OUTDOOR NOTES / RICH ROBERTS : The Great Outdoors? You’ll Find It Indoors Soon in Long Beach

A trained bald eagle . . . canine retrievers . . . an air rifle range . . . an archery range.

In its 46th year, Fred Hall’s Western Fishing Tackle and Boat Show has become much more than fishing and boating. The show returns to the Long Beach Convention Center next Wednesday for a five-day run through March 7. There will be 600 booths of fishing equipment, clothing and tours, along with other outdoor features.

Buddy is an American bald eagle from Alaska, the first to appear at a public event in California, according to his handlers from the Alaskan Raptor Rehabilitation Center at Sitka. Buddy will pose for pictures, from a respectful distance.

Outside on a lagoon, Jim Beadle of Los Banos will run his Labradors in retrieving demonstrations, rain or shine. Rain does not discourage Labs.

The NRA air-rifle range will allow visitors to test their marksmanship, coupled with daily seminars by Brian O’Connell, president of the National Firearms Safety Board, on “Home Firearms Safety.”

Top archers will give tips and demonstrations in the Pro Archery Arena.

Anglers can test gear at six casting ponds, and saltwater andfreshwater pros will show their skills at the Bass Bin, the world’s largest mobile aquarium. Children can fish free at an outdoor trout tank, and adults can try the Big Game Fish Simulator to experience the thrill of hooking a marlin without going to Cabo San Lucas.

Show hours are 2-10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Admission is $7, free for children under 12.

Briefly

HUNTING--The Inland Empire Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will have its monthly meeting Thursday, 7:30 p.m., at the Sizzler at the corner of Magnolia and Rimpau Ave. off Interstate 15 in Corona. Details: (909) 987-8836 evenings. The turkey federation’s Southern California Chapter will have its fund-raising dinner March 4 at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego. Payment of $45 includes a year’s membership. The group, in cooperation with the California Department of Fish and Game, has recently released 88 Rio Grande birds in the Ramona area to develop a population.

FISHING INSTRUCTION--The Sierra Pacific Flyfishers will conduct free classes for beginning flycasters on four consecutive Saturdays, starting March 6, at the Reseda Recreation Center, 18411 Victory Blvd. Details: (818) 845-2543. . . . The Streamborn Fly Fishing Club will conduct a free beginning fly-tying class on six consecutive Mondays starting March 8, 7 p.m., in Rowland Heights. Details: (310) 698-8186.

Charlie Davis will teach Southern California ocean fishing techniques in two sessions of three hours each, March 24 and 31, 7 p.m., at Golden West College’s Huntington Beach campus. Course number: 4517.21. Details: (714) 891-3991. . . . Bill Murphy, who says he has fished for trophy largemouth bass in Southern California for 35 years, has authored “In Pursuit of Giant Bass.” The 373-page book, which includes many photos and diagrams, can be ordered from Giant Bass Publishing, P.O. Box 1025, El Cajon, Calif. 92022. Cost is $25, including shipping and tax.

FRESHWATER FISHING--Small lakes in the Colorado River area near Yuma have turned on for largemouth bass, the Arizona Game and Fish Department reports. Mittry, Ferguson and Martinez Lakes have produced fish from six to nine pounds. . . . The Environmental Protection Agency has granted a petition by environmental groups to require that lead fishing sinkers be sold with labels warning that they are toxic to waterfowl. The groups also asked the EPA to ban lead sinkers in national parks and national wildlife refuges that have loons and trumpeter swans.

MEXICAN FISHING--Sixteen members of the King Harbor Marlin Club caught 33 striped marlin, releasing 30, in the second annual Cabo San Lucas club tournament last week. Top anglers were Neal Anderson, six marlin; Marilyn Stevens, five, and Rick Henderson, four. . . . San Diego long-range: The Polaris Supreme, 12 days to Alijos rocks and Clarion Island with 20 anglers, totaled 279 yellowfin tuna (97 released) and 114 wahoo. The action was at Clarion. Gregory Koonce of Hood River, Ore., won the jackpot with a 342-pound tuna, and Larry de Santis of Orange had a 320-pounder. Sixteen weighed more than 200 pounds.

San Jose del Cabo: Wahoo hitting at Las Salinas, west of Gordo Point. Jeff Stulberg, Woodland Hills, and friends caught a 70, 65 and 25, along with several dorado. William Miller, Sacramento, took three wahoo from 35 to 40 pounds and three 20-pound dorado on a fly rod. Striped marlin at Red Hill, 5-8 miles off Palmilla Point. East Cape: Hotel Buenavista reports yellowtail running from 25 to 40 pounds. Some striped marlin 130-140 pounds, small dorado and some sierra.

SALTWATER FISHING--United Anglers of Southern California reports that the California Coastal Commission has granted permits to three UASC affiliates--the Balboa Angling Club, Marina del Rey Anglers and the King Harbor Marlin Club--to operate white seabass grow-out facilities as part of a state program to restore the depleted seabass fishery.