Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008

Jardine: Actually, fish were planted in the back country

From the e-mails, voice mails and pages of the The Bee:

HUH? -- A story in the Sports section last week told of a court ruling that, for the time being, prohibits planting hatchery-raised fish in streams and lakes where they could feed on native species.

I got a good laugh from a quote at the end of the story from a "devout trout angler" from Twain Harte.

" ... it won't affect me as much as the people who are coming up here specifically for the planted fish," he said. "I fish back-country lakes, places you have to hike to that don't get planted anyway."

Just how does he think those fish got there in the first place? Folks began planting the high-country lakes and Sierra streams more than a century ago, toting the fish in on pack horses and mules. One of the primary reasons the late Fred Leighton began building a series of small check dams in the Emigrant Wilderness in the 1930s was to regulate the stream flows to improve the fish habitat.

When you fish the high-country lakes, chances are you'll catch either a rainbow trout or an eastern brook trout. The "eastern" part of the name should be a hint: The species is native to the eastern part of North America and was introduced in the West in the late 1800s and early 1900s. California has been planting brookies for decades.

And the German brown trout? An immigrant. It's a European fish introduced to American waters in the late 1800s.

In fact, the state Department of Fish and Game once planted the back- country lakes by airplane, swooping down in an old Beechcraft Bonanza to make the drops.

So while those lakes might not have been replanted for several years, many have fish only because someone put them there.

IT'S OFFICIAL -- Eight days ago, Atwater's Greg Olzack journeyed to Sacramento to cast his votes for President- elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden. Sure, Obama has been busy assembling his administration since winning the general election Nov. 4. But there's still the technicality of the Electoral College. Olzack represented the district of Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, at the official vote last week. As expected, Obama and Biden scored all of California's 55 electoral votes. Nobody went "rogue."

BIG CAVITY TO FILL -- In my Nov. 20 column, I wrote about the program Modesto dentists Toshi Hart and Robert Venn began a few years ago to prevent tooth decay without depriving their younger patients of the joys of trick-or-treating on Halloween. At $2 a pound, the dentists buy back the candy their patients collect. This year, they paid out about $125 in candy ransom. They'd like to make the program available to children outside of their practice, but it would be too costly.

So they're looking for someone -- some generous individuals, or perhaps a service club or organization with nonprofit status -- to sponsor the candy buyback. So far, no luck.

A New Year's resolution, anyone?

OVERSEAS-ONS' GREETINGS -- Barbosa Video Services in Patterson, along with the Army-Air Force Hometown News Service, has provided holiday greetings from valley men and women serving overseas in the military. The Web site includes 23 video greetings. Visit www.barbosavideo. com. You'll see Santa Claus on the screen. Click for a listing of names and then click on a name to see view the message.

Merry Christmas back at them.

Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at 578-2383 or jjardine@modbee.com