Columnist Paula DelGiudice: Fishing to heat up along with weather

Paula DelGiudice

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

Paula DelGiudice's outdoors notebook appears Wednesday. Reach her at PDelGiudice@compuserve.com.

The warmer temperatures have caused a flurry of activity among boaters and anglers looking to get out after our brief winter hiatus.

For those who are interested in ice fishing, the conditions of fishing holes in Southern Nevada have reached the "unsafe" stage. Mild weather has caused the deterioration of ice conditions at popular ice fishing spots such as the Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Management Area, Eagle Valley Reservoir and Echo Canyon Reservoir.

Fishing at lakes Mead and Mohave has been slow, but should begin picking up if temperatures stay warm. Also, as March and April draw near, striped bass should begin spawning and providing more fishing opportunity.

President's Day weekend usually is the opportune time to plan an ice fishing trip to the northern part of Nevada, should you be interested in the reservoirs such as Wildhorse, Wilson and South Fork (in Elko County). Anglers should remember that catch-and-release fishing goes into effect at South Fork on March 1 for black bass (smallmouth, in this case).

During the past few years, the proliferation of yellow perch at Wildhorse has kept anglers hopping throughout the year. These diminutive fish are fun to catch. Anglers should try small crappie jigs (tipped with a bit of earth worm or meal worm), a small marabou jig, or spoon.

* LICENSES STILL VALID: Hunters and anglers are reminded by the Nevada Division of Wildlife not to discard their hunting and fishing licenses because they are valid through the end of February.

Kathy Teligades, NDOW license office supervisor, said Nevada's license year runs from March through February. This means that hunters and anglers can continue to use their license and attached stamps for another month.

Licenses for the coming year will be available by late February at most area sporting goods stores and the NDOW offices, 4747 Vegas Drive in Las Vegas and 744 South Racetrack Road in Henderson.

* WILDLIFE MEETING: Season dates and regulations for this year's big-game hunts will be set by the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners during a 9 a.m. meeting Saturday at the Nevada State Museum, 700 Twin Lakes Drive adjacent to Lorenzi Park.

The two-day meeting gets under way at the museum on Friday at 1:30 p.m. with presentation of the quarterly Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Conservation Award. Other agenda items that day include planning and setting of goals for the commission and the commission's secretary, review of Heritage Account processes and its earned income, and review proposed legislation for the 2001 Nevada State Legislature.

Major items on Saturday's agenda are a review of actions by the Nevada Division of Wildlife's administrator in providing an extra bighorn sheep indoctrination to successful bighorn sheep applicants and the initiation of developing a bighorn sheep herd management policy. Commissioners will also hear the legislature's Interim Finance Committee report regarding a commission request to transfer Division of Wildlife funds to the Department of Agriculture for predator control.

* NEW WEBSITE: One important link to participation in the hunting sports is being able to find up-to-date and accurate information.

In partnership with the state wildlife management agencies, NSSF has created a new Internet website (www.HuntInfo.org) that it believes is an important step toward providing hunting information.

The easy-to-remember website provides hunters accurate and thorough information on what hunting opportunities exist in any state. It will also give hunters a direct link to each agency's web page for more detailed information on each state. Already, 41 states have committed to participate.