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: While hunting turkey on a private ranch, my hunting partner killed a large tom turkey that had white feathers on his rump and tail and was very black in color. This leads me to believe it is a Merriam’s. We hunt above Lake Sonoma in Sonoma County and don’t believe this is their normal range. We see a lot of Rios on the property but have never seen Merriam’s. The National Wild Turkey Federation lists Merriam’s in numerous counties in California. If the Department of Fish and Game planted them at Lake Sonoma, will they interbreed with the Rios and form a crossbreed? Thanks. (Mike B., Brentwood)

Answer: There are two species of wild turkeys in the world, only one of which (Meleagris gallopavo) lives in the United States. This species is broken into five subspecies -- Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, Merriam’s and Gould’s.

In an attempt to determine which subspecies was better suited for California’s habitats, DFG released three of the five subspecies (Rios, Merriam’s and Easterns) and an Eastern/Rio hybrid into different areas of the state. Based on the 2004 Wild Turkey Strategic Plan, and according to DFG wild turkey biologist Scott Gardner, there has never been a release of Merriam’s in Sonoma County. Only Rios have been released in Sonoma County. The closest Merriam’s release was northern Mendocino County.

Top snowboarders will return to Mammoth Mountain this weekend for the West Coast Invitational, Friday through Sunday at Mammoth's Main Lodge as well as in The Village.

Free to the public, the ninth annual event will feature a field of 30 invited riders, including Greg Bretz, Tyler Flanagan, Kevin Jones, Peter Line, Eddie Wall and returning champions Luke Mitrani and Dan Brisse.

Friday competition will offer a newly added event, the Eddie Wall Ride Invitational. Taking place along the base of Broadway at Main Lodge, riders will face off on a custom course featuring 10 different wallrides. The three-hour, rider-judged event should offer up some fierce competition for the $5,000 cash purse.

On Saturday night, riders will hit The Village at Mammoth for the Rail Jam, competing on a three-story, specially constructed scaffolding structure for the 2010 West Coast Invitational title and $10,000 cash purse.

Once the action is finished Saturday, those 21 and older can hop on The Village gondola up to Canyon Lodge for a live performance by Eagles of Death Metal. Tickets to the after-party are $5 per person advance purchase, or $10 per person at the door, and are available at any Mammoth Mountain ticket window, by calling (800) MAMMOTH or via the Mammoth Mountain website.

Schedule of Events:

Friday, April 30
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. -- Festival Village, Main Lodge
Noon to 3 p.m. -- Eddie Wall Ride Invitational, on Broadway above Main Lodge
7 to 10 p.m. -- Riders dinner, Sushi Rei in The Village
10 p.m. to 2 a.m. --  Eddie Wall Ride Invitational after-party, Hyde Lounge

Saturday, May 1
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. -- Festival Village, Main Lodge
7:30 to 9:30 p.m. -- WCI Rail Jam, The Village at Mammoth
9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. -- After party featuring The Eagles of Death Metal (21+), Canyon Lodge
9:15 to 10:15 p.m. -- Transportation to Canyon Lodge via The Village gondola
9:15 p.m. to 2 a.m. -- Transportation from Canyon Lodge to The Village via shuttle bus

Sunday, May 2
Weather day

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: Last year's West Coast Invitational Rail Jam event in Mammoth Village. Credit: Peter Morning

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts.

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro will be holding its "Meet the Grunion" program on Friday.

The aquarium exhibit hall will open at 8 p.m., with a film on grunion to be screened at 9 p.m. The cost to attend is $5 for adults and $1 for seniors, children and students.

Afterward, those who wish to participate will head to the beach to await the spawning run, which has a projected two-hour window of 10:55 p.m. to 12:55 a.m.

Grunion may only be caught in the months of March, June and July, so since this is closed season it will be a guided observation visit to the beach only.

