Thursday, Sept. 9, 1999 | 11:09 a.m.
Paula DelGiudice's outdoors notebook appears each week. Reach her at [email protected].
The Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners will meet in Winnemucca this weekend to establish fishing regulations for the next two years.
Hopefully, simplicity will be the guiding word for the Commission when it looks at any new regs. Those typically adopted in Nevada seem pretty straightforward and lacking in complexities, probably because we don't have the myriad waterways and different species demanding more intricate controls.
It's a good thing, because those intricacies can be a nightmare for first-time or visiting anglers.
An example is my family's trip to Montana this summer and a desire to fish the Yellowstone River. Wanting to comply with the state's requirements, we picked up a copy of the Montana Fishing Regulations brochure.
We were OK to fish the river from the boundary of Yellowstone National Park to the Emigrant Bridge using general regulations, which are pretty easy to understand (and remember): For brown, golden or rainbow trout -- 5 daily and in possession (with only one brown trout over 18 inches); cutthroat trout and grayling -- catch- and-release only. The fishing in this stretch is open year-round.
Once you step past the Emigrant Bridge, though, life gets seriously more complicated. Then the combined trout limit is: 5 brown and rainbow trout, 4 under 13 inches and 1 over 22 inches. All brown and rainbow trout between 13-22 inches must be released. Catch-and-release for cutthroat trout is still in effect. Anglers must use artificial lures.
The season runs from the third Saturday in May through Nov. 30. But if you're lucky to be around for the extended whitefish and catch-and-release trout season from Dec. 1 to the third Saturday in May, you may use aquatic insects, maggots and/or artificial lures only. And these are only the trout regulations.
If you're on a river such as the Yellowstone, you'll need to know about some of the other fish that inhabit the river, such as whitefish and sturgeon. And if the stars align and Mars is rising and you were born in an odd-numbered year ...
I guess residents must get used to living within these parameters and they fish so often they just sort of memorize them.
Either that or they just throw everything they catch back in the stream.
* DU BANQUET: The Henderson-Boulder City Chapter of Ducks Unlimited will hold a banquet and fund-raising auction Friday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. at the Railroad Pass Hotel.
Funds will be used for conservation projects and to enhance waterfowl habitat. Funds will also go into the Marsh Fund, designated for projects within Nevada.
Tickets are $75 for couples, $50 for singles and $25 for Green Wings (youths) and include a Ducks Unlimited membership. Tickets may be obtained from Don Helm at 381-8530.
* WATERFOWL HUNT: A waterfowl hunt for young those 15 and under will be held in all Nevada counties except Clark and Lincoln on Saturday, Sept. 25.
Youngsters must be accompanied by an adult 18 or older who is not allowed to hunt.
Limits will be seven ducks (which includes no more than two hen mallards), one pintail, one canvasback, four scaup and two redheads. The limit for geese will be three Canada and white- fronted and three snow and Ross geese.
Hunters are not allowed to harvest snow and Ross geese in Ruby Valley, Pahranagat Valley and the White River Valley. The youth waterfowl hunt in Clark and Lincoln counties is scheduled for Saturday, Jan., 29.
* UPLAND BROCHURES: Free brochures listing the upland game season dates and limits are available at most stores that sell hunting licenses and the Nevada Division of Wildlife offices at 4747 W. Vegas Drive in Las Vegas and 744 South Racetrack in Henderson.
The brochures accompany the Nevada Hunt Book published in June, also available free at sporting goods stores and NDOW offices.
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