchased in the state since our (arguably illegal) handgun registration and “ugly” semi-automatic weapon bans/registration went into effect in 1996. But the sloppily-written legislation doesn’t prohibit the use of DROS information. The illegally taken $24 million would be used to enforce the DOJ's Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) program, which began in 2007. APPS cross-references various databases to check people who had legally purchased and register handguns and/or assault weapons since 1996 against the list of individuals who are now prohibited from owning or possessing firearms.

The DOJ says there are an estimated 40,000 registered handguns and assault weapons in recently-prohibited persons hands. This information is NOT part of the national background check or DROS and enforcement of these checks cannot be legally funded out of these funds.

According to the DOJ, the newly ineligible consist of 30 percent with new criminal records, 30 percent newly mentally ill, 20 percent with a restraining order, and the rest are denied for a variety of reasons.

Incredibly, California is the only state in the union that tries to confiscate guns from homes of individuals not legally permitted to own them. This includes all guns (not just registered guns) in the case of felons and mental denials. This means that a spouse or roommate could have their legally-owned guns taken. It also means that the DOJ cold arrest a felon if he or she was living in a home where firearms were kept without their knowledge.

Because DOJ agents cannot obtain search warrants for these tasks, they must convince people to let them into their homes for searches. If a firearm is found, both the person from owning a weapon and the family or friends can be arrested on suspicion of illegally owning or supplying a firearm. The legislators who wrote this bill report the DOJ’s agents have collected more than 10,000 guns, apparently by just asking, over the past five years and that they are at least three years backlogged -- but I’ve been unable to find the supporting paperwork for that claim.

Of course, the DOJ and legislators pushing for this bill also wouldn’t supply information on how many of the now-banned gun owners have perpetrated crimes with their once-legal guns. That would be the proof in the need of this additional funding, right? Or maybe they didn’t provide that information because there were no crimes committed with those once-legal guns.

Criminals or people bent on mayhem will get their hands on destructive devices, whether they are guns or pressure cookers. This will would really do nothing to spot this. But this illegal and unnecessary bill is heading to the governor’s desk, anyway.

END

MATTHEWS’ PICKS OF THE WEEK

1. The Salton Sea tilapia bite was been spectacular over the past week, so it’s staying the top pick for yet another week. Anglers are carting home ice chests full of one-pound tilapia, and there have been more of the better quality fish over the past week. The spawning fish are stacked up along the shoreline in unbelievable numbers. The most popular spot to fish is the state park marina and jetty and the only consistent action is on nightcrawler pieces fished on or near the bottom. This is a great family destination for fast fishing action. For an update on the bite, call the visitor Center at 760-393-3810 or the ranger station kiosk at 760-393-3052.

2. Oh man, the No. 2 pick last week was a mixed bag (Isabella was dismal for the trout derby, but awesome if you went for crappie), but this week’s No. 2 pick is a sure thing: The Eastern Sierra for the trout opener, specifically Crowley Lake, but pretty much where ever you want to fish. There have been heavy DFW plants throughout the region and many waters that are locked in ice for the opener are already ice free, including most of the Bishop Creek drainage (North Lake and Sabrina), June Lake Loop (George might have some sheet ice), Lundy, and the Bridgeport Twin Lakes. Crowley has been ice free for over two months and the fish planted late last fall are likely to be in the 1 1/2 pound range for the opener and fish from previous years up to six pounds. For an update on this bite, check with The Troutfitter in Mammoth Lakes at 760-934-2517 or Crowley Lake Fish Camp at 760-935-4301.

3. The striped bass bite at the California aqueduct near the town of Taft (west of Bakersfield) has been nothing short of spectacular with many anglers reporting 10 to 20 fish an hour of fishing. While some of the stripers are below the 18-inch minimum keeper size, there are an increasing percent over that size and up to 22 inches caught this past week. The bite has mostly been on blood worms and tube baits. For an update on the action, call Bob’s Bait in Bakersfield at 661-833-8657.