Runs are a sight to behold. For four consecutive nights, beginning on full and new moon phases during spring and summer, the small silvery fish leave the water to spawn on beaches. The shoreline may glisten with fish as the silversides attempt to lay and fertilize their eggs.

There is no limit to the number of fish that may be caught during open season (the next one begins on June 14), but the  Department of Fish and Game asks that people only catch what they will eat. Catchers 16 and older must possess a valid state fishing license.

The program will be offered again on May 15 and 29, June 14 and 28, and July 13 and 27.

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is at 3720 Stephen M. White Drive in San Pedro. Directions and parking information is available on the website.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: A grunion burrows into the sand to lay her eggs. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts.

ASP World Tour rookie Jadson Andre defeated nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater to win the Billabong Pro Santa Catarina, the young Brazilian claiming his inaugural victory in front of a capacity crowd at Praia da Vila in Brazil.

"What do I say? This is my dream," Andre, 20, said. "This is everything I have worked for in my life. To be on the beach and hear that I was the winner, something special came over me. I don’t know how to put into words. It’s a miracle. I have had some bad things happen in my life, but this is amazing. I am so thankful to everyone for this."

The win vaults Andre from 13th to fourth on the tour rankings and puts him in excellent position heading into the final two events of the first half of the season.

"It’s very important in terms of my ranking," Andre said. "Not only to help make the top 32 cutoff, but also to help my seeding at J-Bay and Teahupoo. I know Kelly can get a score whenever he wants, so I tried my best to get scores early and keep the pressure on."

Although Slater never quite found his high-scoring form during the tournament, the 38-year-old Floridian adapted to the conditions each and every round, exhibiting his dominant nature throughout. The runner-up finish moved Slater to the top spot of the ASP World Tour rankings.

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

Anglers at Irvine Lake found the water level continuing to rise this week, along with excellent fishing for trout, bass and crappie. "The lake level has risen high enough so that the road to Trout Island is under water, and the Kids Lagoon is now part of the main lake," reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "Approximately one more vertical foot of water will be coming in, and at that point it will start to slowly subside all summer long. We will now be running a water shuttle over to Trout Island on weekends only."

Getty cautioned, "We are seeing the wipers [a.k.a hybrid striped bass] starting to boil in several areas of the lake. Everyone needs to remember that all bass species, including wipers and largemouth, must be released immediately."

Trouters found very good action, with many anglers purchasing double-limit tickets and even triple-limit tickets. Good trout catches were made at the west shore, Boat Dock Cove, Woody’s Cove and Santiago Flats. 

The Billabong Pro Santa Catarina put in a marathon 20 heats of competition Wednesday as Round 3 and the opening four heats of Round 4 were completed in clean 3- to 4-foot waves at Brazil's Praia da Vila.

Ventura's Dane Reynolds claimed a major victory at the third stop on the 2010 ASP World Tour, taking out last year’s event runner-up, local favorite Adriano de Souza. Although the Brazilian held firm with an early lead, Reynolds turned the tide with an exceptional backhand wave, scoring an 8.33 out of a possible 10.

"That was strange because Adriano gave me that wave while I was under his priority, and that’s out of character for him," Reynolds said. "The wave had a really good line on it, but in saying that, it had a lot of little bumps in it too. I managed to release the fins on the first turn then had an OK second turn and finished well. It’s weird surfing against him because he has so much support on the beach, and I’m sure they all wanted me to lose. That’s just the way it goes, though."

Rookie Jadson Andre of Brazil was the standout surfer of the day. Posting four waves over 8.0 (throwing away the two lowest), Andre secured the day’s highest heat total of a 16.83 out of a possible 20 to advance into his first quarterfinal, an important fact considering that after the fifth event the field gets cut to the top 32.

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

	OPERATING STATUS
Badger Pass	Closed for Snow Sport
Bear Mountain	Closed for Snow Sports Nov 19

The death of a woman Tuesday from a 1,000-foot fall from the Angels Landing Trail (trail shown below) at Zion National Park was the third fatality at the park this week. On Monday, the bodies of two men were found in the Virgin River, after they were reported missing on Sunday.

