Out & About

OUTFIELD

Christmas tree learning experience

Selecting a wild Christmas tree will be active and educational on a Dec. 8 family field trip with Colville National Forest wildlife biologist Chris Loggers.

Participants meet 10 a.m. at Beaver Lodge. Loggers will teach how to identify different tree species, and where to find them before everyone bundles and begins searching in the forest for the perfect pine, fir or spruce.

Dress for weather. Bring a small saw and rope to fasten the tree to your vehicle.

Christmas tree permits, $5, required for cutting trees on any national forest.

Beaver Lodge and restaurant are on Gillette Lake 25 miles east of Colville or 14 miles west of Ione along State Highway 20. Phone: (509) 684-5657.

Pre-register if possible by calling (509) 684-7000 or email loggersc@hotmail.com. Type “Xmas Tree” in the subject line.

OUTFISH

Idaho’s cold start

While crowds of anglers flock to streams for Idaho’s general stream fishing season opener on the last weekend of May, the winter season will open next Saturday with a whimper.

This is a fishing opportunity for well-insulated anglers who have no other life.

The season allows anglers to catch and release trout and harvest whitefish in the North Fork, Little North Fork and main stem of the Coeur d’Alene River as well as the Moyie, St. Joe and St. Maries rivers.

Check the regulations pamphlet for special gear restrictions. For example, bait and barbed hooks are prohibited in portions of the St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene rivers.

OUTCRY

Fish status fades

A recently released NOAA report found that 47 of 187 fish stocks between 3 and 200 miles off U.S. coasts are being overharvested by fishing operations.

Last year, Congress strengthened the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which has governed management of America’s fisheries for 30 years. The reauthorized act requires fishery managers to revise fishery management plans to end overfishing by 2010, a call made by the Bush Administration in the 2004 U.S. Ocean Action Plan.

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 Dec. 2

* Today: 12:30 a.m. —

Monday: 1:35 a.m., 2:05 p.m.

Tuesday: 2:40 a.m., 3:10 p.m.

Wednesday: 3:40 a.m., 4:10 p.m.

Thursday: 4:35 a.m., 4:55 p.m.

* Friday: 5:20 a.m., 5:45 p.m.

* Saturday: 6:05 a.m., 6:25 p.m.

Next Sunday: 6:50 a.m., 7:15 p.m.

See the Hunting-Fishing Report every Friday in Sports