Crowd Welcomes Delivery of Rainbow Trout at Lake Casitas

About 200 adults and children swarmed a floating dock at Lake Casitas early Thursday to welcome 1,852 rainbow trout that had been brought in a truck from Mackay, Idaho.

As park rangers and the truck driver ran a long hose from the tanks in the truck to the lake, adults and children hovered on the edge of the lake trying to catch the fish--by pole or hand.

“It’s so cool,” said an excited Ilene Barreto, 7, of Oxnard as she grabbed a trout from the water. “I want to take it home.”

With $30,000 in federal grants, officials at Lake Casitas buy an average of 11,100 pounds of trout and 1,800 pounds of catfish to be put in the lake every year, said Brent Doan, a park ranger at Lake Casitas.

The trout, raised at the Lost River Trout Farm in Idaho, are put into the lake about six times a year, he said. Rangers imported the trout from Idaho “because it was the cheapest bid we had,” Doan said.

“The best time to put trout in the lake is during the winter because they do better in cold water,” Doan said.

On Thursday, dozens of fisherman, teenagers and children came to the lake and waited more than an hour for the trout to arrive--they were scheduled to come at 10:30 a.m. but did not show up until noon.

“I don’t mind the wait because I love to see them running like crazy when they hit the water,” said 10-year-old Jake Bledsoe as he admired a five-pound trout he had caught earlier.

When the truck finally arrived, visitors rushed to secure good spots near the water. As the fish slid through the wide hose into the lake, children and adults alike began shouting--all competing to catch a fish.

“It’s just silly, because the fish are disoriented from the trip and they will not be ready to be caught until tomorrow,” said Oak View resident Cliff Tousignent, 70, who had brought his 8-year-old granddaughter to the lake.

But for Aleta Barreto of Oxnard, who had brought her three girls--ages 2 to 7--to the lake, catching a fish was just part of the fun.

“We like the excitement of seeing so many fishing in the lake at the same time,” Barreto said. “It makes you think that the lake is crowded with fish.”