Out & About

OUTDATED

Hunter education cuts postal link

Hunter education courses will no longer be offered by snail mail in Washington after Aug. 1. Home-study students will have to use the online option.

Enrollment in the old home-study course offered since 1995 has dropped off sharply since 2005, when the state Fish and Wildlife Department began offering the classroom portion of its hunter education course over the Internet, officials say.

OUTSIZED

Record trout a real pig

Adam Konrad, 26, of Saskatchewan fished home waters at Lake Defienbaker June 5 to land the pending International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record rainbow trout: a 43.6 monster that should break the 42.2-pound record caught from Bell Island, Alaska, in 1970.

He caught the fish on a Mepps Syclops — and 6-pound test line.

Adam and his twin brother, Sean, are avowed “fishing geeks,” who already have caught several line class records, so they know the drill and confirmation is likely.

Alert Washington anglers will notice something about the portly profile of the fish: It has the pot-belly look of the triploid that became Washington’s state record, which fed like a hog at the trough below the Rufus Woods commercial net-pens.

The Spokesman-Review has confirmed that sterile triploid trout escaped net-pens at Diefenbaker Lake about seven years ago.

OUTDO

Class act for outdoor leaders

Anyone involved with churches, scouts or other organizations that lead groups outdoors can benefit from the Outdoor Leadership Class next weekend taught by Paul Green, Eastern Washington University outdoor recreation professor.

Green’s national-class expertise is a gift rarely available to the public as he covers topics such as trip planning, leadership techniques, legal liability issues and risk management.

To register, call: (509) 359-6155 or (800) 831-6114. Info: paul@outdoor-experts.com.

OUTLOOK

Best fishing times

Lunar tables from the U.S. Naval Observatory. Be fishing at least one hour before and one hour after peak times. Applies to all time zones.

(* indicates best days.)

Through Aug. 5

* Today

12:35 a.m., 12:50 p.m.

Monday

1:25 a.m., 1:55 p.m.

Tuesday

2:20 a.m., 2:45 p.m.

Wednesday

3:10 a.m., 3:35 p.m.

Thursday

3:55 a.m., 4:20 p.m.

Friday

4:45 a.m., 5:20 p.m.

* Saturday

5:35 a.m., 5:50 p.m.

* Next Sunday

6:25 a.m., 6:55 p.m.

See the Hunting-Fishing Report

every Friday in Sports