The two men who died were Daniel Chidester, 23, and Jesse Scaffidi, 23, both from Las Vegas. The Park Service reported that they'd intended to float a makeshift log raft with the hopes of ending up about 50 miles away in Hurricane, Utah. The Park Service said that the river was running about 250 cubic feet per second and the water temperature was around 40 degrees. They had no cold-weather gear or personal flotation devices. Last fall I posted about an autumn hike I did on the Narrows— dry pants and other gear are a necessity when the water is in the 50s or below.

The sign shown at right was at the Zion Adventure Company in Springdale the day I hiked in the Narrows. It gives hikers a good picture of river conditions and clearly shows that on the "safety continuum," water running higher than 200 cfs is considered "very difficult" and higher than 300 "near impossible." After such heavy snow this year, spring runoff is bound to be high and dangerous well into late spring.

Once again, the hiker fall was from Scout Lookout, the wider (relatively speaking) part of the trail about a half-mile from the summit, and a well-known turnaround spot for those fearful of going farther. The photo above left was taken from that spot. It is just before the "Neck," an extremely narrow, rocky, unchained section of trail that stops many (including me) in their tracks. The still-unidentified woman was believed to be in her 60s and hiking alone. This happened two days after I was telling friends about a post I did last August after a Glendora woman fell to her death from the same spot. Who knows if the Park Service will ever consider more signage and possibly permit-only access for this dangerous trail.

— Julie Sheer

Photographs by Julie Sheer / Los Angeles Times

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:

Daily Wrapup	Boats	Anglers	Fish	Audio
Point Loma	2	53	1 Yellowtail 79 Whitefish 23 Rockfish 6 Sculpin 75 Spanish Jack
Fisherman's	1	4	3 Yellowtail
H&M Landing	2	41	7 Yellowtail 2 Rockfish 125 Spanish Jack
Seaforth	6	125	14 Yellowtail 3 Sand Bass 2 Sheephead 3 Whitefish 129 Rockfish 9 Sculpin 5 Red Snapper
Dana Wharf	2	37	3 Halibut 3 Calico Bass 23 Sand Bass 7 Rockfish 48 Sculpin 20 Sand Dab
Newport Landing	1	16	60 Rockfish 3 Sculpin 2 Spanish Jack

Onshore winds and small surf in the 1- to 2-foot range at Brazil's Praia da Vila Tuesday morning prompted event organizers to call another lay day for the Billabong Pro Santa Catarina, the third stop on the 2010 ASP World Tour.

With the first two rounds of competition completed and a swell projected for the coming days, the world’s best surfers will likely return to action Wednesday.

"We went on hold this morning for a few hours, but the wind and swell hasn’t cooperated," said Richie Porta, ASP International head judge. "Competition is off for the day, but tomorrow and Thursday are looking good."
 
Event organizers will reconvene Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. to assess conditions for a possible 7:30 a.m. start.

Round 3 match-ups:

Heat 1: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Luke Munro (AUS)
Heat 2: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 3: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 5: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 6: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 7: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Tom Whitaker (AUS)
Heat 8: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Neco Padaratz (BRA)
Heat 10: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 11: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
Heat 12: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 13: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Tanner Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 14: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 15: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Ben Dunn (AUS)
Heat 16: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: Kelly Slater's alley-oop 360 was the cherry on the cake to his round 2 heat win. Credit: © Kirstin / ASP

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts.

A 44-year-old South Korean became the first woman to ascend the world's 14 highest mountains, crawling on all fours Tuesday as she reached the peak of Annapurna in the Himalayas. 

The Associated Press reported that Oh Eun-sun arrived at the final steep stretch of the summit 13 hours after leaving the last base camp.

At the top, she pulled out a South Korean flag, waved, and wept before raising her arms and shouting, "Victory!"

