5-Pound Channel Catfish Stocked in L.A. Lakes

The Department of Fish and Game announced this week that it has stocked several urban lakes in the Los Angeles area with brooder-size channel catfish--about five pounds each.

About 90 cats each were stocked May 29 in Legg Lakes in El Monte, Harbor Lake in Harbor City, Santa Fe Reservoir in Irwindale, Echo Park Lake and Lincoln Park Lake in Lincoln Heights.

The stockings are part of the DFG’s urban fishing program.

All the fish were from the DFG’s warm-water hatchery at Niland, near the Salton Sea. Another 120 brooders were stocked in Hemet Lake, Riverside County.

Yearling channel cats, about two and a half fish to the pound, are being stocked in about 100 Southland reservoirs now.

The National Wildlife Federation has informed the Interior Department that it intends to sue within 60 days to block the use of lead shot in federal waterfowl areas in parts of several states, including California, unless the agency takes action this year.

The federation says studies show that lead shot contributes to lead-poisoning deaths of waterfowl that eat spent shot from marsh bottoms, and also to bald eagles, which consume waterfowl.

Some waterfowl hunting groups, however, maintain that no studies show conclusively that poisoning from lead shot kills significant numbers of waterfowl, and that a conversion to less effective steel shot would cripple increased numbers of birds.

Wyoming and federal biologists agreed recently to capture several pairs of black-footed ferrets and put them in a captive breeding program next year, if this summer’s census results in a count near last year’s.

Black-footed ferrets, possibly North America’s rarest mammal, were discovered in eastern Wyoming in 1981.

The DFG has published data showing deer herd trends in 14 Northern California hunting zones. The information, biologists said, should aid hunters in selecting which zones to hunt. The data can be obtained from the DFG’s Redding office, 601 Locust St., Redding, Calif., 96001.

The National Coalition for Marine Conservation is backing two state legislative proposals, both affecting California sport and commercial salt water fishing.

The first, SB 1136 introduced by Senator Marian Bergeson (R-Orange), would close the drift gill net fishery during the months of May-June to protect thresher sharks, marlin and migrating gray whales.

A second bill, not yet authored, will call for a moratorium on the take and sale of white sea bass, and for a 26-inch size limit on commercially taken California halibut.

Montana fly-fisherman and author Charles E. Brooks will speak at the June 20 meeting of the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers at the Nob Hill Banquet Center, Panorama City. Brooks has written numerous fly fishing books, including “The Living River,” a mile-by-mile guide of Montana’s Madison River.

The Bighorn Research Institute will build a $2.5-million, 25,700-square-foot bighorn sheep research center in Palm Desert. Among other projects, the project will provide a research facility to help biologists learn more about the viral diseases that have killed numerous bighorns in the Santa Rosa Mountains in recent years.

The Sierra Club has criticized the forest service’s plan to establish 292 miles of off-road vehicle trails in Angeles National Forest during the next 10 years while eliminating some of the forest’s hiking trails.

Michigan biologists are delighted with early results from the 29-head moose herd it obtained from Canada last January for the state’s Upper Peninsula. Seventeen of 19 females have either dropped calves or are expected to.

The moose is native to the Upper Peninsula, but was nearly wiped out at the turn of the century by market hunting.

A mysterious disease has killed tens of thousands of kokanee salmon in Oregon’s Wickiup Reservoir. The disease is marked by a white fungus around the kokanees’ tails. So far, the fungus is a mystery to fisheries pathologists.

A pesticide connection has been ruled out, and biologists believe some problem with water quality is the cause.

Briefly Showtime: Western Recreational Vehicle Show & Sale, through Sunday, Long Beach Convention Center; Anaheim Gun Show, June 15-16, Anaheim Convention Center. . . . H&M; Landing in San Diego is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with substantial discounts on half- and all-day fishing trips through June 15. . . . Arizona’s Game and Fish Department has published a 122-page, softbound book, “Javelina,” representing 25 years of biologist Gerald I. Day’s research on the collared peccary, known popularly as the javelina. . . . Nevada’s deer hunters shot at a 52% success rate in 1984, a slight drop from 1983. . . . State mammal hunting regulations booklets are being sent to license agents this week. . . . Recent discoveries of two new bald eagle nesting sites on Arizona’s Gila and Bill Williams rivers brings to 20 the total known sites in Arizona. . . . The San Fernando Valley Spaniel Club will hold an AKC sanctioned hunting dog test June 30 at the Cummings Valley Gun Dog Area, near Tehachapi. . . . Redondo Beach Sport Fishing has a new charter boat in its fleet, the 56-foot “Vic-Mikki,” available for local, island and extended albacore trips. . . . U.S. Bass will hold a $75,000 pro bass tournament on the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta near Stockton, June 22-23.