182 DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME 



Evans, Willis A. 



A preliminary analysis of the fisheries value of the Santa Ana River drainage, 

 California. Submitted November 15, 1950. 19 p., including 5 photos. 



Abstract : A comprehensive study is being made of the Santa Ana River drain- 

 age in relation to existing water use problems by various state and federal agencies. 

 This report by the Division of Fish and Game, as a cooperating agency, consists 

 of an inventory of all waters of the drainage and their importance to fishing re- 

 creation. The five lakes and 33 trout streams composing the drainage are described 

 with information on relative size, flows, fish life present, and value for fishing. 

 Fisher, Charles K. 



An evaluation of bluegill spawning subimpoundments in fluctuating reservoirs. 

 With special reference to the 1949 operation of a pilot structure at Millerton Lake, 

 Fresno/Madera counties. Submitted June 20, 1950. 9 p.. including 5 figures. 



Abstract : Since the success of bluegill spawning in Millerton Lake had de- 

 clined considerably due to rapidly dropping water levels, it was reasoned that 

 spawning ponds which woidd catch and retain lake water during midsummer high 

 levels and in which bluegill fingerlings could be reared for planting in the lake 

 might be constructed along the shoreline. Accordingly, a pilot dam was built in 

 March, 1949, but due to an inadequate lake level, it was necessary to fill the sub- 

 impoundment by pumping from the lake. By July 23, 1949, 75 adult bluegill had 

 been placed in the pond. Only 9,000 small fry w T ere harvested in September, 1949, 

 and placed in the lake. This low production is believed to have resulted from the 

 entry of about 300 carp fry with the pumped lake water. The carp grew to 8-inch 

 length in two months, and greatly diminished food organism production by their 

 muddying activity. Thus, it was found that such mud-bottomed subimpoundments 

 are of little use in bluegill production in the presence of carp. Even though carp 

 could probably be screened out of pumped lake water, a varying maximum lake level 

 each year would demand that a number of dams be distributed vertically, so that 

 some w y ould be carp-free each year. The magnitude of such a program would be 

 economically infeasible. Therefore, it is recommended that the building of such sub- 

 impoundments under these circumstances be discouraged. 



Progress report No. 2 on the fishery of Millerton Lake, California. Submitted 

 August 3, 1951. 42 p., plus 16 figures. 



Abstract : Millerton Lake is the fluctuating impoundment created by the con- 

 struction of Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River. The river was first controlled in 

 1941, and in this year and the next the developing reservoir was planted to large- 

 mouth black bass, bluegill, and green sunfish. Good fishing was obtained in the in- 

 itial open season of 1945 and in 1946. As is generally true with this type of reser- 

 voir, fishing quality soon dropped off. In 1949 bass fishing quality had declined to a 

 little over half of its 1945 level, while the bluegill fishing decline was to a little less 

 than half its 1945 level. An intensive study of the lake from 1949 to date attributes 

 this decline to lowered fish populations resulting from the loss of nutrients in the 

 lake. Causal factors have been fluctuation, wave action, and large discharge of river 

 water through the lake. It is concluded that a shortage of sunfish and other forage 

 fishes has in turn caused a decline in the bass population. Recommendation is there- 

 fore made that effort now be directed toward the introduction of additional kinds of 

 forage fishes for the bass which will not overly compete with the bluegill population. 



Annual Truckee River Sierra-Nevada Counties, creel census, May 26, 1951. Sub- 

 mitted March 12, 1952. 8 p., including 3 tables. 



Abstract : The fifteenth annual opening day creel census on the Truckee River 

 revealed that the 97 anglers interviewed caught 184 trout in 315 hours of fishing, 

 for an average catch of 0.58 trout per angler hour. This rate of catch compares 

 favorably with the over-all average of 0.50 trout per angler hour for previous years 

 of census. Rainbow constituted 80.4 percent of the catch, with the remainder browns. 

 This represents an upswing in a rather cyclic fluctuation of the two species toward 

 each other. A breakdown of angler success by county reveals that the natives out- 

 fish the travelers from a distance. 



Fraser, J. C. 



1950 and 1951 Lake Tahoe party boat catch records (Placer and El Dorado 

 counties) . Submitted December 7, 1951. 4 p., plus 5 tables. 



