DOWNEY : State Stocks Lake With Rainbow Trout
The city has a new fishing hole.
The state Department of Fish and Game this week released about 600 rainbow trout in a one-acre lake in Wilderness Park at Florence Avenue and Little Lake Road.
The lake had been unsuitable for fish for about six years because of contamination and low oxygen levels, but the city decided to clean it up after draining the water so that police could search for a gun used in a crime. The gun was never found, said Richard C. Redmayne, director of public works.
The trout, which were raised in the department’s Fillmore hatchery, average about nine inches in length, said fish and game spokesman Patrick Moore.
“They’re easy to hook and provided primarily for youngsters and retired people who cannot get out to the big lakes to do some fishing,” Moore said. There’s a limit of five fish per day.
Anglers over 16 years old must have a fishing license.
Moore said any surviving trout will die when water temperatures reach the mid-70s. Officials then plan to stock the lake with catfish or another warm-water fish that can withstand summer heat.
The department stocks about 70 urban lakes in Southern California each year, including lakes in Long Beach and La Mirada.
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