Her feat was broadcast live in South Korea by KBS television. Footage showed Oh breathing heavily after each step in minus-20 degree temperatures on snowy Annapurna.

"I'm so happy, and I would like to share this joy with the South Korean people," said an emotional Oh, murmuring, "Thank you, thank you."

The mountaineer reached the summit -- 26,545 feet above sea level -- 13 years after she scaled her first Himalayan mountain, Gasherbrum II, in 1997. 

Oh had attempted to summit Annapurna last year but turned away just hundreds of yards from the top because of bad weather. Snow and wind also stopped her from making the attempt last weekend.

"I gave it up because of a sudden ominous feeling that something bad would happen to either me or my peers, including the sherpas, on my way back to base camp," Oh told the Korea Times last month.

The entire summit team was in good health and making its way down to the base camp, said expedition coordinator Song Hea-kyong, adding that they are expected back in Katmandu by the weekend.

Oh narrowly beat Spanish rival Edurne Pasaban to the record. After reaching Annapurna earlier this month, Pasaban, 26, has only the 26,330-foot-high Mt. Shisha Pangma left on her list.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: South Korean female mountaineer Oh Eun-son, center, moves towards a second camp on Mount Annapurna. She has become the first woman to scale 14 of the world's highest mountains. Credit: Associated Press / Blackyak

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts.

The mutiny on the Bounty has been memorialized in novels, movies (one of which won an Academy Award for best picture of 1935) and other media. Occurring aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty on April 28, 1789,  commanding officer William Bligh and a crew of 18 were cast adrift on a small boat by mutineers.

Now, 221 years later, a four-man crew plans to set sail on a 25-foot, open-deck vessel, trying to re-create the 4,400-mile epic voyage from Tonga to West Timor.

Led by Australian adventurer Don McIntyre, the Bounty Boat Expedition will be setting out Wednesday. Joining him will be fellow Australian David Bryce, Hong Kong businessman David Wilkinson and 18-year-old Chris Wilde, a student from Great Britain, who hope to complete the journey in 40 days.

Like Bligh, they will not be using any modern-day navigational systems, instead relying on original 18th century octant, sextant and pocket watches, plus nautical tables, a boat compass, telescope and rope knot meter. They will have no modern charts, watches, nautical almanacs or compass lights on-board.

The provisions will also be similar to those which Bligh and his companions had -- hardtack, beef (instead of pork), water, rum and wine. Though they will also pack nuts, raisins and museli bars, the crew hopes to be able to gather a supply of fruit, vegetables and coconuts in Tonga as well as catch fish and supplement their drinking water with rain water.

A big difference, however, is the size of the boat being used on this modern expedition. Though a couple of feet longer, it's only about half the volume size of Bligh's vessel, presenting a greater risk of capsizing.

One look at the vessel, pictured above, brings the realization of what an adventure just everyday living will be during the weeks ahead for these swashbucklers. Best of luck to all aboard -- hopefully McIntyre won't have a mutiny on his hands.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: People gather on a dock to watch the four-man crew in their 25-foot open-deck boat, in which they will attempt to reenact the 4,400-mile voyage of Capt. William Bligh of the HMS Bounty after he was cast adrift by mutineers in 1789. Credit: Linny Folau / Associated Press

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts.

 

Top-ranked surfer Stephanie Gilmore continues her march toward a fourth consecutive ASP Women's World Tour title, coming from behind Monday at the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic to beat fellow Australian Sally Fitzgibbons on 4- to 6-foot waves.

After four consecutive lay days, the waves finally shaped up enough at Dee Why Point in Sydney, Australia, to get the event completed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 spectators. Gilmore started strong, netting a seven out of a possible 10, before the No. 2-ranked Fitzgibbons came out and took the lead for the majority of the final.

