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The Creel Deal
Larry Bottroff, the city's longtime fisheries biologist, still has thousands of bass to check before he calls it a career
Ed Zieralski, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 21, 2003
City lakes biologist Larry Bottroff shows off a largemouth bass taken from San Vicente. Until his retirement last week, Bottroff managed the city's 10 fisheries with a hands-on approach that rivaled a jeweler over his gems. ED ZIERALSKI / Union-Tribune
They were like the perfect pitcher-catcher battery, the reliable quarterback-wide receiver connection, the winning golfer-caddie partnership.
That was Jim Brown and Larry Bottroff at the San Diego City Lakes for the last 29 years.
Brown, as the city lakes program manager, handled the many behind-the-scenes bureaucratic battles, pitching, throwing or hacking around the red tape.
Bottroff, first a fisheries biologist for the state and then the city, managed the city's 10 fisheries with a hands-on approach that rivaled a jeweler over his gems.
Brown once joked that Bottroff probably has handled every bass in every lake in the San Diego chain at one time or another.
If Bottroff didn't electroshock a bass during his many marathon census surveys in the wee hours of the morning or by the light of the moon, he checked it among hundreds at a bass tournament or at the dock for a single fisherman before it was released.
But now Brown has retired. His last day as full-time city lakes program manager was Thursday, though he plans to work part-time as a consultant, teaming again with Bottroff, and be available for special projects.
Bottroff, however, isn't going anywhere, he insists, any time soon.
After 25 years as a fisheries biologist with the Department of Fish and Game (plus three as a seasonal aide) overseeing the San Diego lakes, 15 years with the city lakes, Bottroff could easily say he's had enough of checking and recording bass.
But he isn't.
"I'm just not ready to give it up yet," Bottroff said Wednesday at San Vicente, where he was – what else? – checking fishermen's catches. "I still feel 40, and I still really enjoy what I do. Jim doesn't, but I do.
"I'm going to try and hang in for a couple more years," added Bottroff, who will be 62 in August. "They told me they're going to phase this position out anyway by 2009, so I'm going to stay with it as long as I can."
A graduate of San Diego State, Bottroff made the Florida-strain largemouth bass his life's work. His master's thesis, "Intergradation of Florida Largemouth Bass and Northern Largemouth Bass in San Diego County," set the foundation for an outstanding career of public service to fishermen at both the state and city level.
Bottroff's research and work have been praised nationally, and he's one of the country's more respected experts on largemouth bass.
Brown was a big part of that work. He allowed Bottroff to use the city lakes as his laboratory. And now Bottroff will go on without Brown.
They met at Lower Otay Lake in the mid-1960s. Brown was managing the lake for the concessionaire, and Bottroff was beginning his life's work as a fisheries biologist.
Brown helped Bottroff with creel checks; Bottroff chipped in with Brown and cleaned boats. It was Bottroff who encouraged Brown to return to college for his degree, one that led to his being qualified to later run the entire lakes recreation program.
"From a personal standpoint, I hate to see Jim go," Bottroff said. "We've been together since 1966, back when he was just a pup kid. But I told him he's got to do what's best for him. I told him not to worry about the program. I think he could have done it a lot longer if he wouldn't have worried so much."
Bottroff, who was asked if he'd be interested in running the city lakes once before when Brown was considering leaving, wasn't asked this time. Probably because city officials knew his answer would be the same.
"I told them I wasn't interested," Bottroff said. "I told them they hired me as a biologist, and that's what I am."
Bottroff said the next city lakes manager, whether it's Brown's top assistant, Joe Weber, or Nelson Manville, chief of the ranger divers, will have the same problems that have existed for nearly a century.
"Whoever runs it will have to deal with fluctuating water levels, evaporation, park and recreation department and water department issues, the stuff that's been going on forever at the city lakes," Bottroff said.
The big change Bottroff said is that he and Brown have managed to get the City Water Department's engineers to at least ask them what the ramifications will be to the fishery if water levels are adjusted.
"We can tell them exactly what will happen when the water is going to fluctuate," Bottroff said. "That's the difference now. At least they ask. But we know the spawn, the recruitment, population cycles, all are based on water levels. If the fish don't have enough water, they don't do well."
Bottroff sees difficult times for the lakes recreation program as Southern California stretches into its fifth year of drought conditions.
Bottroff said the time will come for him to step away from his life's work, but it's not now. He'll continue to gather data, record it, and maybe some graduate student will choose to pick up where he left off.
"Every piece of information is written down and in files," Bottroff said. "There are files and summaries of every reservoir (with a fishing program, 10 in all) from every year since 1966. And there are copies of 32 papers I've written."
Bottroff still has all the fisheries data he acquired while working with the DFG, too. It's all there, Bottroff said, just waiting for a master's candidate who could use the information for a very special study of the history of Florida bass in Southern California.
As Bottroff talked, a youngster at the dock in a boat had a baby bass that he was going to use for bait. Bottroff told him nicely that baby bass were illegal to use as bait. So the youngster let it go, and it swam to the protection under the dock.
It joined up with thousands of tiny baby bass swimming.
"The bass had an excellent spawn this spring here," Bottroff said, knowing that some day soon he may electrofish them, clip them and record them.
The remaining half of the Brown-Bottroff duo is now Roseboro without Koufax or Joiner without Fouts. Brown exited saying he had other fish to fry. Bottroff still has more fish to check.
