FAMILIES MAKE OPENER TRADITION IT DOESN'T MATTER WHY, IT'S JUST THAT WAY.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

MAMMOTH LAKES - Families have gone to Crowley Lake, the man-made lake along the Eastern Sierra, for generations to mark the general season trout opener.

There aren't any reasons why. It is just a tradition.

The Juan Gonzalez family decided it was time to start that tradition.

The elder Gonzalez, of Rosemead, took his sons and nephews to the Crowley Lake Fish Camp on Saturday for two days of fishing, followed by a day of snowboarding at nearby Mammoth Mountain.

``We're starting our own tradition,'' said Gonzalez' son, Isaac, who lives in Temple City. ``We've said for years and years that we were coming here. Finally, we just said, `Let's do it.' We've always heard it's a tradition, so we wanted to experience that.''

Last year, Juan and Isaac came with a cousin, Robert Romero of Pico Rivera. They had such fun, they recruited more brothers and cousins. Wesley Gonzalez and Jerry Yracheta, both from Rosemead, made it for the first time.

``We heard how much fun it was and saw the video,'' Yracheta said. ``It looked like they had so much fun and we wanted to come, too.''

It was the start of a tradition for Glendora's Mike Gould, too. The past Glendora Rod and Reel Club angler of the year winner had a fish in his first 15 minutes on the water. He was practicing catch and release the remainder of the day.

``I've driven by it before, but this was my first time here,'' he said. ``I love it.''

Crowley employee Mickey Baron said it probably is the biggest turnout in nearly a decade. Lines of cars snaked out to the camp's entrance and, by midmorning, there was a wait of about half an hour to get into the camp.

And it wasn't just at Crowley. It was that way up and down Mono County lakes. At Convict Lake, near Crowley, anglers had to walk from the parking area for a half-hour to find a casting spot.

Anglers certainly weren't upset with the waits, though. Most anglers were catching their five-fish limits. Those in boats at Crowley seemed to have the best luck trolling with needlefish. Still anglers had luck with anything from inflated nightcrawlers to Power Bait. Scott McLead of Perris used pink Power Bait to win the Crowley youth derby with a 3.98-pounder caught from shore. Ellen Marie Piles of Ventura caught a 3-pounder with an inflated nightcrawler in McGee Bay. It was her 40th consecutive opener, and her biggest fish ever.

Howard Gruff caught a 5.4-pound rainbow and Andy Cacliatori had the largest cutthroat, at 4.56 pounds.

Weather conditions at Crowley were picture-perfect. The traditional morning fireworks took place over glassy water and the tricky winds that plague the lake were nonexistent. But it wasn't that way for other areas.

It was snowing in Mammoth Lakes and the wind was creating havoc at Convict and in the June Lake Loop. Boats were called off Bridgeport Lake by 10:30 a.m. because of the high winds.

``It was a little blustery,'' Convict Lake's David DeSura said of the wind, which had gusts of up to 50 mph. ``But people had no problems. A few chickened out, but it was a great day of fishing.''

Even with the snow, only the high-elevation lakes had some ice, and most of it was rotten. But there were no emergency rescues, either.

``It was interesting to walk above Lake Sabrina and not see ice,'' U.S. Forest Service ranger Hern Crane said. ``It is going to be an interesting year.''

Department of Fish and Game biologist Curtis Milliron said about 50 percent of the 450,000 fish stocked the previous year at Crowley are taken on opening day. Of those, most are of the Kamloop strain. But 25 percent are native rainbows, and there were several brown and cutthroat trout taken, too.

``It's pretty neat to know that the fish you've caught is wild,'' said Anaheim Hills' Richard Aho, who has been fishing the Crowley opener for 25 years and landed a 2-pound wild trout.

After the tumultuous winter that the fish camp had, losing all of its rental-boat motors and a third of its boat dock, camp general manager Jeff Conoway said things were nearly perfect. The only hit was taken by a private boat on one of his rentals, knocking the boat of service.

Among the largest fish caught on Saturday was an 8.12-pound Alpers-raised trout, caught by Michael Thomas of Yorba Londa. He landed it at Convict. His sister, Kate, landed a 4.11-pound rainbow, also at Convict. Wayne Wallace of L.A. landed an 8-pounder at Gull Lake. David Bock of Glendora caught a 4.12-pounder at Silver Lake.

Sports Editor Michael Anastasi contributed to this report.

BIG FISH

A sampling of trout caught by area anglers in the Eastern Sierra on Saturday, in pounds and ounces:

Name Hometown Size

Jerry Richkind West Hills 5.5

Robert Paris Ridgecrest 5.5

Tim Holden Palmdale 5.4

Matt Ely Lancaster 5.1

Tom Richards Granada Hills 5.1

Bob Phelan Newhall 5.0

Floyd Skinner Simi Valley 4.6

Tom Snyder Santa Clarita 4.8

Stafford Mergenthal Canoga Park 4.2

Peter Kurt Woodland Hills 4.1

Ben Olivares Fillmore 4.1

Doug Martz Ventura 4.0

Bob Fonseca Sylmar 4.0

Denni Jaramillo Santa Clarita 4.0

Scott Karisko Camarillo 3.8

Raul Jimenez Sylmar 3.7

David Larson Santa Clarita 3.4

Ryan Claire Thousand Oaks 3.1

John Hendrickson Lancaster 2.9

Liv Rafael Burbank 2.6

Scott Karisko Camarillo 2.4

Raul Fletes Fillmore 2.3

- Michael A. Anastasi

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Mark Schleiden shows off his 4-pound rainbow trout he caught Saturday at Convict Lake in the Eastern Sierra shortly after the 6 a.m. opening.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

Box:

BIG FISH (see text)