36 REPORT OF BOARD OF FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONERS. 
cates the adaptability of these rare game birds to that section. The 
fish and game interests of the county have been carefully and intelli¬ 
gently cared for by our deputy, Mr. E. H. Ober, and his efforts ably 
seconded by Sheriff Naylor, the board of supervisors of the county, and 
the Owens Valley Chamber of Commerce. 
LARGE-MOUTH BLACK BASS. 
Considerable space was devoted to the importance of these delicious 
food and game fish in our nineteenth biennial report. We quoted the 
opinion of some of the oldest fishermen on the Sacramento and San 
Joaquin rivers to the effect that in a few years these fish would be as 
plentiful as carp. While we anticipated a substantial increase, we 
hardly expected such wonderful results as have been accomplished. 
We believe that California to-day is one of the best stocked states in 
the Union. The rivers, streams, and sloughs throughout the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin valleys are teeming with them. There is scarcely a 
suitable reservoir or lake below the range of trout in which a fine day’s 
sport can not be had. Lakes and sloughs tributary to Owens River in 
Inyo County have received substantial plants during the past two years, 
and a gratifying increase has been noted. Their range in this State is 
practically unlimited, so far as a northern or southern latitude is con¬ 
cerned. Their introduction into Clear Lake, Lake County, a number 
of years ago has proven to be a decided success. While they could be 
seen in considerable schools it has only been in the past three or four 
years that a sufficient number could be caught to make the sport worth 
while. The explanation for this would seem to lie in the fact that 
there was such an abundance of food supply in the shape of small 
native fishes and young carp that the ordinary angler’s lure would not 
attract them. In the past two years experienced anglers who have 
fished in nearly every state in the Union report to our office that the 
black bass fishing in Clear Lake exceeded anything in their experience. 
As an exchange of international courtesy, a car load of these fish 
was captured in Fresno and Kings counties by Deputy A. D. Ferguson, 
assisted by Deputies Ellis and Smalley. These fish were taken in the 
latter part of December, 1909, and transported in our fish distributing 
car to two points in the Republic of Mexico. There were 1,800 adult 
fish in the shipment; three fourths of them were planted under the 
direction of Governor Ahumada, in Lake Chapala, a body of water 60 
miles in length with an average width of 10 miles, in the State of Jalisco. 
The remainder were planted in a small lake designated by Governor 
Landa of the district of Mexico, near the city of Mexico. The first 
liberation of the fish did not occur until the tenth day after their cap¬ 
ture. and yet so skillfully were the fish taken and handled en route there 
