|
swimbait | Wed Oct-15-03 04:01 PM |
Charter member
9890 posts
| |
|
#3108, "Letter to the DFG regarding San Pablo"
|
Well here goes. I'm just one out of a couple million fisherman in this State, but I've sat on my ass complaining about things long enough so it's time to stop complaining and start trying to do something. As many big fish come out of San Pablo Dam, I believe the lake is really in trouble. The fish population is unbelievably top heavy and factors like carp, spotted bass, dropping water during the spawn, and catch and kill of trophy bass is going to make us all look back in a few years and say "REMEMBER WHEN SAN PABLO USED TO BE SO GOOD".
So I don't know where to start, but DFG's website says that for questions on regulations, you should email epert@dfg.ca.gov, so I did and here's what I said. I'll keep you all posted on what we find out. I fully expect that I will get no where with this, but you don't know for sure until you try!
I am writing to find out how one would go about pushing for a change in regulations at a specific lake. Specifically, I am hoping to bring about regulation changes at San Pablo Dam Reservoir to protect the trophy bass fishery there.
I am not a biologist, but I do spend a lot of time at San Pablo Dam and I believe that while this lake is unquestionably one of the best trophy largemouth bass lakes in the world, it is also in need of protection.
There are several factors that combine to cause a low survival rate among small bass at San Pablo Dam.
1. Predation by carp. There is a tremendous carp population at San Pablo that preys on the bass eggs during the spawn. Something should be done to reduce the number of carp in the lake. Bow fishing is not legal at the lake and the carp are largely unmolested and allowed to reproduce in great numbers. 2. The introduction (illegally) of Spotted Bass. In the past 3 years I have watched the Spotted Bass population increase steadily. Although it will be basically impossible to remove Spots from the lake, it is increasingly going to cause the Largemouth population to decline.
3. Dropping water during the prime spawning months of March through June. The majority of San Pablo fish spawn in April and May. The fish spawn in very shallow water due to the poor water clarity. When the lake is dropped 2 or 3 feet, it can and has ruined the spawn at Pablo very severly.
4. Catch and kill of large bass by anglers not targeting bass. On a typical spring day, 100 to 300 anglers are fishing at San Pablo. Although many of them do not catch any bass, in a typical week during the Spring anywhere from 1 to 3 large bass over 6 pounds are caught and killed. This includes several extremely large bass in the past 3 years including at least 4 bass over 17lbs.
On the other hand, San Pablo Dam is a very healthy lake in terms of bass forage. Trout, shad, silversides, crawdads, bluegill, crappie, goldfish, etc are plentiful. Given the chance, Largemouth Bass grow very large and are extremely fat and healthy in the lake.
I really believe that if regulations were put in place to limit the take of Largemouth bass to two fish per day, none exceeding 20 inches in length, it would help with the overall number of bass in the lake, and make it possible for the largest trophy bass (which I believe there are actually not very many of in the lake over 16 pounds) to grow even larger. I personally caught an 18.0 pound bass this year at San Pablo, released it, and the same fish was caught again 5 months later at 17.8 pounds and released again. Just between myself and a few friends, we have caught and released the same individual bass no fewer than 4 times in the past 2 years. As great as this is, it's also a sign that the actual number of large bass in San Pablo is smaller than people might think.
I know that the anglers in the State of California have their rights to take Largemouth Bass for the dinner table. But maybe at San Pablo, they could get by on the trout and catfish. And maybe with a little help, San Pablo dam, which to my knowledge has had almost no management of the bass fishery, could produce the largest bass ever caught in Northern Califorina.
If the person who receives this email can’t personally do anything about the regulations, could you please point me in the right direction as far as who I should talk to. I've never tried to pursue this type of thing before.