Gilmore wasn't done, though. With a little less than five minutes remaining, Gilmore jagged a set wave, throwing out a mix of powerful, top-to-bottom moves with seamless transitions to score a 7.20, giving her a total of 14.20 to beat Fitzgibbon's 12.40 score.

"It’s incredible how good this feels," Gilmore said. "Competing in Australia is one of my favorite things to do. I feel comfortable in these waters and have won this event a few times. I guess I’m on a roll and I’m feeling good."

A new page in surfing history was written Saturday when Brazil's Carlos Burle (pictured at left) was crowned the first Big Wave World Tour champion. An intimate gathering of big wave surfers from around the world convened at the Surfing Heritage Foundation in San Clemente to celebrate the culmination of the 2009-10 Big Wave World Tour season.

The tour is the brainchild of Gary Linden, a legendary surfboard shaper and big wave rider from Oceanside, Calif. The four stops on the tour are the Quicksilver Ceremonial at Punte de Lobos in Chile, the Billabong Pico Alto contest in Peru, the Mavericks Contest in Half Moon Bay, Calif., and the Todos Santos contest at Killers, near Ensenada, Mexico.

The winner is determined by contest rankings and wave size. Burle was the only contender who placed in all four events, with a fifth place in Chile, second in Peru, fifth at Mavericks and fourth at Todos Santos.

The top seven surfers included Santa Cruz's Peter Mel and Shane Desmond, Hawaii's Mark Healey, South Africa's Grant Baker and Chris Burtish and Greg Long from San Clemente. Burle took home a $5,000 prize from the event, which was sponsored by Jim Beam Bourbon. The championship was not Burle's first time making big wave surfing history. He also won the first big wave contest at Todos Santos in 1998. Linden was unable to find sponsorship to make the four-stop tour a reality in the years that followed, but after more than a decade of big dreams and hard work, Linden pulled off the tour this year during a historic El Nino season, which saw some of the biggest swells in a decade.

Abby Sunderland, the 16-year-old from Thousand Oaks who has been trying to sail around the world alone without stopping, will have to pull in to Cape Town, South Africa, for repairs, she says in a blog post Saturday.

Trying to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, she will continue the trip after reaching South Africa and having repairs to her 40-foot boat.

"I am going to be pulling into Cape Town for repairs thus ending my non-stop attempt," she wrote. "My whole team and I have been discussing whether or not I need to stop ever since my main auto pilot died. It's one thing to sail across an ocean with one well-working auto pilot, it's another to keep going with one that is not at all reliable.

"It would be foolish and irresponsible for me to keep going with my equipment not working well. I'm about 10-14 days from Cape Town right now and though my auto pilot is working for now, we're all holding our breath and hoping it will last."

She added, "I will definitely keep going and whether or not I will make any more stops after this I don't know yet. I admit I was pretty upset at first, but there is no point in getting upset. What's done is done and there is nothing I can do about it."

Sunderland, whose older brother, Zac, sailed solo around the world in 13 months while making several stops, left Marina del Rey on Jan. 23. By late March, she had navigated one of the most challenging and dangerous regions of her trip, rounding Cape Horn between the tip of South America and the Antarctic peninsula.

After making that passage, she told The Times, "It's the milestone I've been waiting for. It's pretty much the hardest part of my trip, and now it's over so it's really great being here."

[Updated: Jessica Watson, a 16-year-old Australian, is closing in on her similar quest to sail around the world alone and unassisted, and reportedly is about 1,500 nautical miles from successfully completing her journey.

Sunderland in effect restarted her journey after stopping for repairs in Cabo San Lucas shortly after she started. Sunderland is five months younger than Watson, but once Watson finishes, she will become the youngest to sail around the world alone without stopping, a mark Sunderland cannot break once she stops in South Africa.]

-- Mike James

Photo: Abby Sunderland in Marina del Rey before the start of her attempted solo global circumnavigation. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

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 26 by the Department of Fish and Game:

ORANGE: Laguna Lake.

