To celebrate the official start of the spring saltwater fishing season in Southern California, San Diego Sportfishing is hosting its yearly Port of San Diego Day at the Docks Festival on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the sportfishing landings in Point Loma.

The 31st annual event will offer both novice and experienced anglers the opportunity to learn about new saltwater gear and get fishing tips from San Diego fleet skippers and other industry experts.

There will also be activities the entire family can enjoy, including live entertainment, vendor booths, contests, a special area for kid's fishing, boat rides around the bay, cooking demonstrations and vessel tours at participating landings.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: One of many fishing seminars at a previous festival. Credit: C. Miller / SDSC

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts

Attention anglers: Outposts will attempt to post the daily Southern California saltwater fish count, courtesy of 976-TUNA, each evening. Hope you find it useful:

Global sailor Jessica Watson passed into Australian waters this weekend, signaling a return to home seas -- a milestone she celebrated with Vegemite on crackers.

The 16-year-old Watson said it was a very special moment, with hot chocolate in hand, a light sprinkling of rain and an albatross circling above to mark the occasion.

Aside from the squid Watson continues to find on board (one of which ended up as part of her lunch Saturday), things seemed to be going smoothly in recent days, until Sunday night, when the weather turned ugly. Here's Watson's description of it from her blog:

Things got pretty interesting for a while last night, when what I thought was just a light passing squall, turned into a full on electrical storm, the worst I've seen at sea yet. Even though I could hardly see it through the icy cold sideways rain, the lightning was striking the water nearby much too close for my liking. The wind gusted pretty high too.

The 2010 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards take place April 23 in Anaheim, with some of the top names in the surf industry gathering to honor male and female surfers and their greatest successes on huge waves worldwide during the last year.

Watching top surfers ride big waves perfectly is mesmerizing. Interestingly, so is watching those not so successful in their execution.

One of the crowd-favorite award categories is not for those who pull off a perfect ride, but for those who don't -- the Verizon Wireless Wipeout of the Year award.

This year's nominees for the worst wave-riding crash of the last 12 months are South Africa’s Grant Baker, meeting misfortune at Maui's Jaws break; Hawaii's Shane Dorian, feeling defeat at California's Maverick's; and three Australians -- Ryan Hipwood, Dan Griffith and Brooke Phillips -- meeting their match at Tasmania's Shipstern Bluff.

Thankfully, none of the surfers were seriously injured in their wave-riding mishaps.

I hope readers will enjoy the above video and then vote below on who they think should be crowned the "Wipeout King." Although votes won't count toward the official award, it'll still be fun to see who wins Outposts' unofficial tally.

Video: BillabongXXL.com via YouTube

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts

Attention anglers: Outposts will attempt to post the daily Southern California saltwater fish count, courtesy of 976-TUNA, each evening. Hope you find it useful:

Barring adverse weather, water or road conditions, the following is a list of Southern California and Eastern Sierra waters, listed by county, that will be stocked with rainbow trout throughout the week of April 12 by the Department of Fish and Game:

ORANGE: Laguna Lake.

LOS ANGELES: Alondra Park Lake, Belvedere Park Lake, Cerritos Park Lake, Downey Wilderness Park Lake, Echo Park Lake, El Dorado Park Lakes, Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, La Mirada Lake, Lake in Hollenbeck Park and Lincoln Park Lake.

SAN DIEGO: Cuyamaca Reservoir and Doane Pond.

RIVERSIDE: Diamond Valley Lake and Strawberry Creek.

SAN BERNARDINO: Arrowbear Lake, Big Bear Lake, Lake Gregory, Miller Canyon Creek, Santa Ana River and South Fork of the Santa Ana River.

Photo credit: Eric Engbretson / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Here's this week's Irvine Lake fishing report, written by veteran angler Steve Carson:

Irvine Lake’s famous April multi-species bite is going off with a vengeance right now, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "It’s the best overall fishing at Irvine Lake in years; just about everything is biting really well," observed Getty. "The best catch was made by Dave Pierson, who had a catch of five largemouth bass totaling 39-10 that included fish going 9-5, 8-0, 8-0, 7-5, and 7-0 using 10-inch Berkley Power Worms. According to our records, that’s the heaviest five-bass catch ever made at Irvine Lake. The bass fishing is just a dream right now, longtime lake regular Don Spencer said; it’s the best he’s seen in over 12 years.

