Breathing New Life Into an Urban Fishing Hole

When Doug Elliot left Santa Ana River Lakes at sundown on March 25, things were looking great. His crew had stocked the lakes with 278 tagged fish for the first $100,000 “tagged fish extravaganza” set to begin at dawn the next morning.

He had only been home two hours when the phone rang.

The fish were dying and not just the tagged and newly released fish. All the fish were floating to the surface--even tiny shad baitfish.

No one is really sure how many fish died that afternoon, said Elliot, owner of the fishing and boating concession that operates the trio of Anaheim lakes for the Orange County Water Management District. “It was impossible to count,” he said.

Elliot immediately called off the contest and called in experts. The verdict: Santa Ana River lakes was another victim of El Nino’s freakish weather.

While the warm-weather phenomenon produced a bumper crop of fish offshore, heavy rains inland brought unprecedented levels of organic runoff--mainly in the form of cattle droppings from upstream dairy farms--down the Santa Ana River.

This surplus organic material settled into the lakes and began to decompose. Decomposition uses oxygen. There wasn’t enough oxygen left for the fish.

“It was another El Nino punch,” Elliot said. “It depleted the oxygen level of the water and as a result the fish literally suffocated.”

Elliot and his partners, who have managed the lakes since 1979, had just learned an expensive lesson in the complex biology of urban lakes. Because of flood control routing of rivers and urban sprawl, most urban lakes would be dead zones without special care.

“If you have an upstream dairy farm, that’s going to be a problem,” said John Sunada, an associate biologist with the state Department of Fish and Game.

Oxygen depletion in urban lakes “is pretty much a year-round problem,” he added. “We check water quality every so often and if it doesn’t meet our criteria, we don’t stock fish.”

Lakes face storm-water runoff problems in wet winter months and plain old heat in the summer. El Nino just makes things worse.

Once a lake is depleted, it’s simply a matter of pumping in new oxygenated water. It took about two weeks to restore the waters at Santa Ana River Lakes. Among the first catches out of the lake: four tagged fish released on March 25.

“Obviously, some fish found places in the lake with enough oxygen,” Elliot said.

With nearly 3 million people living in Orange County, another worry of urban lakes is overfishing. At Santa Ana River Lakes, Elliot said, 2,000 to 5,000 anglers a week come to the sandy shores in search of trout, catfish and bass.

“We stock them as fast as we get ‘em,” Elliot said. “Planting of fish” is up to twice weekly at Santa Ana River Lakes.

Turns out overfishing is actually a boon for the urban angler. The state and private lake owners such as Elliot are committed to keeping the lakes stocked with fish. That means the chances of catching dinner from an urban lake are pretty good.

Sunada says there’s a 50-50 chance an angler will hook a trout in any of the nine lakes and two streams stocked by the Department of Fish and Game in Orange County. The odds for catfish drop to about 3-to-1, which is still better than many natural lakes. He’s still working on a final report on the catch ration of Southern California’s urban lakes, but the catch rate at Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana is currently pushing 65% for trout.

But Sunada added: “You have to get there pretty early because they get caught out pretty quick. It’s pretty much a put-and-take situation.”

It has to be.

The very presence of trout, a cold water fish, is an anomaly in these warm water lakes. The trout simply won’t survive long.

“The idea is they’ll be caught out,” Sunada said.

The Department of Fish and Game stocks a total of nine lakes and two streams in Orange County with about 69,000 pounds of fish a year. The trout and catfish supplement a dwindling natural population of bass and blue gill, both warm water fish.

To find out what lakes are being stocked each week, call the Department of Fish and Game hotline at (562) 590-5020.

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Orange County Fishing

The California Department of Fish and Game stocks nine lakes and two streams in Orange County. Here are three spots where anglers can forgo the annual license for a daily fee:

* Irvine Lake

4621 Santiago Canyon Road, Silverado (714) 460-4940

Lake opens daily 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday night fishing begins in June; date to be announced. Entry fee: $13 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for kids ages 5 to 12.

All-day powerboat rentals: $30 to $100 on weekdays; $45 to $125 on weekends.

* Laguna Niguel Lake

La Paz Road, Laguna Niguel (714) 362

Lake open 6 a.m. to midnight daily. Park entry fee: $2 weekdays, $4 weekends. Fishing fee: $10 adults, $7 kids 16 and under, $8 for seniors. Each permit cover two poles. Float tubes are allowed for an additional $3 fee.

Rowboat rentals: $8 per hour, $20 for 4 hours.

* Santa Ana River Lakes

4060 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim (714) 632-7830

Three lakes open daily 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Night fishing from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Entry fee: $10 for adults, $10 senior citizens and children 5-12.

All-day powerboat rentals: $30

* For information: Call (562) 590-5020 to find out which lakes and streams are stocked each week.

* Licenses: Most locations require a $26.50 state sport fishing license. For a copy of California’s fishing rules and regulations, write: Department of Fish and Game, P.O. Box 944209, Sacramento, CA, 94244-2090 or call (562) 590-5113.