THE OUTDOORS : Outdoor Notes : Court Ruling Will Help Steelhead Fishing on Ventura River

Steelhead fishing on the Ventura River will never be what it was in the good old days before Matilija Dam and the Lake Casitas Reservoir. But it won’t get any worse, because of a recent court victory by the Friends of the Ventura River.

More important, the case could have lasting implications for future disputes involving state water resources as fisheries.

The Second Appellate Court last month reversed a 1987 decision of the Ventura Superior Court that would have allowed the City of Ventura and the Casitas Municipal Water District to divert the entire flow from the upper Ventura River watershed into the reservoir.

The city and water district had proposed to provide one cubic foot per second to the river, compared to the 20 cubic feet per second required by a 1958 agreement, and to “monitor” the situation, but the Friends thought that would hardly be enough. The Appellate Court agreed.

The court noted in its decision that “it is mere wishful thinking that a one cubic-foot-per-second flow, coupled with monitoring and a vague promise to intercede if disaster strikes, would substantially lessen the impending peril that faces the steelhead under this agreement.”

Mark Capelli, executive director of the Friends, said monitoring was not the answer.

“You can’t just watch it,” Capelli said.

Now the Appellate Court has refused the city’s request to re-hear the case. Because of the statewide implications, the Department of Fish and Game alerted the attorney general’s office, which has asked the Supreme Court to publish the opinion so it can be cited as a precedent in the future.

“It would affect any project where somebody is proposing monitoring instead of mitigation by requiring some concrete action to mitigate identified impacts,” Cappeli said.

It sounded like an old Donald Duck cartoon when reports came out of Lake Mendocino in Northern California last week that the fish were really biting, and several people had teeth marks on their hands and feet to prove it.

Department of Fish and Game biologists will descend on the lake Thursday to find out why. They plan to electroshock the water to bring the aggressive creatures to the surface.

“They think it’s very unlikely they’re piranhas or apacu (meat-eating fish),” DFG spokesman Curt Taucher said. “The water would have been too cold.

“More likely, it’s green sunfish or bluegill protecting their nests.”

Gary St. Marie of Minneapolis and his team won $100,000 for landing a 135-pounder in the Boca Grange (Fla.) Club’s annual “richest tarpon tournament in the world” last week, but the event will be better remembered for another reason.

Also attending for two days were four terminally ill teen-age patients from the H. Lee Moffett Cancer Center in Tampa--first names Sanci, Teresa, Sharone and Jason.

They rode the press boat the first day, when the diesel engines attracted a couple of dolphin that played along the boat for a while. The second day, aboard the Eckerd College Search and Rescue boat, they caught some small fish.

Eckerd College is arranging for a full deep sea fishing tour for the teen-agers.

“The kids had a ball,” spokesperson Kathi Melton said.

But the best part, she added, was that “one girl, Sanci, was back from the year before.”

If you live near open land in Southern California, your chances are greater of finding a deer, bear or mountain lion grazing in your yard this year.

A second consecutive low-water year has resulted in increased reports of large mammal sightings near urban areas, a Fish and Game spokesman said.

“As mountain areas get drier, available water and forage become scarce,” said Fred Worthley, department manager in Long Beach. “Animals will then tend to migrate to where they can find food and water.”

The animals are especially attracted to lawns, shrubs, flower gardens, swimming pools, pet foods left out and garbage.

Worthley cautioned not to attempt to pick up a baby wild animal nor provide food or water for the animals, because their natural fear of humans can be overcome by the temptation and lead to dangerous consequences for both.

People faced with an abnormal intrusion of animals may call the U.S. Forest Service, Fish and Game or a local animal shelter for assistance.