"The trout bite was helped by very good weather compared to last weekend, and the crappie are biting full speed. There are balls of shad all over the lake; the entire lake system is healthy and has just come alive!"

Getty tipped, "This morning [Wednesday] we had the hybrid stripers [aka sunshine bass or wipers] starting to go off along the west shore, and they look to be very healthy. At least 11 fish in the 2-pound class were checked in by anglers using night crawlers."

Despite suffering a hairline fracture in his right foot three days ago, Kelly Slater stepped it up to win the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, beating reigning two-time ASP World Tour champion Mick Fanning in clean 3- to 4-foot waves at the backup venue of Johanna Beach, Australia, the third venue change of the event.

Following a relatively slow start to the highly anticipated final, Australia's Fanning unleashed with a 7.17 to take the lead, stringing together a series of high-speed maneuvers to pull ahead and put Slater, a Floridian, on the ropes.

However, Slater would answer back with an incredible alley-oop aerial maneuver, boosting so high that his feet separated from his board before he recovered for an 8.93. Slater then paddled out into another excellent wave, scoring an 8.10 to bring his total to 17.03 out of a possible 20 -- a lead that Fanning would not overcome.

"It was a lot more difficult than it looked out there," Slater said. "The tide came up, and the takeoff was a lot deeper than we thought it would be. I was getting bumped and bounced and falling, and I had five or six waves before I got something going. On that 8.93, I was up in the air, and when I landed, I kind of fell on my butt and did the one-footed shuffle, but I recovered there. Then I paddled straight into that second wave and that was it."

Slater, a nine-time ASP world champion, was able to push himself to a record 42nd elite tour victory and his fourth at Bells Beach, matching the historic record set by legendary Australian Mark Richards in the 1970s.

Attention anglers: Outposts will attempt to post the daily Southern California saltwater fish count, courtesy of 976-TUNA, each evening. Hope you find it useful:

In support of the California Department of Fish and Game and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Outposts, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly Q&A column:

Question:What happened to the trout fishery in Lake Oroville? When I moved here in 1974, the fishing for rainbows, browns, king salmon and coho was fabulous. Then Department of Fish and Game quit their stocking of these species. I was told the reason was because there was some disease in the lake that affected these fish (except cohos). If this is true, why doesn’t it affect the trout below the dam since it’s the same water? Could it be that the DFG is using this so-called disease as an excuse to stop planting trout and salmon in the lake? I know they are now planting cohos. I guess we should be grateful for this. But how long will this continue before they tell us that they can’t get any more coho eggs? (Larry P., Paradise)

Answer:The story of why Lake Oroville is now planted with only coho salmon is fairly long and winding. Here’s the account from DFG Associate Pathologist Tresa Veek:

After a stocking program is started, DFG monitors its success through different data collection methods, such as creel surveys and disease monitoring. The rainbow trout that were planted in the 1970s weren’t surviving because of a parasite called Ceratomyxa shasta that thrived in the warm surface water of the reservoir, but was less lethal in the slightly cooler water of the Thermalito Afterbay. So, trout that are meant to be caught within a few weeks are still planted in the afterbay.

Outposts will attempt to post the most recent ski report for California, courtesy of SkiReport.com, each Thursday:

	BASE	LIFTS	SURFACE	24 HR	72 HR
Alpine Meadows	125-193"	8 of 13	PDR	0"	22"
Bear Mountain	18-48"	6 of 12	SC	0"	3"
Bear Valley	119"	9 of 9	PP	0"	21"
Boreal	90-131"	7 of 8	PP	0"	22"
Dodge Ridge	85-94"	9 of 10	PP	0"	24"
Donner Ski Ranch	84-148"	6 of 8	PP	0"	20"
Heavenly	81-117"	26 of 29	PP	0"	13"
Homewood	90-170"	5 of 7	PP	0"	23"
June	72-120"	7 of 7	SC	0"	23"
Kirkwood	140-200"	12 of 12	PP	0"	27"
Mammoth	140-184"	28 of 29	PDR	0"	27"

Say gracias to El Niño for providing so much snow this season that most California ski resorts will stay open longer than usual. Officials at Mammoth Mountain just announced it'll be open through July 4 (closing day was June 14 last year). On April 18, Canyon Lodge and the Eagle base area will close, but Main Lodge will remain open. Having just returned from Lake Tahoe, where it snowed every day, adding about 3 feet to the 10-plus-foot snowpack, I can attest that the white stuff will be around for a while.

