Lake Sonoma, Ca.

[sschefer]

When I was down at Outdoor Pro Shops in Cotati, Ca., this morning I heard a rumour that DFG's marine biologists are studying Lake Sonoma with the hopes of introducing Rainbow Trout, Landlocked Silver and Coho Salmon. I thought about this for a while and I think what they may be really doing is testing for support of Kokanee Salmon since that is an udisputable sport fish and would be easiest to introduce and maintain. The lake already supports the Steelhead that became landlocked when the dam was built and the population has been able to maintain itself despite an incredibly stupid high limit. It wasn't until recently that they lowered the limit to 2 per day 4 in possession. The Steelies should be on the comeback soon.

Anyway, if it's true, it sparks a little hope that Lake Sonoma may just become a premier all around fishing spot in the future.

For those of you that don't know, the lake was designed to support multi-species fishing with water sports being secondary and only in tightly controlled areas. It's a 2,700 surface acre lake when full and it should be able to offer up some world class fishing but it doesn't. For some reason (likely political) DFG just let this lake go and now it's to the point where if you don't know how to fish it, you're going home empty handed. It took me two years to figure out the small and limited fish pattern. Once you know it you can do o.k. I'm close enough to get up early on a Sunday, go fish, and be home in time for lunch. If I lived any further away and wasn't OCD I probably wouldn't fish it based on the fishing reports. I definitely wouldn't fish it more than twice before giving up and going elsewhere.

This study, if it's actually happening, could turn this lake around. I'm going off to do some more digging about this but if anyone knows for sure, please respond with a He11 Ya! Bout Time!!!

 

[sschefer]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

I see I've had 100 views so I guess I'll keep you updated. I spent a couple of hours on the California DFG site and dug up some info. The short version is that DFG got sued because they were releasing hatchery fish into waters that contained a threatened species, the steelhead. It hard to figure where the Coho and Chinook salmon come into play other than all three are raised at the Lake Sonoma hatchery.

Here's where it gets interesting. The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the lake and was ordered by law to maintain the hatchery to replace the fish in the russian river that would have been there had the dam not been built. ACOE hired DFG to run the hatchery and fullfill that mandate. I'm guessing that ACOE was untouchable in the law suit so DFG took the hit but ACOE is still required, by law to produce the fish. So what do you do with all these fish that no longer have a place to go. Well, you can't stop producing them because that would break the law so I guess they're going to put them in the lake.

It actually goes a lot deeper and makes sense why the genetically different hatchery fish can't be put into the river. I was struct by this as being stupid at first but after I looked further into it I have to agree with the lawsuit and decision.

For the longest time we've been told that hatchery fish don't produce offspring. Well that's bunk because they do and it's been proven in several instances. These hatchery fish are not of the same gene pool as the true native fish that return to the river every other year to spawn. When the natives return and mix with the hatchery fish the entire ecology of the river changes and the result is that the native steelhead is now on the threatened species list and the threat is the hatchery fish.

The up side of all this is that I'll now have a decent lake that's within 1/2 hour of my house that I can go to and fish for Salmon, Steelhead, Trout and Bass. It could well be a major boon for fisherman and the local economies. Maybe now they've got a reason to start paying attention to this lake as a fishery.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

It actually goes a lot deeper and makes sense why the genetically different hatchery fish can't be put into the river.

Why don't they milk some fish from the river and start raising "native" fish at the hatchery?

 

[sschefer]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

They have the steelhead in the Russian River on the threatened species list. It appears that they can't touch them. I think I understand the logic in that the hatchery raised fish are not native and introducing them back into the river changes the behaviour of the native fish over time. THey want the natives to restore themselves back to what they were. This is where the logic gets out of whack because that river has been planted since the original laws that were put into place back in the 1800's. I sincerely doubt that there is a truly native fish anywhere in that River.

 

[sschefer]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

Gonna make a few phone calls in between work today. I'd really like to find out what's truly going on. I hate speculation and that's all I'm able to do at this point.

 

[sschefer]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

No new news here, I'm trying to figure out if the EIR is complete yet or not.

 

[ngt]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

After hearing about it more last night, I'm interested. Good luck out there in the morning too!

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

Too, too bad that hole isn't closer to me... I'd show y'all how to do a slaughter on the water with a 1/16 jig head and a 2" grub!

... so you say these fish are "off limits"? That doesn't apply to us Rednecks........ as long as they taste like chicken!

 

[sschefer]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

Too, too bad that hole isn't closer to me... I'd show y'all how to do a slaughter on the water with a 1/16 jig head and a 2" grub!

... so you say these fish are "off limits"? That doesn't apply to us Rednecks........ as long as they taste like chicken!

LOL, yeah the have game wardens watching like vultures. They won't hesitate to arrest and the judges won't think twice about revoking your licesnse. California pretty much sux in general but in these cases its really stupidly bad.

 

[sschefer]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

Eric, I did o.k. this morning. I ran into a guy I knew at the dock and he said the bass were headed up to spawn. That meant that the steelies would up near Yorty and Cherry also. I really just wanted to run the boat and test out the trolling motor so I was fishing but not with any great effort. I have to tell ya, MinnKota nailed it with the iPilot trolling motors. The hold feature where it acts like an anchor suprised me when it spun me around and put me into the wind. I'm sure that wasn't anything it was smart enough to do but it did it twice and then held me within 5 feet of where I wanted to be. I should probably read the book again.

Amyway, I picked up a few smallies and ran around the boat with the new ultra light setup which was fun. That's going to take some getting used to. I'm not sure where the line break point is yet so I'm sure I'm not working it like I should.

 

[ngt]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

A morning catching fish is better than a morning not. Glad you liked your new setup and thanks for the heads up on the steelies. Very cool option on the trolling motor too. Sounds like a good trip to me.

 

[Jlawsen]

Re: Lake Sonoma, Ca.

Update - Nothing new about the Lake. Wind has been blowing and that lake takes a beating so I've been staying away. I'm heading up North for a couple of months of fishing on the 16th. I've got a few meetings with some DFG folks about a few items that I work on in my spare time so I'll see if I can pry the info on Lake Sonoma out of them.