Echo Park Fishing Report

[DarkShadow]

Sucks to see my home away from home as a kid is already into the 'mismanaged' phase this early in the game. I expected it to take a decade or so. Then again, even during the planning, it seems DFG was always the only agency never present at meetings, and even when they were, the line of questioning would go something like:

ME: So, are the warmwater species like the bass and bluegill that were relocated also be reintroduced? Perhaps some forage for the bass and bluegill? Will the non-natural lake bottom be conducive to successful spawning of these two species, and possibly others?

THEM: Yeah, we're stocking catfish in the summer and trout in the winter. Any more questions?

ME:

(RECREATION OF MY RESPONSE)

So now, we'll have a bass population that will eventually get rid of the mosquito fish that were placed there to prevent, well mosquitoes. (Maybe that'll drive the hipsters away, who knows, maybe a blessing in disguise?) Of course, because every type of social issue now becomes blown out of proportion, the first hipster to get malaria will blame the fisherman for illegally introducing fish, so another black eye for the sportsman. And, after the bass finish their mosquito fish buffet, they'll start cannibalistic predation.

Then some bucket biologist will stock 2 carp and some tilapia thinking 'that'll solve the issue because I took Bio 101 at the local JC!' mixed in with, of course, no Catch and Release encouragement at the now "Put and Take" lake, the bass that do end up being catcheable size will end up on people's stringers along with catfish and trout, and then soon it'll become Balboa Lake South.

They may have revitalized the area, but they sure didn't manage the fishery whatsoever.

[Albert B]

Yeah lol. Its beyond me why the DFG stocks trout and catfish but does not stock bass and bluegill. In my opinion stocking trout and catfish in a place like Echo park is totally useless because they get fished out in 2 days and the ones that don't get caught by then just die. Also bass and bluegill could in theory reproduce in Echo park, so they would be much more cost effective as they would only need to be stocked once-twice a year, instead of several times a year.

[DarkShadow]

Yeah lol. Its beyond me why the DFG stocks trout and catfish but does not stock bass and bluegill. In my opinion stocking trout and catfish in a place like Echo park is totally useless because they get fished out in 2 days and the ones that don't get caught by then just die. Also bass and bluegill could in theory reproduce in Echo park, so they would be much more cost effective as they would only need to be stocked once-twice a year, instead of several times a year.

Yeah, this unfortunately isn't Montana's Fish and Game who realize that there is a vast influx of profit to the state due to sportsmen. California? Not so much.

Why do they only stock catfish and trout? Because it's cost effective. And of course, it fulfills the "we are going to revitalize the fishery at XYZ Lake" that was drained 2 years ago. Just throw in some cats and trout and we'll wipe our hands of the fact the DFG did a piss poor job of returning Echo Park to the fishery it once was.

Perhaps I don't blame the bucket biologists trying to fulfill the job that the real biologists completely screwed. It's only natural.

[Albert B]

Yep if only we had enough bucket biologists to stock 500+pounds of bluegill... Also 90% of the water in Montana/Wyoming/Idaho doesn't even get stocked and still has more fish than anything down here, mainly because people respect the land and only take what they need.

[Ifishtoolittle]

If what you saw were 100% tilapia I think the lake will be ok. The amount of vegetation and algae in there will grow them big time and subsequently grow the bass. I could be wrong though since tilapia breed like flies and if there aren't enough predators then those cichilids will just take over.

[Sebastian323]

If what you saw were 100% tilapia I think the lake will be ok. The amount of vegetation and algae in there will grow them big time and subsequently grow the bass. I could be wrong though since tilapia breed like flies and if there aren't enough predators then those cichilids will just take over.

im not sure , but do you think part of the problem could be that at balboa lake there are not many/any bass?

[Ifishtoolittle]

im not sure , but do you think part of the problem could be that at balboa lake there are not many/any bass?

Most likely. Tilapia crap like crazy too and when that happens a body of water lacking in vegetation will drive oxygen levels down as well.

[Albert B]

The issue is that 90% of those bass aren't big enough to eat a tilapia, and I noticed when I was there that their were always 1-2 bigger fish guarding the schools of smaller tilapia.

[ToadsToadsOnly]

Echo park used to be one of my hidden jewels, most were scared to fish the lake due to its RAP the the fish use to not know what a swimbait was and used to chew them hard. The locals did their best to introduce fish into the lake, their main forage was the mass amount of guppies which were introduced by the DFG to maintain the mosquito s while constructing the lake. As for the carp , koi, goldfish, tilapia, most of these fish were stocked in the lakes from the local Asians and Buddhist monks for good luck rituals. You will notice a influx of these types of fish close to Chinese/Vietnamese new years. I hope they start sotcking trout soon so it will feed the few 4-6 lbers stocked by the locals trying to revitalize their local lake.

[Albert B]

Fished there yesterday from 11-2:30 with small plastics on a dropshot, caught around 20 in the usual 6-10 inch range. I did notice that there were less fish, maybe their starving. The water is getting very low, the wetland habitat by one of observation platforms was out of the water, or under only 1-3 inches of water.