Cash on walls turns into over $3500 to stock fish at Sawmill Pond

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - If you've ever been inside Brother's Bar & Grill at the "Y" you most likely noticed all of the money taped to the walls and ceiling, anything with an open space had cash on it.

One day, local business owner was at Brother's having breakfast when he noticed all of the money was gone. He found out from owner Spencer Weiss that he had taken it all down and was now inside threes large garbage bag.

"It consumed the whole place," Weiss said of the cash over every inch of space. "It diminished the feel."

What does one do with bags full of cash?

Huber, a longtime member of the South Lake Tahoe Rotary Club, immediately knew what Weiss could do with it: Use the money to help the club buy fish to stock Sawmill Pond.

It took Huber seven San Francisco Giants games to go through the money in the bags that was wadded up, ripped and adorned with verbiage. He unfolded, cleaned up and taped together the hundreds of bills.

During a party at Brother's Bar & Grill Wednesday evening, the grand total of those bags of money was unveiled....$3,584! Tahoe Douglas Rotarians wanted to help out with the purchase of fish so presented a check of their own for $1,450. Their member Eric Watada got on the phone and gathered another $1,100 from his friends, and those in attendance chipped in a few hundred more.

After all was said and done, about $6,300 was raised to stock Sawmill Pond.

South Lake Tahoe Rotary was famous for their annual car raffle to fund the club's many projects, but changes in the California raffle laws prevented them from raising money in that fashion. They had to look for other ways to raise funds.

It costs at least $10,000 a year to stock Sawmill Pond with non-reproducing fish. All fish stocked into the Lake Tahoe are must be non-reproducing triploid trout because of the reintroduction of the Lahontan cuthroat trout into Lake Tahoe. To accomplish this the fish must be brought down from Oregon.

The relationship between SLT Rotary and Sawmill Pond began seven years ago. Since then, members of the club have installed benches and tables, cleaned up the area, and helped stock the fish.

It costs $2,000 for 500 pounds of the triploid. This is about all the pond will hole at any one time, expect before the spring Fishing Derby when much more goes in.

Victor Babbitt of Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters and a commissioner with the El Dorado Fish and Game Commission keeps an eye on the pond and orders the fish. Huber said the temperature and water flow has to be just right to add the triploids.

"Its a group effort at Sawmill between Fish and Game, Optimists and Rotary," said Huber. He said they've started fundraising on line to help sustain the efforts since they won't always have the walls of Brother's Bar & Grill to help fund the project.