FRESHWATER HOT SPOTS

TROUT: The Sierra trout season opens this Saturday and the Eastern Sierra should be excellent with low water conditions and heavy plants throughout the region. Crowley Lake should be a hotspot. Santa Ana River Lakes, Corona Lake, and Irvine Lake are all still the top bets, with Jess Ranch also in the mix. Outside of those four waters, all of the San Diego area lakes trout bites are starting to wind down with final plants in most places this week or already over. Other good bets include the upper Kern River and Big Bear Lake. Hemet Lake is also now getting DFW plants every two weeks.

BLACK BASS: The spawn is winding down most places, but the largemouth and smallmouth bass all over the region are still providing generally good action with males still shallow and protecting beds. Plastics, jigs, and reaction baits are the rule of thumb now. Best bets in this good action are Lake Perris, El Capitan, Lower Otay, Sutherland, Skinner, Casitas, Castaic, Diamond Valley, and Piru with waters like Pyramid, Cachuma, Silverwood, and Hodges all fishing well. The Central Coast waters of Margarita, Lopez, and Nacimiento are all good and Margarita might be the best spot on the Central Coast if not the whole region. The Colorado River’s smallmouth and largemouth bites are good in Havasu and the main river below the dam. The lower river backwaters are also wide open with fish all over the shallows. The bite is just starting to get good in Mohave and reservoirs further upriver.

STRIPED BASS: The aqueduct at Taft has an incredible volume of fish, and more and more fish are over the 18-inch minimum size. This is hands-down the best striper bite in the region. The lakes getting regular trout plants have all have decent striper bites the week of DFW plants for quality fish. Top bets for a big striper on trout-like swimbaits have been Castaic, Pyramid, Willow Beach on the Colorado River, and Diamond Valley. Skinner’s striper bite also looks to be coming back on, and there were a few more fish at Diamond Valley this week. But no place is better than just fair overall. On the Colorado River, the bites are mostly slow, but a few fish are starting to show at Havasu.

PANFISH: The crappie bites have been bouncing up and down. Top bets this week are the wide open action at Isabella, but the Elsinore, Henshaw and Sutherland bite a little off this past week (but still producing some fish). Silverwood still has a pretty good bite on smaller fish, and Piru is fair to good for crappie. Cachuma is also just fair with light pressure. Also the first crappie of the season were reported at Perris this week, including some slabs. The redear/bluegill bites took off at Perris in the east end and off the island, and bite broke wide open at Lake Skinner this week.

CATFISH: Mostly slow catfish action again this week. The exception is on the Colorado River where both the channel catfish and flathead bites are starting to break wide open. A number of flatheads to 30 pounds were report all up and down the lower river again this past week.

For our complete fishing report, including the water-by-water reports and our saltwater update, please go to our partners at FISHHOUND at this direct link:

http://www.fishhound.com/pro/directory/user/ONS---Fishhound-Pro-Staff-%28Outdoor-News-Service%29

OR our partners at 976-FRESH (a division of 976-TUNA) at this direct link:

http://www.976-fresh.com/

By JIM MATTHEWS

www.OutdoorNewsService.com

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has become a huge, senseless roadblock in the Department of Fish and Wildlife resuming trout plants at five popular fishing waters in Southern California.

The DFW ceased planting Lake Cachuma, Casitas Lake, Lake Piru, Lake Skinner, and the Castaic Lagoon after a lawsuit forced the agency to evaluate its trout stocking plants and how they could affect native species. The concern in all of those waters was a fear the hatchery rainbows could mix with native steelhead in the drainages below these reservoirs and hybridize, ruining the purity of the native fish.

The DFW has since switched to triploid, or sterile, rainbow trout for its entire catchable trout program, eliminating the fear the hatchery fish could spawn with the native steelhead, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been reluctant to allow the plants to resume in all of these waters.

The plain stupidity of this decision is two-fold. First, the hatchery fish were planted for decades before the lawsuit and the worst-case scenario never happened. In all cases, it would take a succession of nearly impossible events to all happen at the same time for the hatchery rainbows to ever come in contact and spawn with one of the nearly extinct native steelhead. Second, private trout plants have continued each year on three of the waters -- Cachuma, Casitas, and Skinner -- because the water and park districts that managed the lakes weren’t parties to the lawsuit and could continue to plant trout.

