A Gathering Of Eagles, Page 45

A Gathering Of Eagles, Page 45

Ball and Hubbs contended that these bass were different and Ball was going to prove it in the City of San Diego reser- voirs, the municipal water supply and recre- ational reservoirs that were under his super- vision. He worked in cooperation with the City and County officials, the advisory group of citizen sportsmen on the City Lakes Committee of the Park and Recre- ation Board, plus the Florida and California Fish and Game departments. His efforts succeeded when he was able to acquire 20,000 Florida bass fry flown by DFG pilots to California and stocked into Upper Otay Lake, east of Chula Vista in San Diego County. The first batch of fish in 1959, however, had to be destroyed after a DFG pathologist determined they were infected with “ick”, which is a shortening of a long Latin name for a parasite the size and appearance of a white grain of rice. A second batch was procured and planted in Upper Otay Lake, which had been treated with rotenone to remove all fish already present in the reservoir (though some bullheads and green sunfish were known to have survived). Brown added, “The California DFG was initially opposed to the experiment, which is why Orville brought in Dr. David Jessop (Chairman of the San Diego County Fish and Game Commission) and other influential sportsmen to fight the issue on the political and bureaucratic levels. Orville said that with- out Dave’s effort, the DFG would have pre- vailed in the preventing the Florida bass ‘experiment.’ It was my privilege to make and write up the nominations of both Orville and Dave for their induction into the Hall of Champions San Diego Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, which recognizes individuals for their contributions to the sport in San Diego.” It should be noted that the plants were paid for by the San Diego County Fish and Game Commission with fines collected from fish and game violators busted by DFG wardens. From Upper Otay, which remained the breeding waters for the City Lakes and was closed to public fishing until the 1990s when shore and float tube fishing was and still is allowed, small amounts of the Florida-strain bass were then transplanted to other City-owned lakes—Murray, Mira- mar, Lower Otay, Sutherland, El Capitan, San Vicente, Barrett and Hodges.

Those early experiments surpassed even the most optimistic expectations of those involved. By the mid-1960s, fish weighing from 6 to 8 pounds began to show regu- larly in the catches posted at El Capitan, Lower Otay and Sutherland lakes. By 1969, the results were astounding at all of the San Diego City lakes, changing the face of bass fishing not only in California, but nation- wide. A new state record was established that year with a bass weighing a little over 15 pounds, from little Lake Miramar. A 15- pound bass in only 10 years was a fantastic growth rate by any standards, considering the original “Northern” largemouth bass species introduced in California back in 1874 from Michigan had grown to only 14 pounds in nearly 100 years—that fish was caught at Round Valley Lake in Northern California in 1948. The Northern largemouth bass histor- ically had a growth period of from six to eight months a year, because bass just don’t feed or grow much when the water temperatures go below the mid-50s range. During the previous 100 years of bass in California, the northern bass had rarely exceeded weights of 9 pounds and the San Diego County record was only 10 pounds, 3 ounces set at Barrett Lake in 1942. Once those record-setting and tackle- busting bass started to appear at the San Diego lakes in the 1960s there was no end in sight. In 1970 and 1971, the first lunkers over the 16-pound mark were recorded and then David Zimmerlee broke the magic 20-pound barrier in 1973 at Mira- mar Lake and with each passing year the weights kept getting bigger until in the 1980s and 1990s the record books were rewritten each year. During “electro-shock” studies on the lakes, biologist Larry Bottroff of the California Department of Fish & Game saw enor- mous bass easily over 17 pounds float to the surface, only to revive in seconds and escape the nets and studies of the biologist. But biologists knew it was only a matter of time until the “world record” would be attacked. That record was a 22-pound, 4- ounce whopper caught in 1932 at Mont- gomery Lake in Georgia by George W. Perry—a mark that had been the standard shot at by every serious bass fisherman in the lunker hunt.

Florida-strain bass produced big fish across the world. Don Seifert with a Lake Obregon stringer and Bill Rice with his Lower Otay lunker.

July 2011 _ SILVER EAGLES 45