LOS ANGELES: 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, Lincoln Park Lake and Pyramid Lake.

SAN DIEGO: Cuyamaca Reservoir.

SAN BERNARDINO: Santa Ana River and South Fork of the Santa Ana River.

INYO: Bishop Creek Dam Intake No. 2, Cottonwood Creek, Diaz Lake, George Creek, Goodale Creek, Independence Creek, lower Owens River from Stewart Lane to Laws, Middle Fork Bishop Creek, Shepherd Creek, South Fork Bishop Creek, Symms Creek, Taboose Creek and Tuttle Creek.

MONO: Convict Creek, Mammoth Creek, McGee Creek, Rock Creek from French Camp to upper bridge at Rock Creek Lodge and Rock Creek from Paradise Lodge to Tuff Campground.

Photo: Trout jump out of the water after bits of feed in a holding pond. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Grant “Twiggy” Baker of South Africa thanked Mother Nature after winning the prestigious Ride of the Year Award last night at the 10th annual Billabong XXL Awards in Anaheim, Calif. The extraordinary El Nino fueled season was indeed the star of the ceremony, where some  2,000 surf industry VIPs traded in their trunks and bikinis for pressed shirts and heels to honor the best big wave riders in the world. Baker collected $50,000 for his perfect-10 ride at the Mavericks contest in Half Moon Bay last February.

Shawn Dollar of Santa Cruz won $15,000 for the Monster Paddle Award -- a wave he caught during the break between the semifinals and finals at the Mavericks contest, which saw the biggest swell in contest history this year. Three of the five nominated waves were from contest day. Dollar, who did not compete in the event, made it clear he hopes to ride his next Mavericks big wave  with a jersey on. “I want to be in the Mavs contest next year,” Dollar told the crowd after humbly accepting his award.

Raimana Van Bastolaer of Tahiti nabbed the top prize for the Monster Tube Award and Brook Phillips won the Wipe Out of the Year for his mutant body slam at Shipstern’s Bluff in Tasmania. Germany’s Sebastian Steudtner won top prize for Biggest Wave, which he was towed into at Peahi, also known as Jaws, in Maui.

Despite riding the biggest wave, Steudtner was goaded by presenter Christian Fletcher, known as the Godfather of aerial surfing, who gave the award “to the guy who can’t paddle in.” All of the biggest wave nominees were ridden with the assistance of a personal watercraft, as the size and speed of the larger waves makes them difficult to paddle into.

The event, hosted by Sal Masekela, also recognized the charitable work of  big wave riders Ramon Navarro of Chile, Greg Long of San Clemente and Kohl Christensen of Hawaii, who distributed water filters through the California based non-profit Save the Waves Coalition to Chileans immediately after the earthquake and tsunami.

The Best Overall Performance Award for women went to Brazilian Maya Gabiera for the fourth year in a row. Gabiera beat out Santa Cruz surfers Savannah Shaughnessey and Jamilah Star for the top prize. Star’s father, Reve Fuse, claimed the Kanye moment of the evening when he walked on stage and pointed out the disparity in money awarded to men and women. Of the $130,000 awarded, only $5,000 is allotted for wahines.

Hawaii’s Shane Dorian won Best Overall Performance for the men. Looking ahead to next year’s season, Dorian, 37, who focused on big wave surfing after 12 years on the ASP World Tour, said that he was inspired by the next generation of big wave surfers, including Nick Lamb, Shawn Dollar, Derek Dunfee, Alex Gray and Sion Milosky. “The only guys as amped as me are those guys, who are young, have nothing to lose and are in love with big wave surfing."

Based on the vibe at the Grove it looks like the love affair will continue for many years to come.

