DAN TREVAN / Union-Tribune
Anglers flocked to the lake's reopening in 2004.
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Although its recreational history is rich, it's the recreational droughts that give Sweetwater Reservoir such a bad reputation among those who would like more access for fishing and hunting in San Diego County.
Built in 1888, the reservoir was open to public fishing until World War II and waterfowl hunting until as late as 1928. The lake was closed to all recreation early in WWII to allow the Navy to do sonar testing.
Before that, famous local sportsmen such as Stanley Andrews hunted waterfowl there, back when San Diego was a hunting and fishing paradise, when good hunting was as close as a streetcar ride or a short walk.
Freeways like I-805 and I-5 and state routes 94 and 125 now lead fishermen to Sweetwater. Located between Spring Valley and Bonita, the reservoir once was run by the Cal-American Water Co., whose employees and friends had exclusive recreational access.
When the angling public did get back in for fishing in 2004, folks were limited to 2.5 miles of shoreline. That's approximately 15 percent of the shoreline, and in the lake's shallowest area, the southeast side.
David Martin of Spring Valley, one of the more than 1,000 anglers who showed up that historic day in 2004 to fish the lake's limited shoreline, said it best: “All this lake, and all they open is the armpit.”
The Sweetwater Authority took a lake that once allowed waterfowl hunting and fishing on the entire lake and locked anglers into a 2.5-mile box. This was recreation, Sweetwater Authority style: Shoreline fishing only, no float tubes, no kayaks, no wading. Loveland West.
Except for a few months a year when bass and crappie bite, the fishery is mostly a waste of time unless you like hiking and fishing in virtual solitude. That certainly is a plus here, and some do enjoy that, birding, wildlife watching and such.
Anglers such as Ray “Stinger” Montera found some of the better crappie fishing in the county here last spring and early summer. You can always catch carp or channel catfish or a stringer of bluegill if you work at it.
But who hasn't walked that small stretch of shoreline and wondered what this place would be like if politicians like Kile Morgan followed through on their promises for recreation they made in the late 1970s. The promises were part of the campaign to convince voters to make Sweetwater Authority the manager of the reservoir.
Morgan, National City's mayor, promised in 1977 that Sweetwater would be “a water sports mecca for boating, fishing and swimming.”
He didn't even go 1-for-3 on that promise, when you consider fishing is so limited there.
Give the Authority credit for trying. Plans were drawn up for a recreation program in 1985, but they were never implemented because of a lack of funding. After that, a slew of threatened and endangered species was found.
Somehow, weaving in and out of the environmental maze, the board of directors approved a new recreation plan in 2001 and won state grants to get it going. That money was used to improve the roads, build a 155-space parking lot and place portable toilets near the reservoir.
Today, it remains a lake with broken promises. Fishermen are still waiting for the public pier to be built.
Meantime, a short distance from Sweetwater are Lower and Upper Otay lakes, run by the city of San Diego and open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday for fishing and boating.
This is the 21st in a Saturday series on San Diego County's lakes. To see previous stories and a map of area lakes, go to uniontrib.com/sports/outdoors
