Gone Fish : Nibbles Are Few in Baldwin Hills

Catch anything?

“Caught a nap is about all,” Marvin Carter replied Thursday as he and his 6-year-old son, Scott, ended a test of their fishing luck in the new lakes at the Baldwin Hills State Recreation Area.

The father and son were part of a group of perhaps 50 or 60 hopefuls fishing at midday, but some of the anglers were beginning to suspect they might have a better chance of winning the upcoming California lottery than catching a fish.

Since about 600 pounds of catfish were planted last Friday at the opening of the second phase of the 318-acre park, hundreds of anglers have been fishing nearly non-stop from sunup to sundown.

David R. Hall, 60, a retired Navy man, said he came out to fish earlier in the week and couldn’t find an open spot on the bank because of the crowd.

“There are not many fish left,” he said. “So far, about three fish were caught all morning.”

Over the Labor Day weekend there were times when attendants closed the park because it had reached its capacity of about 400 cars and 1,500 people. A driver was permitted to enter only when another motorist left.

The heavy usage took an even heavier toll on the catfish, county park planner Jim Park said. Part of the problem was greed, he said. Park heard that one angler left with 25 catfish, 15 more than the daily limit allowed by state law.

“We decided to post some limit signs and make sure our park patrol monitors the situation,” Park said.

And, he said, plans are being made to stock the lakes, located on the east side of La Cienega Boulevard between Rodeo Road and Stocker Street, twice a month. Originally, the county had expected to plant fish there only three or four times a year.

But, after seeing what happened over the long holiday weekend, Park said, the county expects to plant the lakes twice monthly for a year. The program will cost about $11,400 for 7,600 pounds of fish, he said. There are about two fish per pound.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn designated some of the 2nd District’s recreational funds for the restocking program. The state Department of Fish and Game also helped finance the plan.