A Rainbow in the Sierra Madre 97 



and cut-throat trout. Black bass have also been placed 

 in lakes and reservoirs in Los Angeles, Orange, and 

 Santa Barbara counties. Too much credit cannot be 

 given the Board of State Commissioners, as were it 

 not for their constant efforts trout fishing would have 

 been a thing of the past long ago in Southern Cali- 

 fornia. Every year, every available stream is supplied. 

 San Bernardino receives one hundred thousand fry per 

 annum. The Bear Valley reservoir is constantly re- 

 stocked, as are all the tributaries of the Santa Ana River 

 and the San Gabriel, and those in the counties of Santa 

 Barbara, Ventura, and San Diego. The Rio Colorado 

 has been stocked with black bass at the Needles, and 

 the sun-perch placed in the artificial reservoirs on the 

 desert at Indio, Thermal, and Mecca. Bear Valley 

 Lake contains the rainbow and the Tahoe Lake trout, 

 and large specimens have been taken. 



Dr. Benjamin Page, of Pasadena, who has camped 

 in the splendid forests about the great lake, is the dean 

 of the anglers and mountain lovers who fish here. He 

 has cast a fly into every pool in the range, and has made 

 some notable catches. One I recall, taken in the Bear 

 Valley Lake in July, with rod and grey badger fly 

 and helgramite bait, was two feet one inch in length, one 

 foot two and a half inches in girth, and weighed seven 

 and a half pounds. This fine fish, a Tahoe Lake 

 trout, fought the skilled angler an hour and sixteen 

 minutes before it could be brought to gaff, and was but 

 one of a notable catch made by Dr. Page's party. 



7 