-- Sachi Cunningham

Photos: (Top) Grant Baker, right, is interviewed by Fuel TV with his girlfriend, Kate Lovemore, outside of the Billabong XXL Awards in Anaheim. (Middle) Hawaiians Mark Healey and Shane Dorian accept their runners-up award for Ride of the Year -- the two shared a ride together at Waimea Bay. (Bottom) Brazilian Maya Gabeira is interviewed by Hawaiian Kealia Kennelly outside the awards. Credit: Sachi Cunningham / Los Angeles Times

Coinciding with the statewide opening of the trout-fishing season, the Kern River Hatchery will host its annual Trout Fest, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plenty of fishy fun is planned for the day, with free admission to all activities.

Some of the events scheduled include fishing clinics, as well as cooking demonstrations featuring recipes and samples of grilled and pan-fried trout.

Activities for children include fish feeding, the chance to try to catch trout by hand, and various arts and crafts.

There will also be a fishing derby, with prizes awarded to anglers who catch the three heaviest trout.

Prior to the event, the Department of Fish and Game will stock an additional 10,000-plus pounds of rainbow trout in the Kern River.

The Kern River Fishing and Natural History Museums will also be open, offering visitors the chance to view an exhibit of early fishing tackle and peruse collections of the area's native plants and animals.

"In this community, opening day is a great cause for celebration," said Marvin Waters, Kern River Hatchery manager. "We are happy to be once again stocking the Kern River with trout."

The Hatchery is at 14400 Sierra Way (Mountain Hwy. 99), on the Kern River, one mile north of Kernville.

-- Kelly Burgess

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

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts

Environmentally-friendly products and services seem to be everywhere these days. Energizer is joining the market, introducing a new line of solar-powered lighting options.

Debuting this spring will be a solar folding lantern (pictured), a solar spot light and a solar crank flashlight, all harnessing sun-power to light up the night. 

-- The solar folding lantern is a portable lantern that uses the latest solar technology to charge in all conditions, including overcast days and early mornings. Powerful enough to light a campsite, this lantern can also be powered by three D-size alkaline batteries. Five hours of charging in the sun will provide 2.5 hours of run-time; batteries will provide 135 hours.

-- The solar crank flashlight offers two powering options -- solar or crank -- and includes lifetime LEDs. Small enough to clip to backpacks or other gear, this flashlight also has the ability to charge even in low light. Five hours of sun-charging will provide 2.5 hours light-time.

-- The solar spot light is a hybrid-powered flashlight that can be recharged via solar power or DC power from the included car cigarette lighter adapter. This flashlight also floats, making it ideal for any water-based activities. Three hours of run-time achieved with five hours of charging it in the sun.

Products should be available beginning in early May at Target and Meijer stores. I might look into purchasing the solar-folding lantern, which seems not only useful when camping but also something worth adding to the emergency supplies.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: Solar folding lantern. Credit: Energizer

To follow this blog on Twitter, please visit @latimesoutposts

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: If I catch my limit of the fish I’m fishing for, can I continue fishing catch-and-release? If my buddy doesn’t have his limit, can I fish for him? If I don’t want to keep the fish, can I fish for other people? (Michael H.)

Answer: When fishing in freshwater, each person is allowed to take only one daily bag limit per day. Once you catch your daily limit for a species of fish, you are done fishing for that type of fish.

If you want to catch and release fish, you must do that before you take the last fish of the limit. If you want to give someone your fish, you may do so but those fish will still count toward your daily bag limit, and the person receiving the fish cannot have more than the legal limit in their possession either.

In addition, if you take an overlimit (for example, seven trout when the limit is five), and you give two to someone else, that person is now in possession of illegally taken fish and could be cited too, even if they are not over their daily bag limit.

When fishing in the ocean, however, boat limits are allowed for anglers fishing from a boat. This means that all anglers can continue fishing until the total numbers of fish on the boat are equal to the total number of fish allowed for every angler, despite who actually caught each fish. Upon departing the boat, each passenger can only possess one daily bag limit.

Q: If I have been convicted of a felony, can I still apply for a hunting license? My felony was considered "white collar" and was nonviolent with no weapons involved. (Michael S.)