Ed Zieralski: (619) 293-1225 or ed.zieralski@uniontrib.com
Larry Bottroff, the city's longtime fisheries biologist, still has thousands of bass to check before he calls it a career
Ed Zieralski, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 21, 2003
City lakes biologist Larry Bottroff shows off a largemouth bass taken from San Vicente. Until his retirement last week, Bottroff managed the city's 10 fisheries with a hands-on approach that rivaled a jeweler over his gems. ED ZIERALSKI / Union-Tribune
They were like the perfect pitcher-catcher battery, the reliable quarterback-wide receiver connection, the winning golfer-caddie partnership.
That was Jim Brown and Larry Bottroff at the San Diego City Lakes for the last 29 years.
Brown, as the city lakes program manager, handled the many behind-the-scenes bureaucratic battles, pitching, throwing or hacking around the red tape.
Bottroff, first a fisheries biologist for the state and then the city, managed the city's 10 fisheries with a hands-on approach that rivaled a jeweler over his gems.
Brown once joked that Bottroff probably has handled every bass in every lake in the San Diego chain at one time or another.
If Bottroff didn't electroshock a bass during his many marathon census surveys in the wee hours of the morning or by the light of the moon, he checked it among hundreds at a bass tournament or at the dock for a single fisherman before it was released.
But now Brown has retired. His last day as full-time city lakes program manager was Thursday, though he plans to work part-time as a consultant, teaming again with Bottroff, and be available for special projects.
Bottroff, however, isn't going anywhere, he insists, any time soon.
After 25 years as a fisheries biologist with the Department of Fish and Game (plus three as a seasonal aide) overseeing the San Diego lakes, 15 years with the city lakes, Bottroff could easily say he's had enough of checking and recording bass.
But he isn't.
"I'm just not ready to give it up yet," Bottroff said Wednesday at San Vicente, where he was – what else? – checking fishermen's catches. "I still feel 40, and I still really enjoy what I do. Jim doesn't, but I do.
"I'm going to try and hang in for a couple more years," added Bottroff, who will be 62 in August. "They told me they're going to phase this position out anyway by 2009, so I'm going to stay with it as long as I can."
A graduate of San Diego State, Bottroff made the Florida-strain largemouth bass his life's work. His master's thesis, "Intergradation of Florida Largemouth Bass and Northern Largemouth Bass in San Diego County," set the foundation for an outstanding career of public service to fishermen at both the state and city level.
Bottroff's research and work have been praised nationally, and he's one of the country's more respected experts on largemouth bass.
Brown was a big part of that work. He allowed Bottroff to use the city lakes as his laboratory. And now Bottroff will go on without Brown.
They met at Lower Otay Lake in the mid-1960s. Brown was managing the lake for the concessionaire, and Bottroff was beginning his life's work as a fisheries biologist.
Brown helped Bottroff with creel checks; Bottroff chipped in with Brown and cleaned boats. It was Bottroff who encouraged Brown to return to college for his degree, one that led to his being qualified to later run the entire lakes recreation program.
"From a personal standpoint, I hate to see Jim go," Bottroff said. "We've been together since 1966, back when he was just a pup kid. But I told him he's got to do what's best for him. I told him not to worry about the program. I think he could have done it a lot longer if he wouldn't have worried so much."
Bottroff, who was asked if he'd be interested in running the city lakes once before when Brown was considering leaving, wasn't asked this time. Probably because city officials knew his answer would be the same.
"I told them I wasn't interested," Bottroff said. "I told them they hired me as a biologist, and that's what I am."
Bottroff said the next city lakes manager, whether it's Brown's top assistant, Joe Weber, or Nelson Manville, chief of the ranger divers, will have the same problems that have existed for nearly a century.
"Whoever runs it will have to deal with fluctuating water levels, evaporation, park and recreation department and water department issues, the stuff that's been going on forever at the city lakes," Bottroff said.
The big change Bottroff said is that he and Brown have managed to get the City Water Department's engineers to at least ask them what the ramifications will be to the fishery if water levels are adjusted.
"We can tell them exactly what will happen when the water is going to fluctuate," Bottroff said. "That's the difference now. At least they ask. But we know the spawn, the recruitment, population cycles, all are based on water levels. If the fish don't have enough water, they don't do well."
Bottroff sees difficult times for the lakes recreation program as Southern California stretches into its fifth year of drought conditions.
Bottroff said the time will come for him to step away from his life's work, but it's not now. He'll continue to gather data, record it, and maybe some graduate student will choose to pick up where he left off.
"Every piece of information is written down and in files," Bottroff said. "There are files and summaries of every reservoir (with a fishing program, 10 in all) from every year since 1966. And there are copies of 32 papers I've written."
Bottroff still has all the fisheries data he acquired while working with the DFG, too. It's all there, Bottroff said, just waiting for a master's candidate who could use the information for a very special study of the history of Florida bass in Southern California.
As Bottroff talked, a youngster at the dock in a boat had a baby bass that he was going to use for bait. Bottroff told him nicely that baby bass were illegal to use as bait. So the youngster let it go, and it swam to the protection under the dock.
It joined up with thousands of tiny baby bass swimming.
"The bass had an excellent spawn this spring here," Bottroff said, knowing that some day soon he may electrofish them, clip them and record them.
The remaining half of the Brown-Bottroff duo is now Roseboro without Koufax or Joiner without Fouts. Brown exited saying he had other fish to fry. Bottroff still has more fish to check.
Ed Zieralski: (619) 293-1225 or ed.zieralski@uniontrib.com