Here are some closing dates for other resorts (weather and conditions permitting, of course):

Southern California

Mountain High: West resort is expected to stay open until at least April 25; East and North resorts have closed for the season.
Bear Mountain/Snow Summit: Bear Mountain is open daily through April 11, then weekends only beginning April 17. Snow Summit is open through at least April 18.

Lake Tahoe

Squaw Valley: Closes May 9. The cable car to High Camp reopens for summer on May 29.

Alpine Meadows: Open until April 18, then open weekends only (with mostly one lift) until May 16.

Northstar at Tahoe: Open until April 18.

Kirkwood: Expected to close April 25.

Sugar Bowl: Plans to close April 25, with limited operations the following two weeks.

Mt. Rose: Projects to close April 18.

Heavenly: Closes April 25.

Homewood: Hurry, closes April 11.

— Julie Sheer

Photo: Lake Tahoe from Homewood Mountain Resort. Credit: Julie Sheer

Fishermen in the Chilean port city of Talcahuano have been struggling to make ends meet since a tsunami hit the area after a massive earthquake on Feb. 27, damaging ports and washing fishing boats ashore.

While port authorities work to lift stranded vessels out of the streets of the city, located 300 miles south of Santiago, one fishing boat captain has found an alternative way to make some money -- by taking tourists on boat tours of the devastation.

Sergio Rodriguez told Chilean news program "24 Horas" that the idea began as "a semi-sarcastic way of inviting people for a cruise and showing them what happened."

In recent weeks, Rodriguez has sold more than 600 tickets, at $3 each, for his daily tours.

Though some area residents are dismayed at the way Rodriguez has turned tragedy into opportunity, the captain said that his boat tours are his best chance to "keep some cash in Talcahuano."

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: Boats lie marooned near the coast in Talcahuano after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile, triggering a tsunami that hit coastal communities. Credit: Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts

The ASP World Tour Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach relocated to its third venue for the event in Australia, moving one point north to Winkipop to take advantage of 3- to 4-foot waves for Round 3 and the opening four heats of Round 4.

"I woke up this morning and I couldn’t walk so for me it was all an upside today," Slater said. "I expected to go out there and lose. Instead, I got out there and figured out I could surf. With 10 minutes remaining, I had priority so I was just hoping for a long flat spell or just one wave. I got a couple of scores, kept it efficient and came away with the win."

Australia's Taj Burrow, current ASP World No. 1, has been in sensational form lately and continued that through his two heats, scoring 17.04 out of a possible 20 to beat fellow Australian Matt Wilkinson.

A new application for the iPhone and iPod Touch has been introduced with hunters in mind, to help them score big game animals while in the field.

Trophy Score offers hunters three scoring methods from which to choose -- Boone and Crockett, Pope and Young and Safari Club International -- and the ability to score 15 species and 21 subspecies.

"During a deer hunt in North Dakota, a bunch of us were admiring a fine mule deer when someone posed the question, 'I wonder what he would score?' " said application developer and Doubletough Ventures President Chip Hunnicutt. "We all knew what he was talking about, but no one knew exactly how to score him. That's when I began sketching what would become Trophy Score."

The user inputs measurements into the application, which then computes the score according to the species and method selected. To help with inputting, Trophy Score includes a 1/8-inch key, unique to the application. There are also helpful diagrams available to assist hunters in how to properly measure their kill as well as the ability to add a photo.

Once inputted, the application syncs the trophy information to Anchorpoint Outdoors, where it is added to the worldwide trophy room and becomes part of a searchable online database.

"I'm not a big development house. In fact, I'm just an avid hunter who had an idea and knew folks who could help me put it together," Hunnicutt said.

