I looked up some stuff on Lake Dixon and found that August water temps down to 15 feet were at 82.9 degrees above the lethal threshold for trout. I have no idea if Lake Dixon stratifies but it must have O2 at deeper depths to support those trout. I also saw where CDFW were stocking 33,000 pounds of trout into Lake Dixon per year, keep in mind Lake Dixon is only 70 acres. That's a lot of cash which most of us just don't have the means to do.
Spicelane, CDFW isn't actually stocking forage. It isn't the intention to feed LMB but rather to provide RBT fishing opportunity to fishermen. The fish are too big except for a very small segment of the LMB population. Some of the weight stocked is just too big to eat like the 2 to 8 pounders. Fishermen remove most of the fish anyway. There is no catch and release of trout there. Anyone stocking like CDFW to feed their LMB would be paying the stupid tax.
Trout are an excellent winter and spring forage that is affordable for most to do. The way to do it properly is to stock small RBT. Overton's here doesn't handle them any more and I can't remember if they were 4" to 6" or 6" to 8". But a year or two ago they could be bought for $16/lb. The appropriate stocking rate is a weight where the loss of weight of predation is replaced by normal weight gain. So you start with a given weight and the standing weight of the RBT slowly grows as they grow and LMB consume them. The consumption is limited and predictable. At the end of the season you still have a similar weight of RBT ranging in sizes from 9" to 13" but the LMB have consumed several times the starting weight of the stocking. The cost including feed for the consumed forage is < $4 lb and if you want ... at the start of April ... you can harvest the larger RBT for your own consumption.
