GU men, women move up in polls

College basketball: The Gonzaga University men’s and women’s teams are on the rise in the major polls.

The Bulldogs men (19-4), winners of 11 of their last 12 games, including an impressive 66-58 victory at Memphis on national television Saturday, climbed one spot to No. 16 in this week’s Associated Press poll.

Gonzaga climbed two spots to No. 11 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.

Meanwhile, the GU women (19-4) earned their highest ranking in school history, No. 22 in the AP poll, after being ranked No. 24 last week.That matched their highest previous ranking, March 1, 2005.

Sprague Lake accord reached

Fishing: Fishing at Sprague Lake will be prohibited southwest of Harper Island from Oct. 1 through April 30 in a compromise approved Saturday by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The nine-member citizen panel met in Olympia last weekend to set fishing regulations for the next three years.

The original proposal called for starting the fishing closure on Sept. 16 to protect the west end of the lake as a wildlife reserve for migrating birds. Angling groups were pushing for the closure to begin Nov. 1.

However, boats with combustible engines would be able to go west of the island year-round, said George Orr, Fish and Wildlife Commissioner from Spokane.

“The Fish and Wildlife Commission lacks the authority to regulate boating, so we’re encouraging the department to work with Adams County on that,” he said.

The commission voted to maintain a year-round closure to fishing inside the emergent weed line southwest of the island and to establish a 50-foot no-fishing buffer around the island.

These and other new rules go into effect May 1.

The decision on a proposal to ban small lead sinkers at about 10 northeastern Washington lakes to protect loons was postponed for a year, Orr said.

Rich Landers