What a surprise for Dr. Jim Borge, when he heard all the commotion in his kitchen recently in his home on Silverado Trail near Monticello Road.

When Jim walked into the kitchen, he found his dog fighting with a mountain lion.

The mountain lion came in through the doggy door. Jim is an avid outdoorsman and knew how to scare the cat. He grabbed a broom and yelled at the cat as he beat it, and he ran back out through the doggy door.

When Dr. Borge was out for a walk the next day, he was walking by his neighbor’s house. Charlie Harper asked him, “What’s new?” and he told him about the mountain lion encounter.

Coming in through a doggy door is pretty bold, but the mountain lion probably wanted the dog and watched him enter through the door.

Big striper still in the river

I have had a number of reports of nice keeper stripers being caught by casters and trollers. Some are up at 20 pounds. The best yet is Steve Orndorf’s 24-pounder, along with 11 other keepers caught in just three hours tossing hair raisers along the shore.

Normally the bigger striper don’t hit the river until October, but for whatever reason, the good fishing continues on the Napa River from downtown to the bay.

A needed film in the making

One of the prominent movie production companies, Snow Goose Productions, has decided to take on the production of a 56-minute video called “Endangered Species, the Fish and Game Warden.”

CEO Jim Swan, Ph.D., will direct and produce the video with 50 percent of all proceeds going to the Fish and Game Wardens Association.

Swan has produced the series “Sightings,” “NOVA,” “Sports Afield TV,” “New American Sportsman,” and many more.

As of now, PBS is interested in the production, as are many other PBS stations.

The production is about the plight of game wardens and will cost around $200,000 to produce. Snow Goose Productions is seeking donations to help with the production.

The Napa County Fish and Wildlife Commission made a $2,500 donation last month. The California Waterfowl Association is the fiduciary for the project, and all donations can be made to them or to Jim Swan at www.jamesswan.com.

The story of the underpaid and brave game wardens and their dwindling number in the face of dangers from poachers, marijuana growers and meth lab creators (all on wildlife areas) needs to be told.

Currently wardens make about half of what CHP and police make.

California needs more wardens, and maybe this film will help.

Dove season opens tomorrow

The traditional Sept. 1 opener for dove is tomorrow all over America.

These tough little darters provide a real sport, not to mention the end product — a fine dove gumbo. I have fond memories of past dove hunts from Illinois, Michigan, Louisiana, and California.

Here in the Napa Valley we are subject to weather. Any cool snap moves local birds south. Then we have to wait for northern birds. There are always some doves around, and of course, some years are better than others. We have some hot spots in Pope Valley and a few ranches and vineyards that always have some doves.

New record lingcod

It’s always fun when bottom fishing off the coast to tie into some lingcod; a nice one can be from 10 to 20 pounds.

Recently a Discovery Bay angler broke the all-tackle Lingcod world record with an 82.6-pound super fish caught off the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska.

It was caught on a huge white jig.

Deer season

The coastal season continues with bucks getting ready for the rut locally, and the inland general season getting ready to open. We hope to get out there before the season ends.

Napa loses a friend

The recent passing of Dr. Dick Hatton is a loss for everyone. Dick loved people and life. He truly enjoyed the outdoors and fishing. He and his wife fished all over the world.

Dr. Hatton was helping to kickstart our Napa River Steelhead organization when he died.

A special celebration of his life will be held in about a month or so; we will have the date and location in this column at that time.

George Carl can be reached at gcarl@sbcglobal.net.