OLYMPIA – With season openers for lake trout, razor clams and wild turkeys coming up this month, there's no time like the present to get your fishing and/or hunting license for 2000-2001.

Last year's licenses expired March 31, so you'll need a new one to avoid missing out on the openers ahead. Licenses are available at hundreds of outlets across the state, and at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) offices in Olympia, Montesano, Vancouver, Mill Creek, Wenatchee, Yakima, Ephrata and Spokane.

First in the parade of openers this month is razor clams. Long Beach and Twin Harbors Beach (which includes the North Cove, Grayland and Westport areas) will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday (April 6-8) of this week, with digging limited to morning (a.m.) hours. Mocrocks (including Iron Springs, Roosevelt, Pacific Beach and Moclips) is also scheduled to open during the morning hours on Friday and Saturday (April 7 and 8). Harvesters are required to keep the first 15 razor clams they dig.

Doug Simons, WDFW razor clam biologist, strongly recommends getting a license before you leave home. For state residents age 16 to 69, an annual shellfish/seaweed license costs $7. For residents age 15 and seniors age 70 and older, the cost is $5. Combination licenses and special two-day licenses are also available.

Once you've made your chowder, you might want to bag a bird for Easter dinner. The spring turkey season opens April 15 and runs through May 15, offering hunting opportunities throughout the state. This year, additional turkeys were transplanted from Iowa to western Washington, adding to the state's growing turkey population.

Turkey hunters can take up to three birds (gobblers or turkeys with visible beards only) during the season, so long as they are each of a different subspecies and a tag has been purchased for each bird. Washington's small-game license, which costs $30 for adults or $15 for those under 16, includes one turkey tag. Up to two additional tags can be purchased for $18 each, on or before April 14. For those who buy a big game hunting license at the same time, the adult small game license is only $16.

April 29 marks the close of a busy month and the start of the largest single outdoor event in the state. Opening day of lake fishing season is expected to draw as many half a million fishers, chasing more than 14 million fish – including 44,000 lunkers planted in lakes throughout the state. A freshwater fishing license costs $20 for fishers 16 and older, and $5 for 15-year-olds. Kids under 15 fish free.

Northern Puget Sound:

• Lake fishing continues to heat up as more waters are stocked with rainbow trout. Lakes recently planted in King County include Doloff Lake, which received 1,600 fish; Fenwick Lake, 1,720; Green Lake, 4,000; Shadow Lake, 3,000, and Walker Lake, 1,200. Shellfishers can look forward to the opening of recreational shrimp fishing April 8 in Marine Area 7 (Puget Sound waters from the U.S.-Canadian border south through the San Juan islands), and Marine areas 8-1 and 8-2 (Puget Sound waters between Whidbey Island and the mainland). "The shrimp occur in pockets and at depths beyond 250 feet," says Norm Lemberg, regional shellfish manager. Peregrine falcons are nesting in familiar spots and offering viewing opportunities for big-city dwellers. Seattle's Washington Mutual Tower, the grain elevators on the Seattle waterfront, the Highway 520 Bridge, and Interstate 5 Ship Canal Bridge over Lake Union are favored places for these crow-size birds with slate-blue backs, cream-colored bellies and distinctive dark mustache-shaped marks near their eyes.

Olympic Peninsula/South Sound:

• This is the one area of the state where you can participate in all three season openers this month. If you're planning to go clamming, remember that Copalis Beach – which includes Ocean Shores, Oyhut, Ocean City and Copalis – is not open for non-treaty digging. If turkeys are your thing, WDFW regional wildlife manager Jack Smith recommends checking under the power lines near the Skookumchuck River or in the Willapa Valley between Menlo and Pe El. For those holding out for the April 29 trout opener, the following lakes have been stocked with extra-large trout weighing up to three pounds a piece: Rapjohn Lake in Pierce County; Clear Lake, Hicks Lake, McIntosh Lake and Ward Lake in Thurston County; Benson Lake and Wooten Lake in Mason County; and Failor Lake in Grays Harbor County.

Southwest Washington:

The Wind River and Drano Lake are the places to be for spring chinook fishing. The season opened April 1 and WDFW surveys showed boat anglers on the Wind averaged a chinook for every five rods. Anglers at Drano Lake averaged a fish for every two rods. Anglers were catching chinook up to 30 pounds, although most fish were in the 12 to 15 pound range. For more details, anglers should check WDFW's web site. Creel survey results and sport fishing regulations can be found in the Fishing/Shellfish section. Links are also available to the Army Corps of Engineers' dam fish counts. Spring chinook fishing also should to continue to improve in the Cowlitz, Kalama and Lewis rivers. Battle Ground Lake received 4,000 catchable rainbow trout last week and kokanee fishing is improving in Merwin Reservoir. Bass fishing in John Day Pool also is picking up, according to WDFW biologist Joe Hymer.

Eastern Washington:

• More songbirds, from chickadees to wrens, are looking for nesting sites so clean out your old nestboxes or quickly make or buy nestboxes to put up for their use (ask for WDFW's Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary program packet for more specific information.) Great blue herons are very visible in the cottonwoods where they communally nest along the Little Spokane River near WDFW's Spokane Trout Hatchery and the Spokane County Parks and Recreation Department's Natural Area. Meanwhile, Lake Roosevelt continues to provide rainbow and kokanee catches, and is starting to yield some walleye. Turkey hunting will be excellent for Merriam's throughout the northeast counties of Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, and Spokane, and for Rio Grandes in the Blue Mountains to the south. Scout them out now and secure landowner permission to hunt for the opener on the 15th.

North Central Washington:

• Wherever there's water, there are birds these days: diving and dabbling ducks, nesting Canada geese, shorebirds, wading birds, raptors, and a myriad of songbirds. Take an off-the-beaten-path route through the Columbia Basin and keep your binoculars and camera ready. Sandhill cranes are still very visible throughout the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge area and surrounding farmlands. Potholes Reservoir and surrounding small lakes are producing nice trout for both shore and boat anglers. This weekend (April 7-8), 80,000 rainbow trout that have been net-pen-reared in a WDFW cooperative project will be released at the MarDon Resort fishing dock.

South Central Washington:

• Wildflowers, songbirds, raptors and other wildlife are very visible now in the Yakima River Canyon area. Another good early spring spot for such viewing is the Esquatzel Coulee Wildlife Area northeast of Mesa in Franklin County; part of the channeled scablands, it includes waterfowl breeding grounds, colonies of burrowing owls, and lots of coyotes. Scootenay Reservoir perch fishing is a good bet now. Rainbow trout continue to bite at several Yakima and Kittitas county year-round lakes that are well-stocked, including Mattoon, Rotary, Myron, and the Interstate-82 ponds.