OUTPOST.

Byline: Compiled by Jarre Fees and Brett Pauly

Lifetime of joy: Several Daily News readers have recently inquired about a reduction in the price of lifetime fishing and hunting licenses, so here's the skinny, straight from the Department of Fish and Game:

A fishing or hunting license good for the rest of your outdoor days costs $300 for ages 9 and younger or 62 and older, $495 for ages 10 to 39 and $445 for ages 40 to 61. A combination license - valid for both disciplines - is $600, $990 and $890 for the respective age groups.

Supplements, such as lifetime second-rod, ocean-fishing, duck and upland game-bird stamps, can be purchased at additional costs.

For an application, call the DFG's License and Revenue Branch at [phone] or order by phone with a major credit card.

Let's all get together: Welsh fly-tier Davy Wotton will demonstrate his art during tonight's dinner meeting of the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers at the Encino Glen, 16821 Burbank Blvd.

Wotton has written some 200 articles on fly-tying and fly-angling throughout Great Britain, Europe and the United States.

A reception for Wotton begins at 6:30 with dinner to follow an hour later. Dinner reservations at $22 for nonmember guests may be made by calling the restaurant at [phone]. Parties interested in the presentation but not dinner can attend for free.

Trout about: To coincide with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, Ventura County's Lake Casitas is scheduled to be stocked today with 2,000 rainbow trout, each weighing about 1 pound.

The fish are raised at the Mount Lassen Trout Farm in Red Bluff; it's the fifth trout stocking of the season at Casitas.

Information: [phone].

At it again: Angling world-record heavyweight John Whitaker is back in the books. In its latest newsletter, the International Game Fish Association recognizes the Manhattan Beach fisherman for taking a 3-pound, 14-ounce calico bass on a fly line with 20-pound tippet July 27 off Palos Verdes. Whitaker now has eight standing records with the IGFA.

Joining him, in the junior category, is Travis Auer, who caught a 5-pound, 3 ounce calico at San Clemente Island on July 20. It is the largest kelp bass taken in his age group.

Fishing for dollars: Statistics recently released by the American Sportfishing Association show that in 1996, California's 2.72 million adult anglers spent more than $3.3 billion on fishing trips and equipment.

``Sport-fishing is more important to California than ever before,'' said Mike Hayden, president of the Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit trade association that released the study last month. ``What an angler spends during a weekend fishing trip ripples through the economy to create jobs, wages and tax revenues for state and federal governments. In California, these numbers are significant.''

The study also indicates that anglers spent 36.9 million days fishing state waters.

Information: American Sportfishing Association, [phone].

Sharks go fishing: Granted a day off in Miami on New Year's Eve, the San Jose Sharks took advantage of South Florida's many recreational activities. Some of the hockey players rented boats and went fishing. Andrei Zyuzin and Andrei Nazarov reeled in the catches.

Each hooked a barracuda that measured nearly 4-1/2 feet. Zyuzin's barracuda, a male, was slightly bigger than the female Nazarov landed. They are having the fish stuffed by a taxidermist, then shipped to them in San Jose, where they can hang their prizes on a wall.