Stocked fisheries have been a part of our heritage since the gold miners showed up back in the 1800's. The miners used to stock the local waters to keep an abundance of food available and for the sportsman as well. These days though there are many more people fishing our local waters and the stocking programs can't keep up with the demand. There are some Wild Trout waters that are regulated in our area, but once again not enough to cover the demand of the catch and release fisherman.

Why not take one out of every ten of our stocked fisheries in Alpine County and turn them into Catch and Release fisheries? Ten percent of the fishable waters are not a whole lot. I don't mean to turn them into Wild Trout waters, but stock them only once a season and put a Catch and Release regulation on them. At that point you could take the extra fish that would normally be stocked in these waters and put them into the Put and Take sections. This would make the Put and Take sections better for those who want to keep fish as well as create more opportunities for the Catch and Release fisherman. Both sides win! There are many private fisheries that do quite well with stocked fish and are kept as Catch and Release waters. They are expensive to fish but are more fun because you know that there will be a fish in the water.

Certain public agencies think that when you create a Catch and Release situation it takes more manpower to police it. I agree to a certain extent, although peer pressure has worked for years on some of our other Catch and Release waters. There are a couple of Stocked Catch and Release lakes in our area. Spooner Lake at Spooner Lake State Park and Martis Creek Reservoir across from Northstar at Tahoe on Hwy 267. These are both supposed to be wild trout lakes but do to fish kills in the past they have been re-stocked with hatchery fish. Some of the waters that I think would be great for Stocked Catch and Release would be Scotts Lake, Summit Lake and or Burnside Lake. These lakes are a bit out of the way but still accessible for most anglers and small enough to be great Catch and Release waters!

What do you think? If you have any thoughts, negative or positive please let me know and I would be glad to discuss them. Also if you like the idea, let's get together and figure out a way to make it happen sometime in the near future. I used to like to keep a few fish just as much as the next guy but the more I fish the more I like the idea that knowing there are fish in a stream or lake makes for a lot more fun!