A great fishing year with special thanks to some special people

The 1999 fishing season closed last Sunday for all of the applicable open waters in Inyo and Mono Counties in California.

On Nov. 15, the 1999 fishing season will close for all of the applicable open streams, creeks and rivers in the State of California.

In retrospect, this year has been a great year for yours truly for superb fishing at a variety of locations in Nevada, California and British Columbia.

Here's some of the highlights of my various 1999 fishing trips:

Nevada:

- The unforgettable John Riordan invitational fishing derby in April when I caught three Lahontan cutthroat trout at Walker Lake. Those three trout (5-4-3 pounds) won first, second and third places in his springtime derby.

- The spectacular rainbow and German brown trout fishing we experienced in June at Wildhorse Reservoir in Northern Elko County. In two days of fishing, three of us (Dick Biggs, my son Jim and I) caught and released about 50 trout each. And I would be remiss if I did not thank Dennis Dunn of the Wild Horse Resort for his very accurate and useful fishing information, in addition to his great hospitality.

- The great Lahontan cutthroat trout fishing in the Fall at Walker Lake near Hawthorne. All you need is a boat, electronic fish locator, downriggers, the right lures and you are guaranteed to have a ton of fun catching and releasing large-bodied, fighting trout.

California:

- The awesome "catch and release" rainbow trout fishing at Fremont Lake in June in the Hoover Wilderness Area. I was part of a group on a four-day, three night packhorse trip with Bart Cranney's Leavitt Meadows Pack Station. The secret to my success was to slowly row my small inflatable raft while trolling a tiny, silver, No. 4, Flatfish lure.

- The catch and release fishing in August for Kokanee salmon at Stampede Reservoir. Biggs and I were the guest of fishing guide "Father" Murphy. We began fishing at 8 a.m. Biggs caught the first Kokanee, exactly three minutes later.

- The two-day John Riordan fishing derby in September at Bucks Lake near Quincy, Calif. Out of five fishing categories, I finished first in two of them (Mackinaw trout and Kokanee salmon) and second in two other categories.

British Columbia

- "No Tell Um" Lake in north central B.C. left a lasting memory of my first-ever float plane trip into a remote lake in the far north. The rainbow trout fishing was unbelievable. By the time that day was over, I had caught countless trout including 20 consecutive rainbows on 20 different lures.

- Catching and releasing large sockeye salmon in the Fulton River near Babine Lake. When they would hit your lure, they would go berserk and race all over that stretch of the river. I even caught two large salmon on a bare hook, attached six inches behind a lure!

Fishing in 1999 has been a blast but I would be remiss if I did not take the time to thank a group of special people.

They are the ones who faithfully supplied me with weekly fishing reports throughout the year. Thanks to their input, I was able to provide the readers of the Outdoors page with detailed, accurate and up-to-date fishing reports for many Nevada and California streams, creeks, rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

They made it easy to pass on that timely information and I sincerely hope that it was informative and useful to you.

So, here's the list of all the folks who made it possible with a very special, heartfelt thanks to each and every one of them from Don Q:

- Alpine County area: Dave Kirby, owner of the Woodfords Station, at Woodfords, Calif.

- Convict Lake and Convict Creek: David and Adrienne DeSurra of the Convict Lake Resort, Calif.

- Frenchmans Reservoir: Wiggins' Trading Post of Chilcoot, Calif.

- Hoover Wilderness Area and Yosemite National Park Backcountry: Tom and Martha Roberts of the Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit.

- June Lakes Loop area and Mammoth Lakes area: Steve Gomez at Kittridge Sporting Goods Store at the town of Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

- Northern California (Lower Sacramento River, Eagle Lake and Davis Lake): Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association of Shasta, Calif.

- South-North-Intake No. 2-Sabrina Lakes and Bishop Creek in the Bishop area: Gary and Susie Olson of the Bishop Creek Resorts, which are west of Bishop, Calif.

- Stampede and Boca Reservoirs: Sport fishing guide Dick "Father" Murphy of Reno and Las Vegas.

- Lake Tahoe (North Shore): Mickey Daniels of Mickey's Big Mack Charters at Carnelian Bay, Lake Tahoe.

- Lake Tahoe (South Shore): Doug Busey of Douglas County.

- Topaz Lake: Chuck or Linda Fields of the Topaz Lake Marina at Topaz Lake.

- Twin Lakes area: The Twin Lake Resort at Lower Twin Lake, west of Bridgeport, Calif.

- Walker Lake: Bob Tompkins of the Gun and Tackle Store in Hawthorne.

- Wildhorse Reservoir: Dennis Dunn of the Wild Horse Resort, north of Elko.

Finally, if you should encounter any of those individuals, give them a big thanks for their fishing input. It has been sincerely appreciated.

- Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon he can't name five species of fish found in Bucks Lake.

If he grins and responds, "Bucks Lake contains Eastern brook, German brown, Mackinaw and rainbow trout, plus Kokanee salmon," he could have been in Riordan's latest derby.

Don Quilici is the Outdoors editor for the Nevada Appeal.