Thanks and Regards,
-Rob Belloni Webmaster: www.calfishing.com
|
|
|
|
RE: Letter to the DFG regarding San Pablo,
brian,
Oct 15th 2003, #1
RE: Letter to the DFG regarding San Pablo,
Phil,
Oct 15th 2003, #2
RE: Letter to the DFG regarding San Pablo,
swimbait,
Oct 15th 2003, #3
RE: Letter to the DFG regarding San Pablo,
Phil,
Oct 15th 2003, #4
RE: Letter to the DFG regarding San Pablo,
Josh D,
Oct 15th 2003, #5
OK So here is the next step,
swimbait,
Oct 16th 2003, #6
RE: OK So here is the next step,
woodchucker,
Oct 16th 2003, #7
RE: OK So here is the next step,
swimbait,
Oct 16th 2003, #8
RE: OK So here is the next step,
Chris,
Oct 16th 2003, #9
This is why we have BBAC,
Lake,
Oct 17th 2003, #10
RE: This is why we have BBAC,
swimbait,
Oct 17th 2003, #11
Timely Article,
swimbait,
Oct 17th 2003, #12
Update 10/23/03,
swimbait,
Oct 23rd 2003, #13
RE: Update 10/23/03,
fishinnorcal,
Nov 18th 2003, #14
| |
  |
Phil | Wed Oct-15-03 04:45 PM |
Charter member
1347 posts
| |
|
#3111, "RE: Letter to the DFG regarding San Pablo"
In response to Reply # 1
|
I really hope the DFG hears you on this one. Although i've never had the privilige of fishing San Pablo, it sickens me to hear about the trophy bass that have been caught and killed out of there.
Obviously, getting a regulation passed is the best way of going about this, but what if that doesn't work? Do you think people would respond differently if there was some sort of incentive to releasing a trophy bass. If you think about it, we see the benefits of realeasing the largest bass, but others don't. If a meat hunter goes to the lake looking to catch some dinner and catches a 17lb bass, he succeded. If he let's it go, what's in it for him? Maybe the lake could offer free passes to someone who releases a bass over a certain size. Or hell, give them a gift cert. to a nice resteraunt. That's what they're after right? I have no idea if this would work or how to go about it, but maybe it would be worth a try if the reg doesn't work. I know I would donate to a fund like this at my local lakes if I thought a 10+lb bass would live because of it.
|
|
|
|
    |
swimbait | Thu Oct-16-03 01:22 PM |
Charter member
9890 posts
| |
|
#3120, "RE: OK So here is the next step"
In response to Reply # 7
Thu Oct-16-03 01:30 PM by swimbait
|
I hear what you are saying. I said in my email that I realize that the State has mandated that it is a fisherman's right to catch and keep 5 bass over 12" per day at most lakes in California. But I'm saying, why do I have to accept this law? Just because it's the law? Just because it's the way it always has been? Because some commission somewhere at some point in time decided 12" was a good length and 5 was a good number. I'm ready to say hey, let's stop and re-think this.
Is it a selfish motivation to want people to release big bass? You bet. Absolutely. I want to catch big bass, I admit it 100%. The way I see it is like this. If you want bass for the table, why not go where bass are plentiful. Delta, Oroville, Shasta, Nacimiento, Clear Lake, etc etc? What if the State stepped in and said hey... we have a lot of different type of bass fisheries here in CA and let's manage them to suit the needs of different groups of anglers. Maybe make the limit 15 spotted bass in lakes like Oroville and Shasta. Maybe say the limit is 2 bass and no big bass at lakes like Pablo, Rancho, etc. A law like this sure would have helped lakes like Castaic and Isabella which from what I understand had a lot of giant bass caught and killed in the past. For a lot of lakes and rivers, 5 12" bass or greater per day is probably just fine and it should stay the same.
Understand also that I am not nearly so worried about the actual bass fisherman at Pablo as I am the trout/catfish/carp fisherman who regularly catch and kill big bass at the lake. Do I kick myself every day for "showing the world" about the big bass in Nor-Cal. I DO, believe me. Do you see my reports on here any more? No, you sure don't. The thing is, there really are 50 to 100 shore fisherman at Pablo on an average weekend year round. And in the spring, it's double that. It tears my frickin heart out to see the pics of 17's and 18's dead at the marina. That's why I'm doing this.
One bit of information I did not mention about San Pablo, is that there are simply not very many bass at all in that lake. If you did a bass per acre type survey, the numbers would be very low I believe. Not just of large bass, but of all sizes of bass. I catch almost as many bass over 7lbs at Pablo as I do under 7lbs. I almost never see 1 and 2 pound largemouths. I probably caught 5 or 6 fish this size all year there. If you want to know how I really feel, I think the lake should be fully catch and release on bass. Since that's unrealisitc, I'm shooting for a compromise where people get to keep some bass, but not 5 bass, and not any giant bass.
We all know that lakes are each unique and different. What if the regulations governing the lakes were suited to the lakes themselves? I think you can still respect people's rights to take fish home for the table if you work things out with compromise.
|
|
|
|
|
|
© Copyright Robert Belloni 1997-2012. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without express written consent.
|