Angelenos: is this possible?
- Thread starter yikes
- Start date
darkshadow
Well-known member
Yikes,
Don't get me started. I grew up 5 blocks away from this place and is the location that began this addiction of mine.
So, when they drained the lake a few years ago after Echo Park became the new Silverlake, DFG never had a plan for restocking the warmwater fish. I went to a few of their "community meetings" and they said, "yes, we will replace the fish. We will stock catfish in the summer, and trout in the winter."
Now, every since the Fishing in the City program began when I was still a little vato fishing Echo Park, they have been reducing the number of fish that they stock, but yes, they did stock trout in the winter and catfish in the summer. In fact, funny anecdote...I was the first person to catch a trout out of Echo Park. I was there when the hatchery truck first arrived for that weeks' first stocking, and surprised people when I pulled out a fiesty foot long stocker, in all it's glory, missing fins and everything.
Before they drained the lake, I remember the "stocks" comprising of a DFG guy getting a dozen scoops of trout and tossing them in, and driving to the next city pond to do the same. (Today? You're lucky if the lake gets 2 scoops.)
MY problem was the fact that the lake had a good established population of bluegill and bass before it got drained, which got relocated to area lakes like MacCarthur and Lincoln, but when I asked the DFG that if they were going to restock THOSE species, they high tailed the room, as if to say, "What bass and bluegill? There's no bass or bluegill."
There are currently some nice sized largemouth in there, and some bluegill who both got restocked by the, ahem, public, and I plead the fifth. (I know a few of the dudes who would livewell fish from other lakes and drop them in on their way home. Totally illegal I know, but hey, if the DFG won't do it, who will? Plus, when they promised to relocate all species and they broke that promise, it left a sour tastes in a lot of people's mouths.)
So yes, when they do stock the rainbows, you'll have you're chance at catching a few of the 20 to 25 7" trout they throw in there. That way the DFG can say that they lived up to their promise on 'restocking' the lake.
BTW, go out there with a Woolly Bugger and a 2 weight and smash on the bluegill for fun. Buy some churros while you're at it!
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darkshadow
Well-known member
The temp stays low enough for 3 or 4 months during the winter. DFG does a good job of checking water temps before stocking.
And, with the lake getting a complete overhaul in dredging and aeration, it definitely helps the water quality, and depth. I remember years ago, we would catch 'holdover' trout months after the last stocking while fishing for catfish in the late summer.
Although I do miss the days of catching largemouth off of structure, structure that included shopping carts, and that one time someone drove a stolen Buick into the lake and the police took weeks to find it.
How do you get stocker trout to go? Pellet flies?