Sports

Greenville’s catcher, Brent Washoe, is a second too late as Chester’s Jason Schlueter slides into home plate for a run during a Chester home game in late May.  Photo by Tony Cordero

James Wilson

  The District 48 Little League, which includes all four communities in Plumas County, is nearing the end of its season and preparing for regional competitions.

  Players from all teams will compete, often together, as all-star teams to battle it out for a spot at the section tournaments.

  The girls’ teams will play in three district tournaments. The girls’ 9 – 10 teams will play June 22 in Chester. A team made up of players from Portola, Quincy and Loyalton will compete with the Chester/Greenville team and a team from Burney.

  On June 29, girls aged 11 – 12 and 13 – 14 will play in Burney. Portola’s girls will be the only team from Plumas County playing in the age 13 – 14 tournament.

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.