Young corp removed by poisoning at Puddingstone Reservoir, Los 

 Angeles County. 



— Fish and Game Photo 



are being tested to determine which are the most suit- 

 able for the various types of California trout waters. 

 At Upper Sardine Lake subcatchable rainbow trout 

 (average size 4.7 inches) have returned well. This is 

 in contrast with the poor returns from earlier plants 

 of fingerling trout. It is believed that in planting sub- 

 catchables the competition between trout and the 

 lake's large population of Tahoe suckers has been 

 overcome. 



Fingerling survival of brown trout in Lower Sardine 

 Lake continued to be poor, with some strains doing 

 slightl\- better than others, but none doing well enough 

 to conisder the planting of fingerling brown trout as a 

 proper management tool for this lake. 



The eastern strains of catchable-size brown trout 

 that had been planted in Lower Sardine Lake con- 

 tinued to show a higher return than catchable-sized 

 brown trout reared from eggs taken in California. All 

 strains have shown good growth in the lake after plant- 

 ing and, instead of being caught out in the first few 

 weeks, have entered the catch over a two- to three- 

 year period. 



During the spring of 1958, a group of catchable 

 brown trout of the California strain and a group of 

 catchable brown trout from the long-domesticated 

 Massachusetts stock were planted together into the 

 lake from Fillmore Hatchery. While these fish were 

 being reared in the hatchery, the Massachusetts fish 

 g^e^v twice as fast as the .Mt. Whitney strain, and their 

 survival in the hatchery was almost rwo-thirds greater. 

 Returns so far have been much greater from the .Massa- 

 chusetts fish, but this may be only the result of their 

 larger size when they entered the lake. The final test 



on catchable brown trout in this lake will be made in 

 1959, with equal plants of three different strains of 

 brown trout being used. 



The principal study conducted at Upper Salmon 

 Lake involved the testing of different strains of rain- 

 bow trout fingerlings for natural spawning capability. 

 This was done by checking the rainbow trout through 

 a counting weir, as they migrated to the spawning 

 areas in the only tributary to this lake. During the late 

 summer of 1957, three different strains of rainbow 

 trout fingerlings were planted. The survivors from 

 these plants will probably enter the spawning stream 

 during the springs of 1959 or 1960. 



At Packer Lake it was found that eastern brook 

 trout from eggs supplied from A4assachusetts produced 

 returns many times greater than brook trout reared 

 under identical conditions but from eggs supplied from 

 the State of Washington. As a result of this test, a 

 large number of brook trout eggs was ordered from 

 Massachusetts. The eggs are to be used for the regular 

 fingerling planting program. 



In the Castle Lake, Siskiyou County, investigation, 

 which was begun in 1941, the principal objective dur- 

 ing the biennium was to discover the optimum number 

 of fingerling trout which should be planted per acre 

 in such mountain lakes. This figure appears to be about 

 300. Further tests are under way to determine if 

 smaller or larger numbers would provide more angling 

 recreation. 



ROUGH FISH CONTROL 



During the period covered by this report, 26 trout 

 lakes were chemically treated and restocked. Appendix 

 Table 31 lists these lakes. 



One of the most successful fisheries management 

 projects of the biennium was the chemical treatment 

 of Big Bear Lake, in the San Bernardino A4ountains, 

 in the fall of 1956 and the restocking of trout in the 

 lake. The chemical treatment removed some 250 tons 

 of stunted adult crappie, weighing only two ounces 

 apiece, that had been utilizing most of the lake's fish 

 food and growing room. 



In January of 1958, 75,000 rainbow trout fingerlings 

 were stocked in Big Bear and catchable-size trout were 

 planted in the lake at regular intervals throughout the 

 spring and summer. The result was the best fishing in 

 Big Bear Lake's history. Creel checks showed that 

 fishing was four times as good as it had been in the 

 previous year. Although planted trout had put on very 



Ko^anee Rescue. Mid-December rains in J 957 triggered a spawning run 

 of Kokanee up the tributaries to Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino 

 Mountains. Since eggs would be left high and dry when the stream 

 flow dropped, the Department of Fish and Game rescued spawners by 

 trapping them (in photo top left and bottom left) and took their eggs 

 which were placed in the department's Son Joaquin Hatchery. The re- 

 sulting salmon fry were restocked the following spring in Arrowhead and 

 the resulting fish (sample at right) has been phenomenal, 



— Fish and Game Photos 



