Sports

Hunter Hedman displays a beautiful brown trout he caught at Bucks Lake. It took him only five minutes of fishing to hook the biggest fish of his life, he said. Hedman was trolling a silver-and-black Rapalla near the dam. Photo submitted

Michael Condon

Heat brings an end to spring fishing patterns

  “If all politicians fished instead of spoke publicly, we would be at peace with the world.” —Will Rogers

  The spring bite has been excellent, but the recent heat wave has put us on notice that spring is about over.

  It’s time to adjust to summertime fishing conditions.

  Trout are cold-blooded creatures, so they are very sensitive to the temperature of the water around them. They also need plenty of oxygen and colder water generally holds more oxygen than warmer water.

Morel mushrooms are scattered across the foreground of an area burned by the Chips Fire out near Caribou. During the month of May and early June, mushroom hunters collected these tasty fungi in abundance. Photo courtesy Jon Dvorak

  April showers bring May … morels?

  Mushroom hunters were in seventh heaven last month through the beginning of June, gathering heaps of a rare type of fungus: morels.

  Morels are a delicacy in many regions and can get rather costly when bought at the market. Luckily for Plumas and Lassen county residents, a whole slew of morels were ready for gathering right in the remains of the Chips Fire.

Halibut in small boats

    Question: Pacific halibut have become a sought-after sport fish out of Eureka and Trinidad. I have a question about landing large Pacific halibut, particularly in arelatively small boat. Many people use a type of harpoon with a head that comes off and is tethered to the boat. This prevents the fish from heading down while a rope is run through its gills for hauling it aboard.

Quincy High track team members Shawn Hughes and Rachel Hanna show off the medals they received after placing at the Northern Section championship meet. The two athletes excelled all year to get to the final meet. Photo submitted

James Wilson

  Two of Quincy High School’s track athletes, Shawn Hughes and Rachel Hanna, made it all the way to the Northern Section California Interscholastic Federation’s final meet of the year at West Valley High School in Cottonwood on May 24.

  Competition was fierce with 46 teams in total registered at the meet. Of Quincy’s team, only Hughes and Hanna were eligible to continue on this far.

  Hughes continued his record of athletic excellence at the championship meet by claiming the silver in discus. Hughes threw the discus 150 feet, 1 inch for second place. Hughes missed the gold by 6 inches and a new Quincy High record by 9 inches.