2010: A year of big numbers in great outdoors

In the days leading up to Christmas, the outdoors has produced some of the most astounding numbers imaginable. They set 2010 apart from any other year:

First 400-pound tuna: For more than a century, the "holy grail" of fishing has been an unfathomable, first-ever 400-pound yellowfin tuna caught on a rod-and-reel. The realm of the unthinkable happened two weeks ago out of San Diego on a 10-day, long-range trip on the Vagabond to the Lower Banks. A world-record tuna that weighed 405.2 pounds was caught by Mike Livingston of Sunland (Los Angeles County). The fish measured 7 feet, 1 inch, with a girth of 5-1, and took Livingston 2 hours, 40 minutes to land.

Storm totals: Remember a month ago, when state Department of Water Resources experts said California was in a drought and that La Niņa could mean a dry winter? Since then, it has snowed 17 feet at Mammoth Mountain, the highest ever measured, and it has rained a seemingly impossible 26 inches in Crestline (San Bernardino County), the pretty little town off Rim of the World Drive at Lake Gregory. In the central Sierra, Alpine Meadows reported the highest snow numbers, a base of 152 inches of snow on top, 78 at the staging area, with 40 inches of powder in a three-day span last week.

Record Tahoe fine: Boat owners plotting to evade Lake Tahoe inspectors looking for invasive quagga mussels got a shot fired over the bow when the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency fined a boat-towing tourist from Los Angeles $5,000 for launching at Lake Tahoe this past summer without a required inspection. The fine would have been higher, the agency said, except the 29-year-old boat owner in question didn't have more dough available to grab.

Record salmon: Enhanced ocean feed conditions and improved water flows by PG&E; since 2006 have helped salmon numbers bounce back on the Eel River. Counts from the Van Arsdale Fish Count Station this past week reported 2,312 salmon, the highest recorded there since 1933. In some past years, fewer than 10 were counted. On the Smith River, the Rowdy Creek Hatchery was approaching its record of 2,775 salmon (from last year), already far higher than the previous best, 1,186 in 1997.

Epic migration: Ducks and geese have dispersed for miles in the past 10 days from flooded bypasses, rice fields and marshes across the Central Valley. But the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge still has 794,000 ducks and 257,500 geese, according to the latest aerial survey reported this past week. Inside the numbers: 348,362 pintail, 186,090 white geese (snows and Ross'), 126,842 green-winged teal, 94,041 wigeon, 77,123 gadwall and 66,367 mallard. Also counted: ten sandhill crane, 232 wood duck and 615 bufflehead (my favorite).

Great year for boating: Shasta Lake, the capital of boating lakes in Northern California, is symbolic of the state's major recreation lakes: already 73 percent full, 117 percent of average. Compared with many recent past winters, when it was less than 50 percent full, the lake now looks gorgeous, emerald green and only about 45 feet from hitting the spillway at the dam. The new year is looking great.

20 feet of sturgeon: In San Pablo Bay at the shell bank, in less than an hour of actual fishing time (bait in water), Gary Graw, Oscar Madrid and Pete Ottesen hooked, fought and released sturgeon measuring 7 1/2 feet (estimated at over 200 pounds), 6 1/2 feet and 5 1/2 feet, respectively. They never went more than 10 minutes without a bite. Info: Loch Lomond Live Bait, (415) 456-0321.

The magic 68: A group of fishermen on a sturgeon trip last week, aboard skipper Gordy Hough's Morning Star out of San Rafael, ventured up Sonoma Creek to get out of the wind on a cold, windy, rough-and-tumble day. They caught a 68-inch sturgeon, released it, and an hour later, caught the same exact fish. Yep, 68 inches, same markings. No foolin'. Shows why catch-and-release can stockpile a fishery. Info: (800) 464-1431.

Another fish tale: Rich Dengler was trolling a Speedy Shiner along Rec 2 at Lake Almanor when he hooked, fought and landed a 14 3/4-pound brown trout, one of the biggest verified this year.

King Kong tortoise: Most desert tortoises are about 10 pounds, so scientists were shocked when they found a 100-pound tortoise - identified as from Africa - in Arizona's Sonora Desert. The find was reported last week by Arizona Game and Fish.

Tahoe sub: A two-person submarine made more than 40 shallow dives at Lake Tahoe and nearby Fallen Leaf Lake this past year and found ancient submerged trees rooted 100 feet deep, evidence of a past historic drought.

New fishing license: State Department of Fish and Game's new computer-generated fishing and hunting license will make it fast and easy to buy in future years. Director John McCamman said the sturgeon and salmon report cards need some help. The sturgeon "card" is 27 inches long, "about as long as my Safeway receipt after shopping for Christmas dinner," says field scout Dan Gracia.

Whale time: Gray whales are migrating along the Bay Area coast, with a few local humpbacks in the mix, and you can sometimes spot their puff-of-smoke spouts or better. Alain Kinet was out for a bird walk last Sunday at San Francisco's Sutro Bath ruins when she spotted a big splash just offshore of Seal Rocks. "This whale came flying completely out of the water. ... The whale breached again and again, at least five times." The whale continued toward the Golden Gate Bridge, then returned and put on another 10-minute show, she said.

E-mail Tom Stienstra at tstienstra@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle