Compiled by Dave Hurley and edited by local fishing expert Roger George, a former Olympic-class decathlete at Fresno State and striper record-holder at Millerton Lake.

Telephone numbers are in 559 calling area unless noted.

BEST BETS

Millerton bass bite is consistent, Dave Hurley said. Aqueduct stripers are still working, Pete Cormier reported. Eastman to open closed zone, Corps of Engineers announced. Don Pedro trout bite is good, Manny Basi said. Success touting bass and crappie bites, Chuck Stokke reported. Bass Lake trout are hitting, Richard Walter said.

ROGER'S REMARKS

The season is off and running, and big fish of all species are beginning to come to the scales -- as well as whispered reports of huge undercover catches that have been covered up. Still, I've noticed a subtle but strong movement by many anglers to become better catch-and-release advocates. Thankfully I see this trend, which was already pretty strong with bass anglers, taking root in trout, striper and panfish anglers. Anglers are concerned.

Having fished since the 1960s, I have to admit that just like many of you, during that far different time, I took home some gross numbers of fish. It's funny, but my father was adamant that every fish we took home was cleaned to extract every piece of meat that was edible and nothing went to waste. I used to wonder why in the heck we really needed to catch and keep so many (and besides I was exhausted), but Dad insisted the fish get cleaned before anything else was done after the trip. The way we fished and what we kept changed around the late 1970s when we started putting most our bass back. Trout, crappie and stripers came home for the most part, but we were already seeing then that putting back big stripers was a good thing. By the 1980s we were pretty much releasing most of our stripers.

By the 1990s, most anglers were buying into catch and release or they were resisting despite pressure to practice it. Purists insisted the fish needed to be released while holdouts insisted they had the right to take as many as the law allowed. It became a bitter war as some lakes were pillaged by anglers getting in on a great bite and taking every big fish they could catch, unconcerned about the long-term consequences. This was the case at Eastman Lake after it was reopened -- it became a poster child for moderating limits to keep a special fishery intact for all. Frankly, watching the lake get decimated made me sick!

Can I blame folks for extracting all the big fish they can legally while ignoring a fishery's future? Guess I can't throw stones since I've lived in a glass house myself. Unfortunately, most of us are more concerned about our rights rather than our responsibilities (which is the lost art of being a true sportsman in my estimation). However, to be fair, many who don't ascribe to the philosophy of good sportsmanship just haven't ever been taught what it's all about, and they feel that just like many things in life it's a game of winning, scored by getting more and bigger things than someone else.

But the game has changed. Our lakes can no longer sustain themselves without help. They're no longer places to go to fill your freezer. One good angler can have a huge impact by taking hundreds of fish from a lake or, on the other hand, by putting back most or all of the fish -- tipping a lake one way or the other. I don't think we can use the excuse anymore that "it's legal and I'm going to do it anyway!" Watching anglers bending the rules as far as they will stretch, without breaking them, infuriates most good fishermen who are working conscientiously to preserve what we have. I don't believe our laws and programs protect our fisheries as they should, and I think it's time we re-evaluate what we need to do to play our part and that we each need to sacrifice a little to preserve a priceless asset. It's not 1960 anymore!