ANAHEIM : Cleaning of Lake Stops the Fishing

Near Anaheim’s northern boundary sits Anaheim Lake, a peaceful getaway spot that has become a favorite of local fishermen.

“It’s a good place to fish, especially for us seniors, they give us a good spot,” said Virgil Goshorn, who drives from Cerritos a few times a week to tempt the lake’s trout.

With three poles in the water at once, Goshorn said, he almost always catches something and sometimes even the limit of five fish. The fishing registration fee is $8; for seniors and children it is $6. “It’s a beautiful lake,” Goshorn said.

On Saturday, hundreds of youngsters tried their luck at the lake during the annual Kingfishers Derby Day fishing tournament.

Today, trout fishing comes to a close. The Orange County Water District begins draining and cleaning the lake, and thousands of trout are likely to die.

Drought conditions plus the county’s ever-growing population have forced the district to find ways to increase the county water supply, said Jim Van Haun, a spokesman for the district.

The plan is to clean the debris off the bottom of the lake in fall and spring, rather than once in late summer. That will allow water to seep into underground wells more quickly and allow the county to refill the reservoir more often, he said.

Van Haun said the plan should save thousands of dollars each year because the district will be able to buy Colorado River water during the off-season, when rates are lower.

But the off-season for water rates is the peak of the trout fishing season, said Lance Cleary, whose father’s company has leased the lake from the district for the past 20 years.

“There’s a pretty good amount of fish in there that are going to end up dying,” said Cleary, who estimated $4,000 in losses from the dead trout alone.

Cleary said that when the district first started its new campaign in November, people fished until the early hours of the morning, and saved about 400 fish for freezing.

A few dozen people fish at the lake most weekdays, and the number swells to the hundreds on weekends. Most said they would fish elsewhere for the time being but regretted leaving the lake.

“The others (lakes), it’s like sitting in the middle of a gravel pit,” said Fred Ryver, 64, of Fountain Valley. “It’s so peaceful and serene out here, the setting here is so much better.”

Van Haun said the lake is a “water supply facility first, a recreation facility second. . . . This is a good time for fishing, there’s no question about it, but it’s also a good time to get water.”