Fishing for Trout in Echo Park Lake?

Throughout this week, Echo Park Lake is amongst other Southern California and Eastern Sierra waters to be stocked with rainbow trout by the Department of Fish and Game. Rainbow trout is generally stocked during the cooler months of winter through late spring, while catfish are stocked during the summer, and will join other fish like bass and maybe even some perch.

I personally enjoy rainbow trout – growing up, my family and I caught them in the mountain lakes in Northern California. My mother would wrap the fish in foil and cook them on our campfire, making some incredibly fresh dinner for our camping trips. But this isn’t the High Sierras – this is Echo Park Lake, which is considered a catch-and-release site for recreation only. Poor water quality keeps me from imagining anyone enjoying fish from the lake as a meal – the lake is in fact a flood control basin that catches all the urban run-off in the area, along with a collection of pollutants like ammonia, copper, lead, trash, and more that have accumulated in the lake.

However, I have been reading that the fish are safe to eat – the CA Department of Fish and Game told the Eastsider LA in November last year that most are caught within 1-3 months and are safe. I personally expect someone to discover a three-eyed Simpsons fish any time now, but I’ll leave it up to you whether or not you’ll be dining on some Echo Park Lake delicacies.