FRESHWATER

Barrett: Open to duck hunting Wednesdays and Saturdays, reservations only. Call the lakes office at (619) 668-2050 for information about the hunts.

Chollas: Open daily to youngsters 15 and under. San Diego Fly Fishers sponsors a Lend-A-Rod program on Sundays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and it includes free bait and tackle and fishing tips from seasoned anglers. Will be stocked by the Department of Fish and Game with trout this week.

Cuyamaca: Look for a mixed bag of trout here, everything from DFG stockers to Mt. Lassen rainbows to rainbows and browns trucked in by Tim Alpers during Thanksgiving Week. The DFG adds another load of trout this week. Bill Guffey, Santee, 3-12 Alpers trout, night crawler, Chambers Park. Michel, 9, Thomas, 8 and Alex, 6, Uppenkamp, San Diego, 9 total trout, the largest a 2-0, inflated night crawler. Start off the New Year right with a Nature Walk with Julian naturalist Clint Powell as he leads a hike around the lake on Jan. 6 at 1 p.m. Free fishing class every Saturday at 10 a.m., with this week's being taught by supervising ranger Willard Lepley. He'll discuss trout fishing tactics and tips. Closed to fishing all day Wednesdays and until noon Sundays to allow for waterfowling. Open to fishing the rest of the time.

Diamond Valley Lake: Swim baits producing bigger bass. Jeff Harper, Hemet, 6.53 bass, night crawlers, 10 feet of water. Dennis Horn, Moreno Valley, 5.48 bass, swimbait, East Dam. Trout bite has mostly been a shoreline thing, with shore fishermen outfishing boaters. Jim Mehan, Winchester, 4 fish, 13.32 pounds, night crawler, 10 feet of water. Louie Vega, San Jacinto, 6.62-pound trout, night crawler, Shoreline. Catfish action also good.

Dixon: Fair trout action, but recent storm turned the catfish bite on. Shoreline anglers catching good numbers of catfish on the point between Pier 2 and Trout Cove. Catfish in the 2-to 5-pound range hitting. Trout limits include some nice 2-pounders. Mike Rodriguez, Escondido, 6-7 trout, shad-pattern crankbait. Also a 6-4 trout reported. Open daily.

El Capitan: The 65 anglers checked reported 44 bass, all released, 42 crappie and 2 channel catfish. Open for fishing and general boating Thursday through Monday, water contact (waterskiing, Jet Skiing, wakeboarding, etc.) Sundays only. Permits on Thursday, Friday and Monday available only at the iron ranger/pay station by the concession building (exact change only). Rental boats available on Saturdays and Sundays. On Sundays there is a limit of 80 boats total on the lake at one time. All persons (age 8 and older) entering reservoir property must pay the daily use fee.

Hodges: Closed.

Jennings: Lake is rising 6 inches per day, and supervising ranger Hugh Marx predicts that will affect the arriving trout from Mt. Lassen. Fishing has been slow, but action should improve when the lake gets another 1,200 pounds of rainbow trout from Mt. Lassen this week. Open Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Loveland: The 70 anglers checked reported 6 bass kept (82 bass released), 2 carp. Open daily.

Miramar: Creel checks of 104 anglers showed 104 rainbow trout and 6 bass (all bass released). Open daily to fishing and boating. Pay fees at iron ranger or electronic pay station near the concession building.

Morena: Open daily.

Murray: Open daily to fishing and boating. Pay fees at iron ranger or electronic pay station near the concession building.

Otay, Lower: Darryl “Doc” Carter, San Diego, 60.20 blue catfish, mackerel. Being stocked regularly with trout by the DFG makes this place ripe for swimbait tossers. Lake's bigger bass certainly must be dining on the DFG trout being stocked. Open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Pay fees at iron rangers near the boat launch and abandoned concession building.

Otay, Upper: Open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Pay fee at iron ranger in the parking lot. The road to the lake is closed to vehicles. Anglers may walk up to the lake for catch-and-release fishing only, barbless hooks on all lures and flies and no bait permitted. Open to shore fishing, wading and float tubing only.

Poway: Due to erosion damage caused by the recent rainstorm, the lake's annual trout opener has been delayed a second time. Originally set for Nov. 7, the city of Poway hoped to reopen the lake tomorrow, stocked with trout. But the recent rains did too much damage to all the erosion controls put in place, so now the opener has been postponed again.

Santee Lakes: Big trout remain in the lakes following recent plants, and another 1,250 pounds of trout (with some trophy-sized lunkers) is due Friday. Steve Peterson, Spring Valley, 6-7 trout, red Power Bait, Lake 4. Open daily.

San Vicente: The 103 anglers checked reported 3 bass kept (98 bass released), 15 channel catfish and 4 redear sunfish. Open for both fishing and water contact (waterskiing, wakeboarding, etc.) on Saturdays, and for fishing only on Sundays. Rental boats available both days. Jet Skiing not permitted here. Open sunrise to sunset. Due to construction hazards the shoreline from just right of the launch ramp all the way to the buoy line is closed to all activities. For construction schedules and information on the Emergency Storage Project, check the San Diego County Water Authority's Web site at www.sdcwa.org and click on San Vicente Dam Raise.

