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

Welcome to the world of email campaigns and DFG meetings. You might have a tough time because although better regs would certainly help the trophy bass fishery, it would be tough to organize public support for something like that. Truth is the DFG cares more about the public's recreation than the fishery itself. Hope you make some progress, it'll be interesting to see what happens.
-Brian

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.

Not to sound down about it, but giving people incentives probably wouldn't work at Pablo. A lot of these big bass that are brought to the marina and the main gate are still half alive when they get there but they are as good as dead. Encouraging people to bring them in, would just mean they would die since basically no one on shore or who is not specifically targeting bass will have any kind of livewell. A large number of the shore fisherman at Pablo really don't care what they catch I don't think. They just want something to put on the table. I saw 4 carp caught and kept the other day. I caught a fish in front of some of the guys who had just caught a carp and they asked me if they could have it. That's pretty much the attitude most of the time. Just get fish and put them on the stringer. Doesn't matter what kind of fish they are. Regulations that specifically make it illegal to keep trophy bass are just about the only thing I can see that would "fix" this.

So here is my first roadblock after sending my email earlier:

I will be out of the office from October 9th through 21st. If you need to contact someone regarding Fisheries Programs Branch issues, please contact Jim Hopelain at either jhopelai@dfg.ca.gov or (916) 445-3597.

Thanks for your patience,

Ed

So... I sent an email to Jim Hopelain and we'll go from there.

Yeah you're probably right. I wasn't really thinking of the fact that most guys that would kill a big bass aren't going to have the tools required to prove they released it... camera, scale, tape measure, livewell. You're gonna have to force these people to do the right thing. It's sad.

I know what you're saying about these guys that fish for anything that'll bite too. The funny thing is that most of these guys are in better position to catch a big bass than the average bass fisherman. If they used the right baits, things could be much worse!

Rob it is great to see someone trying doing something about these problems on trophy lakes. Fish and I and about everyone else are trying to do something like this on my home lake. Keep trying and someone will listen sometime. I wish I had more time to do this kinda thing myself. If you need any backing or any help I will back you up!:-) I truely hope that someday Ca DFG will listen to the trophy hunters and wake up to the way we feel.

C/R the trophys!


Josh Declusin

Fishing regulations are considered by the Fish and Game Commission on a two-year cycle during odd-numbered years. The deadline for submitting proposals this year was August 3. Your proposal is being forwarded to the Department's Reservoir Management Program for review and analysis. One of the biologists in that program will respond to you directly.

James Hopelain

-----------------------------------------------

So basically nothing will happen until sometime after August 2005 at the earliest. Which admittedly sucks. But I'm going to keep plugging away. The guy James cc'd Dennis Lee who Fish Chris knows and another guy Walt Beer. It will be interesting to talk to these guys.

If anything I am going to learn from this what is involved in pushing for regulation changes and what the odds are that things can actually change.

The DFG's Mission Statement is:

"The Mission of the Department of Fish and Game is to manage California's diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public."

I sure enjoy catching big bass and releasing them. And I'm defnitely part of the public. So call me optimistic, but maybe there is hope for this.

What your are trying to do is noble and just swimbait.But how did all those bass get to that size without the no kill rule in effect?So the lakes dident have all the presure they do know that some people,I wont mention any names have showen the world how well the bass fishing is up in the norcal.But now that all the presure is coming your way you want to change the rules to suite your personal situation.And if you think about it most of the presure that has and will come your way are hard sore bass fanatics that feel the same way you do about releasing big fish.So the real problem is the local fishing community that is lucky enough to have such great fisherys at hand.I hate to see big bass killed as much as any trophy hunter out there,but changeing rules that have been around for a long time to suite your pleasure not everyones is a little selfish in my honest opinion..It would be hard to enforce such rules,and even harder to inform all fishers of the rule.Its a good idea but those fish donot belong to you,they belong to the state of californias tax payers and if a guy wants to take a couple taods for the table,unfortunatly its his god givin right.Turnig the lake private would make more sense to me.Good luck though.Tight lines and good vibes,
Billy.

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.

Rob,
You hit the nail on the head with your last paragraph. Lakes need to be managed on an individual basis, depending on the various circumstances of each lake. I think the only exception to that would be the statewide crappie regs. Crappie are on such a downward spiral all across the state, I'd like to see the limits on them changed to a max of 10 with a minimum size of 10 inches.
Anyway, I'm really sorry to hear you've got spots in there. I consider them pests. Almost as bad as pike.

tight lines
Chris

As far as the DFG is concerned you are 1 voice. They will listen to you but that will be about it. You really need the support of BBAC. I would make it a point to contact them and see how they suggest this proceed. This is what they do and there good at it. They are here to support largemouth bass and the anglers.

just my $0.02

Cool, that is a great idea that I had not thought of at all. I'll send them a mail.

http://www.ncbf.com/dotcom/library/newview.shtml?1419

Here's an article from Dennis Lee on basically the topic that we are talking about here. Using size regulations to govern fisheries. Good reading.

Ok, we are getting somewhere.  I talked to a few people
including Dennis Lee a little bit.  To get a regulation change
on the books you have to submit your proposal in writing to
the DFG commision.  

Once you do that, they have a look at it and basically talk to
all the stakeholders, maybe make a compromise or modify it,
get data and whatnot and if it's approved it goes on the books
sometime after August 2005.  

So here is my proposed regulation, following the format of the
current regulations:

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fg_comm/2003/freshfish03.pdf

In Article 4 Section 5.00 under 'Individual Bodies of Water
With Special Black Bass Regulations'

Body of Water        Season       Regulation        Bag Limit

San Pablo Dam Res.   All Year     12 inch minimum        2
                                  None over 22"

I had originally thought that I would model it after Castaic,
but Castaic has an 18" minimum size... Not AT ALL what I
had in mind for Pablo.  

Next week I'll send the letter.  Probably won't hear anything
for a while, but I'll let you all know come August 2005.

I actually have to disagree.  I think the big bass fishery is
sustainable at San Pablo for a few reasons.  I've been fishing
San pablo for 5 years now, and the catch rate of bass has not
significantly decreased.  I think the reason the lake is top
heavy on bass is because San Pablo has one of the largest
stocking rates for trout and catfish.  The bass continually
feed on the trout and grow large at an astonishing pace. 
Furthermore, I don't think that many people keep bass at the
lake.  The main reason is because the lake is contaminated
with mercury, and most people who fish there know that eating
bass equates to eating mercury.  They are usually after the
trout and catfish which are stocked regularly and therefore
less likely to be contaminated.  Having said all of this, I
agree that something should be done about the trout fisherman
who catches a trophy bass on powerbait and then mounts it! 
I've never understood mounting fish; not only does the fish
give up it's life, but it's not even eaten!  WTF???