If the feds didn’t sue or intervene some other way to stop those plants, why are they continuing to rob local anglers of DFW trout plants, especially now that the DFW was only planting fish that would make hybridization with native steelhead impossible?

Welcome to the lunacy of big government and FWS staff who are afraid of their own tail, refusing to make common sense decisions that would benefit the people who pay their salaries. Will a bold bureaucrat in the USFWS step up and sign the paperwork allowing the DFW to plant these five waters again? Please.

DFW PLANTING LYTLE CREEK AGAIN: Lytle Creek, a popular small stream fishery north of Fontana in the San Gabriel Mountains, is again being planted with rainbow trout by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Since the lawsuit hatchery was filed in 2006, Lytle Creek trout plants were halted because of concerns the trout plants might impact native minnows that lived in the system. Now, eight years later, the DFW has done the work to prove the hatchery rainbows and the native speckled dace occupy different parts of the stream and where they do overlap, there are no conflicts. We sort of knew that already because the native speckled dace evolved with native steelhead (which are really just rainbow trout) throughout this region, but we had to shut down stocking for seven years to document that knowledge.

The good news is that the first plants were made in the Middle and North Forks of Lytle Creek this week, and plants are again slated to go in the week of April 21-27. Historically, plants were made every other week from early spring through June in Lytle Creek.

$250,000 ISABELLA DERBY APRIL 20-22: The 24th Annual Isabella Lake Fishing Derby will be held April 20-22, and there will again be $250,000 in potential cash prizes swimming around in the form of tagged trout that could be caught during the Saturday through Monday event. Last year, the three-day payout was nearly $50,000, including three $10,000 tagged fish. In 2010, six of $10,000 tagged trout were landed during the event.

This year, there will be one tagged trout worth $20,000 if caught during the three day event, nine more worth $10,000, and 989 worth from $50 to $1,000. In fact, the $20,000 tagged fish could be worth $40,000 if it’s caught by an angler wearing an official fishing derby t-shirt or hoodie.

I don’t want to spook the insurance companies that pony up the dough if the high-dollar tags are caught, but with the low lake level and the fish concentrated in a smaller area, the odds are tipped in favor of anglers a little more than usual this year.

Entry fee for the event is just $20 per angler or $45 for a husband and wife and up to three kids 15 or under. For big families, more kids can be added for just $5 each. Anglers can call 866-578-4386 for more information or go to www.isabellafishingderby.com to get details and register on-line.

WATER FOR WILDLIFE PROJECTS: Cliff McDonald’s Water for Wildlife volunteer group is looking for more volunteers to help with an April 19-21 project to restore wildlife watering sources in the Mojave National Preserve. The crew plans on restoring several small game guzzlers in various states of disrepair on the Preserve northwest of Goffs. Breakfast and dinner will be provided each evening, but volunteers need to bring their own lunches or snacks, work gear, fire wood (for the evening campfires), and camping gear (trailers and motorhomes are OK at the camp site) for your group.

The volunteer group has just started its eighth year of projects and it has restored over 100 desert wildlife water sources in that time.

For more information on this project, or the upcoming June 7-9 project in the same vicinity, contact Cliff McDonald at 760-449-4820 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

CALIFORNIA DEER ASSOCIATION FUNDRAISER: The Southern California Chapter of the California Deer Association will have its 12th annual fundraising dinner banquet beginning 5 p.m., Saturday, June 22, at the San Bernardino Elks Lodge, 2055 Elks Dr., San Bernardino.

Tickets cost $70 per person, $110 per couple, with juniors (five to 15) $40. The raffle at this event is always “gun rich,” with a large number of hunting rifles and outdoor gear.

For more information or to purchase dinner tickets, contact Dave Mahosky at 951-237-0573, Mike Bouman at 909-841-7006, or Rick Whitefoot at 909-495-5023.

END