Southern California trout fishermen will begin feeling the effects this week of the lawsuit the Department of Fish and Game lost over its fish stocking practices.

According to the DFG Web site, only one region of the state this week is scheduled for DFG hatchery trout, Region 4, the Central Region that serves Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Stanlislaus, Tulare and Tuolumne counties. All of the other five regions are not scheduled to receive trout.

A spokeswoman for the DFG said yesterday that the DFG was “limited in moving forward” with trout stocking, but “not completely ceasing stocking fish.”

In a compromise reached last week with the Center for Biological Diversity and the Pacific Rivers Group, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the DFG agreed to limit its stocking. The DFG said it would stock only man-made reservoirs with 1,000 or more surface acres, or waters that aren't connected to streams in which stocked trout could impact a list of 27 “sensitive native aquatic and amphibian species,” that were part of the lawsuit.

Here in San Diego County, it's clear that the only lakes eligible for DFG stocked trout based on the current criteria are El Capitan with 1,574 surface acres, Lower Otay at 1,266 surface acres and Lake Morena at 1,500 surface acres. San Vicente and Hodges also are over 1,000 surface acres, but they're closed, with San Vee being closed for six to nine years for the raising of the dam. El Capitan doesn't get stocked with trout.

Based on the DFG's restrictions, Chollas, Cuyamaca, Doane Pond, Lindo Lake and Murray – which all received trout earlier this year – won't be stocked with DFG trout until the DFG sorts out its liability issues for stocking trout. The DFG is due back in court next Monday.

Farther north, Diamond Valley Lake is 4,500 surface acres, but it is not scheduled to receive trout this week from the DFG.