Thanks to his innovative mind, Hunnicutt has since landed a full-time position as Web and Social Marketing Manager at Crosman Corp. "Trophy Score helped me land it by demonstrating knowledge of hunting and mobile technology," added Hunnicutt. "In these economic times, that's a nice wrinkle."

Coming later this year will be Trophy Score Fishing, which will feature scoreable species for both freshwater and saltwater fishing.

-- Kelly Burgess

Trophy Score screen image courtesy of Doubletough Ventures, Inc.

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts

Round 2 of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach was completed Tuesday, after event organizers decided to relocate to nearby Thirteenth Beach, Australia, to take advantage of the available 2- to 3-foot swells on offer.

Australia's Chris Davidson received the overall high score of the round, besting fellow Australian Jay Thompson, 16.13 to 16.10, on running right-handers to advance in the second event of the 2010 ASP World Tour.

"The waves start pumping for our heat, and it’s a shame as Bottle [Thompson] was surfing so well," said Davidson. "He probably would have won any other heat, but that’s the tour, sometimes you just have those heats. I’m feeling good though. I feel healthy and I’m looking forward to the rest of the event."

Competitors have felt added pressure this year since the introduction of a new format that will reduce the roster from 45 to 32 surfers after the fifth event of the season, the Billabong Pro Teahupoo in August.

The recreational salmon fishing season opened Saturday from Point Arena to the Mexican border, and with it has come concern for ocean mammals' safety, specifically sea otters residing in Monterey Bay.

The worry is that the animals may be at a higher risk of boat strikes from enthusiastic anglers speeding out of harbor during dark mornings.

"We've seen as many as 100 otters in Moss Landing Harbor near the boat launch," said Karl Mayer, animal care coordinator of the Monterey Bay Aquarium sea otter research and conservation program. "If fishermen are speeding out of the north harbor in the dark at 5 a.m., the likelihood of boat strikes is fairly high."

So the Aquarium has teamed up with other organizations, including Friends of the Sea Otter, Defenders of Wildlife, and Moss Landing Harbor District, to get word out of the importance for boaters to slow down in areas that are known sea otter habitats.

Attention anglers: Outposts will attempt to post the daily Southern California saltwater fish count, courtesy of 976-TUNA, each evening. Hope you find it useful:

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is offering a course on how to read a nautical chart, beginning April 13 at the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey.

Unraveling the mystery of charts by knowing latitude and longitude can help all boaters locate their position anywhere on Earth.

This three-day course will provide the knowledge to interpret a chart's contents, giving boaters the ability to navigate safely to their destination and return to port. 

Other information on charts to be covered in class includes depth of water, magnetic variations affecting the compass, chart scales, and inter-tidal information.

Classes will be held Tuesdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 13, 20 and 27. The fee for the course is $50, and registration can be completed online. The fee includes a textbook and training chart, though students should bring a set of parallel rulers and dividers with them. For more information, contact Tom Brocato at (310) 859-9282, or by e-mail at vfc@uscgamdr.org.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary assists the U.S. Coast Guard in non-law enforcement programs such as public education, vessel safety checks, safety patrols, search and rescue, maritime security and environmental protection, as well as Coast Guard Academy introduction programs for youth. Auxiliarists also serve side by side with active-duty members of the Coast Guard team at their stations and in times of disaster.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary instructor Cheyne Scoby assists student Kevin Dempsey in working with a nautical chart. Credit: Steve Lee / U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts

Yosemite National Park visitors may face 30 to 60 minute delays beginning in May, due to road construction planned for Wawona Road.

The project is planned to improve 24 miles of Wawona Road, from the south entrance of Yosemite to the junction at Bridalveil Straight in Yosemite Valley.

Visitors entering Yosemite via Hwy 41/Wawona Road may experience delays of up to 30 minutes from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekdays, and possible 60-minute delays from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Friday.

The project to resurface and restripe the roadway, improve grading and drainage and add new signage is expected to be completed by November.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: A view of Yosemite Valley from inside the Wawona Tunnel. Credit: Brian Vander Brug \ Los Angeles Times

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts