Upper Pine Creek flows year round. Eagle Lake Trout are known to make the journey upstream to spawn. It is my understanding, and I could be wrong, is the brook trout feast upon the eggs of the Eagle Lake trout—hence why some want to eradicate the brook trout.
One of the last places that FGSC logged was Crater Mountain and when they did it proved a road to the lake and a place for the Brook trout to be deposited. Not sure of the year but I think starting in 1954, 55, and maybe 1956 each spring the C.A.F.G.when the flow was high they would come in with an electric shock machine and remove as many Brook Trout as they could get. Place them in a tank truck and haul them to Crater Lake. When the small fish hit the lake they grew very fast because of the vast amount of food supply. One of the best kept secrets of Lassen County for many years.
I hope you don’t think I am a know it all but I lived some of this and went to the meetings at the Fair Ground that the County and Fish & Game held on Pine Creek and Eagle Lake. In the mid 50’s we would ride our bikes to Bogard Flat from Westwood and catch the hug trout caught in the borrow pit ponds along side the Western Pacific railroad tracks. What was left in later years in the spring the F& G would net and return to Eagle. This was after 1956 when this all stopped and I guess with dry years and so on no one wondered why. It did end the brook trout problem! After years of reduced flows they did a stream check and found some where East of Champs Flat a stock raiser had taken a cat and flattened the stream bed and made stock water ponds. Which held most of the water back. I can’t remember the date but in the mid 90’s money was set a side to repair the damage and as far as I know that has been done.
I have helped electroshock upper pine creek and bogard creek and collect brook trout. Brookies are pretty voracious and certainly out compete the eagle lakers in that water shed. In bogard creek we killed the brookies but upper pine creek was concidered a “control” so the brookies were measured and put back. I never understood why they would want to put them back if they harm the eagle lakers, they all need to be removed.