Rainbow Trout
Just Fish Talk
You may fish for Rainbow Trout as well as bass, channel catfish, bluegill and crappie in the waters of Big bear Lake. Fingerlings and catchable size fish are regularly planted by the Dept. of Fish and Game, supplemented by regular plants of rainbow trout by the Big Bear Lake Park District.
According to local Fish and Game Warden, Dan Heenan, there is a good holdover of crappie which should furnish excellent fishing this season. Good catches of catfish and bluegill should show up later in the season.
Bear creek has been stocked with both Brown and Rainbow Trout.
Rainbow Trout
Large numbers of this species are planted in the lake each year. In typical form, it is easily distinguishable by the colorful “rainbow” along the sides and the any black spots on the back, dorsal fin, and sides. However, those, which live in lakes, may become quite silvery. Under the many conditions found in different lakes and streams, this species can display a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes.
Rainbow are the most adaptable of the trout, doing well in cold water, yet able to endure temperatures of more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit for short periods, if the water is well aerated. This trout is a spectacular fighter.
Trees of the Forest
A variety of the noble pine tree live side by side in the Bear Valley area of the huge San Bernardino National Forest.
JEFFREY PINE, best known grows to a height ranging from 60 to 1210 or even 170 feet, and bears large cones from five to eight inches in size.
PINION, a one-leaf nut pine, which in the form of a low, round-headed tree, is also relatively abundant in the outlying area near the desert.
PONDEROSA, so valuable for building lumber, soars upward from 30 to 170 feet, while the Coulter Pine, also called Big Cone Pine, grows to only from 40 to 70 feet and is of slight importance as a timber tree. The Coulter wears heavy mass of foliage and carries large cones.
HYBRID PINE, thought to be a cross between sugarpine and ponderosa, is native to the Bear Valley hills where it was discovered by V.B. Pederson who has found it to be clear grained, free from pitch, and of particular value for cabinet work.
NOT ALL PINES
Also woven into the forest pattern are the incense cedars, their trunks two to seven feet in diameter at the base and tapering upward. Bark is red-brown or cinnamon, and this tree, which attains a height anywhere from, 50 to 125 feet, carries numerous ultimate branches.
White fir, a good source of box lumber, is found above the 5,000 foot level. Its trunk bark is smooth and silvery or whitish on young trees. Juniper, a bushy tree which may grow to a height of 25 feet, has an ash gray or brown bark which is loose.
Ironwood or mountain mahogany, which grows on the desert slopes below pines and firs, is excellent for firewood.
Shrubs that grow under the protecting branches of the giant trees are Deer brush, wild lilac, white thorn and Ming moss.
