Ice Thaws, Fishing Doesn’t : Trout opener: Weather is warm, but water is too cold to stir up fish. Largest catch weighs 12 pounds 9 ounces, near Bridgeport.

MAMMOTH LAKES — By 11 a.m. Saturday, on a slow fishing day at Lower Twin Lake near Bridgeport, Dave Schmidt had almost given up. Then he hooked a 12-pound, 9-ounce German brown trout that measured 32 inches.

It was the largest fish caught on opening day of the Eastern Sierra trout season, a day when most of the big ones missed wake-up calls.

A 6-year-old angler shared honor of catching the largest fish at Crowley Lake, which was blessed with windless, sunny weather in the 50s. There were estimated turnouts of almost 10,000 anglers and 1,000 boats.

Last year, the first limit there was checked in at 7:30 a.m.

But this year, with more water and anglers, the fishing started so slowly that no boat or shore fishermen reported their catches until 8:30, more than three hours after the fishing started.

The only early excitement came when a small boat rolled over and three unidentified fishermen fell into the frigid water. They were rescued unharmed.

Later, a few stringers of fish averaging about a pound started to show up.

The consensus: The lake lost its last ice only in the past week, and the water was still too cold--about 40 degrees--for lively action. The tales were similar at Twin Lakes Bridgeport and Convict Lake.

Particularly at Crowley, most catches came from warmer, shallow water near shore and, once hooked, the fish were too lethargic to put up much of a fight.

Stan Oishi of Hacienda Heights, who said he has been fishing on opening day at Crowley for 32 years, caught three from shore by 8:30 but said “they’re sluggish. They’re not fighting.” Crowley’s largest for the day was a tie. Brandon West, 6, of Bakersfield and Ron Vines of Sparks, Nev., each brought in 4-pound, 2-ounce rainbows in mid-afternoon.

California Department of Fish and Game biologists said West’s catch was a wild trout, not a planter. Fishing from shore, he fooled it with a nightcrawler.

Next at Crowley was a 4-pound, 1-ounce rainbow caught by Glen Islas of Rancho Palos Verdes, using Power Bait from shore.

The second largest catch in the region was an 11 1/2-pound brown caught at Lower Twin Bridgeport by Sid Aguirre of Valley Springs, with a No. 18 rainbow trout Rapala. Jeff Harvey of Dana Point caught an 8 1/4-pound brown at Upper Twin with a broken-back orange Rapala.

Generally, the rule was the farther south, the smaller the catches. Jerry Pasco of Los Angeles trolled a No. 7 rainbow floating Rapala to take a 10-pound brown out of June Lake, which also produced several four- and five-pounders.

Also at June, Jonathan Holman of Altadena, using Power Bait, took a limit of five with a total weight of 19 pounds, 13 ounces.

At Convict Lake, Pat Bauer of Long Beach used a worm to land a 5 1/2-pound brown out of the first pool on the creek. Phil LaMonica of Woodland Hills and Jack Shefchik took 5 1/4-pound rainbows from the lake.

That was below expectations for some regulars at Convict, who saw several fish weighing more than 10 pounds last season.

“Those people are spoiled,” boat-dock manager Tony Standi said. “I’ve seen a lot of fours and fives come out today--and five pounds is still pretty good--and there are some 15s and 18s in there: broodstock that was planted late last year. After a few more (warm) days like this, you’ll see them.”

Mark Herrera, 9, of Pomona took a 4 1/4-pounder, and Rick Cadman of Ventura had catches of 4 1/4, 3 pounds and 2 1/2 pounds, using Velveeta cheese in the stream.

Schmidt was willing to settle for his prize, the biggest trout he has caught by more than five pounds.

“We had two smaller fish on board, and it was late enough in the day that I didn’t think there was much chance of catching a big one,” said the 46-year-old carpenter from Ceres, Calif.

Schmidt was trolling a hand-painted Rapala lure with two treble hooks on eight-pound test line.

“He bit one straight on and the other hooked him in the side of his mouth,” Schmidt said. “There was no way he was getting off.

“He hit real hard. We got him up close to the boat without any trouble, then he made one big run. It took about 10 minutes (to land the fish).”

Schmidt said he had fished the Eastern Sierra on opening day for the last 20 years.

Also near Bridgeport, the Bridgeport Reservoir and East Walker River appeared to be a year away from full recovery after the massive and devastating release of water in 1988.

Al Moates caught a five-pound brown from the hole below the dam, but Tom Gieser of Ken’s Sporting Goods said, “We get a few of those even in bad years.”