FEATURE REPORT

WON ON THE SPOT FEATURE: Early Sierra opener kicks out heavyweight Diaz Lake rainbows BY MARTIN STRELNECK/WON Staff WriterPublished: Mar 08, 2010

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SOUTHERN CALFEATURE REPORTS Area streams that really mark the pre-Sierra opener were on the slow side LONE PINE— Saturday’s Southern Sierra early opener March 6 could best be classified as a “hit or miss” depending on the choice of angling location. Highlight of the day was an impressive number of heavyweight rainbows making the scales at the annual Diaz Lake trout derby. Also on the “hit” side, the hot spot for the day was the Lone Pine Creek Sandtrap. By 8a.m., anglers were packing it in with limits of DFG stocker rainbows running up to the 1-pound mark. Early morning anglers were scoring on just about everything, dough baits, worms, salmon eggs, mini jigs and lures. • TAMARA BELTER scored her best catch yet, taking home heavyweight honors at the Diaz Lake derby with this 6.1-pound Alpers rainbow. WON PHOTOS BY MARTIN STRELNECK • LONE PINE CREEK was the hot spot for Mojave angler Justa Hoffman who had just caught and released her seventh stocker rainbow. “We had one on just about every cast, “said Mojave angler Donny Moore.”It didn’t make much difference what you had on, they were hitting everything.” Diaz Lake was at the top of the scoreboard when it came to heavyweights. Numerous catches in the 2- to 3-pound range were weighed in at the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce’s annual derby. Taking top heavyweight honors for the day was Ridgecrest angler Tamara Belter who scored a 6-pound, 1-ounce Alpers rainbow that took a liking to red, white and blue Power Bait. Blind bogey weight for the day was 1.38 pounds. John Heckethorn from Mojave Valley took home $800 with his 1.40-pound rainbow, closest to the winning weight. Credit for the oversized rainbows is two-fold. Inyo County funded a plant Alpers rainbows shortly before the derby. An additional plant of 1- to 3-pound rainbows came from the display pond at the Mt. Whitney Hatchery—the first fish from that location since the l997 flood shut down the operation. Anglers can thank the privately funded Friends of the Mt. Whitney hatchery working with the cooperation of DFG for this bonus. On the stream fishing scene it was a slow day. Lone Pine Creek made a showing of stocker rainbows around the ¾-pound mark. However Independence Creek and Cottonwood Creek scored a zero. • DUARTE ANGLER Mathew Sorenson topped the heavyweight catch for the junior division with his 3.0-pound rainbow that took a liking to peach Power Bait. One explanation regarding lack of DFG stockers in the higher elevation streams could be water temperature. In the past this writer has observed the results of stocking trout from warmer hatchery water into a cold stream—dead fish. There was even the time I saw an angler picking up dead trout and putting them in his bag. Diaz Lake Results: prizes were awarded for 20 divisions. HEAVIEST CATCH—ADULT DIVISION—Tamara Belter, Ridgecrest, 6.1 pounds HEAVIEST CATCH--JUNIOR DIVISION---Mathew Sorenson, Duarte, 3.0 pounds HEAVIEST CATCH—KIDS DIVISION------Taylor Andreas, Local, 1.66 pounds HEAVIST STRINGER—ADULT DIVISION—Anne Hanmons, Yucca Valley, 14.98 pounds HEAVIST STRINGER—JUNIOR DIVISION—Grant Tingrides, Irvine, 7.10 pounds HEAVIEST STRINGER—KIDS DIVISION—Kyle Morse, Menifee, 4.66 pounds. • MOJAVE CREW, the Moore, Mitchell and Spanton families, scored limits at the Lone Pine Creek Sandtrap and were calling it quits by 8 a.m. • MT. WHITNEY hatchery rainbows provided action for wheelchair-bound Pacoima angler Felipe Argott who was soaking Power Bait on the Diaz Lake boat ramp.