Sutherland: Closed for the season.

Sweetwater: The 12 anglers checked reported 1 bass kept (4 bass released), 4 carp and 4 channel catfish. Open Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Wohlford: Catfish action improved following the storm. Blas Romero, Escondido, 11-2 albino channel catfish, chicken liver, West Buoy Line. Jim Smith, Vista, 10-8 channel catfish, mackerel, West Buoy Line. Open Saturday and Sunday until Dec. 15, and then open daily thereafter after being stocked with rainbow trout.

STOCKING SCHEDULE

Trout: The DFG stocks Chollas, Cuyamaca, Lindo Lake, Morena and Murray this week. Dixon, 1,200 pounds. Santee Lakes, 1,250 pounds, including some trophy-sized rainbows. Jennings, 1,200 pounds.

OCEAN FISHING

Surf fishing: Jeff Stock of Bluewater Tackle and San Diego Fly Shop reports good surfperch action off North County beaches, along with a report of spotfin croaker hitting at Torrey Pines State Park beach. Big swell due today and tomorrow, so beach fishing will have to wait until the waves settle down. Stock said a spearfisher shot a 40-pound halibut off the Seaside Reef in the Encinitas area over the weekend.

Bay fishing: Stock said there are good bait schools off North Island, producing good action on bonito and mackerel as they chase the bait. He said spotted bay bass action south of the Coronado-San Diego Bay Bridge also very good.

Shark action: Stock had some clients out for some saltwater fly-fishing, and they had good fishing for blue sharks (catch-and-release) out at the 9-Mile Bank. “They caught and released 30 blue sharks,” Stock said. Stock also announced that Bluewater Tackle and San Diego Fly Shop are opening a new store in the Temecula area, taking over the store formerly known as Baja Vinnie's.

Long range: Qualifier 105, 28 anglers, six yellowfin over 200 pounds. Joseph Chinovsky, Culver City, 227-pound yellowfin. Vagabond, 18 anglers, three tuna over 200 pounds. Dan Cash, San Diego, 257-pound yellowfin. Chris Cruger, Encinitas, 220.4-pounder. Royal Star, 0 tuna over 200 pounds. Bruce Kelly, Lemon Grove, 280-pound yellowfin. Kurt Schaefer, scientist at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, helped tag and release an estimated 100 yellowfin, including 35 tuna from 10 to 100 pounds. Schaefer told Bill Roecker of FishingVideos.com and the San Diego Sportfishing Council that the tuna were fitted with geo-locating archival tags. Meantime, Schaefer caught his personal best tuna, a 251-pounder. Skip Howard, Visalia, 221-pound tuna.

East Cape: Good fishing continues. Yellowfin tuna are within a half hour boat ride of Rancho Leonero Hotel. Limits around on tuna, with marlin and dorado fishing also good. Sierra and pargo also hitting.

Cabo San Lucas: Incredible billfish action continues, although not as wide open as the past few weeks. The Fish Cabo reported 10 striped marlin releases in five fishing days. The Gaviota Fleet and Fish Cabo boats reported 39 days fishing produced 28 marlin (23 released), 33 dorado, 1 mako shark, 1 wahoo and 86 yellowfin tuna.

NOTEWORTHY

Hoopnetters Ball: Devin and Trevor Wilder were repeat winners of the Bobby Arms Drywall Inc., third annual Lobster Derby on San Diego Bay Saturday. The Wilders had seven lobsters (a tournament limit) totaling 20.36 pounds, with a 4.19-pounder, heaviest of the derby, to win the event. Arms said only nine teams fished the derby, down from 18 teams last year. Arms blamed the weather and the fact that lobstering for the hoopnetters has been tough. The team of Pat and Peggy McCarrigher, with Sahba Rahmani, was second with six lobsters totaling 8.56 pounds. Only 18 lobsters were weighed in, according to Arms' wife, Gayle, who helps run and coordinate the derby.

Boyce speaks: The San Diego Anglers monthly meeting is tonight at the Bahia Hotel on Mission Bay. Guest is adventurer and photographer Bill Boyce, who will offer a slide show as well as prints of his award-winning photos for sale. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., meeting commences at 7.

Marlin fishing: Team Wildcatter from Wyoming won the Bisbee's Bluewater C.U.P. Championship Nov. 29-Dec. 1. Team Wildcatter had 105 striped marlin releases to win. The tournament drew seven teams, 34 anglers, who caught and released 398 striped marlin. Team Tiger Spirit was second, and Team Contender One was third.

WON Bass: The next WON Bass San Diego Region Team Tournament is Dec. 15 at San Vicente. Call John Cassidy at (619) 466-8355.

– ED ZIERALSKI