[jjallen]

This doesn't provide an answer for lakes.

But I always thought the explanation was eggs randomly getting stuck to bird feet. Or maybe a bird carries a fish with eggs up there and eats it or something. Inevitably it happens though...

[wil421]

Lakes have connected rivers and streams that provide paths for fish and eggs to move around. There are human and animal activities that affect this. Your bird example and beavers causing floods could allow movement.

[jmalicki]

Isolated alpine lakes do not have connected rivers and streams, yet a ton are stocked with fish by humans.

Is it unbelievable that ancient hunter-gatherers would do the same thing?

[jerf]

A lot of people are unaware of how much husbandry hunter-gatherers still did. They may not have been farmers, with field plantings, weeding, and harvest seasons designed to maximize every acre under production, but they weren't stupid and still spent time to bend the world around them to the task of providing them more resources than it would have on its own. On a bang-for-the-buck basis they often did better than the farmers, it's just that without farming you can't get that density and net return.

This looks like a good overview paper for interested folk: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3048989/

[wil421]

We are on the same side. I’ve been trying to show the difference between natural water processes and some else like birds or humans spreading fish.

[jjallen]

So many lakes do not have rivers flowing in and out. A low spot in an area will become a lake.

Many do have rivers; many don't. Ponds even more so don't have attached rivers.

[darknavi]

"Life finds a way"

- Dr. Ian Malcolm