Drought and fishing?

[Darth-Baiter]

There is only one ramp open at Clearlake CA to boats.  Crazy!  And it’s nearing closure as well. 

 

so as a kayaker, what do you think?  This fall, if we don’t get enough rain to open some Ramps to boats.  What does that mean?  The lower fishing pressure means we will do well?  Or the drought itself will shut them down?

 

I’m rooting for a deluge.  I want lots of rain. I don’t mind boat traffic. 

 

 

[schplurg]

Haven't been there since I was a kid. Saw a Greg Blanchard vid recently where Clear Lake is "historically low". Funny because it looks full compared to most lakes. What is it 10 feet down?

 

Some lakes will stay open probably. New Melones dug out a new ramp so boats can launch. That lake was down 80 feet 4 months ago when I was there.

 

For me the Delta is going to be what keeps me in California, if anything can, at least until it's ruined too. If we have another dry year I will move away, possibly Oregon where my family is, and plenty of fishable water. Not my first choice but Cali is pushing me away.

[PressuredFishing]

1 hour ago, schplurg said:

Haven't been there since I was a kid. Saw a Greg Blanchard vid recently where Clear Lake is "historically low". Funny because it looks full compared to most lakes. What is it 10 feet down?

 

Some lakes will stay open probably. New Melones dug out a new ramp so boats can launch. That lake was down 80 feet 4 months ago when I was there.

 

For me the Delta is going to be what keeps me in California, if anything can, at least until it's ruined too. If we have another dry year I will move away, possibly Oregon where my family is, and plenty of fishable water. Not my first choice but Cali is pushing me away.

yeah its becoming a problem, we need to get out of this drought and its getting really really bad for alot of the lakes down here in SOCAL, I think norcal is doing a little bit better but not by much, all the lakes that are near me are having clean water pumped in to keep them from basicially going dry, if it wernt for the enviornmental laws, quite a few of my favorite lakes would be drained.

2 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

There is only one ramp open at Clearlake CA to boats.  Crazy!  And it’s nearing closure as well. 

 

so as a kayaker, what do you think?  This fall, if we don’t get enough rain to open some Ramps to boats.  What does that mean?  The lower fishing pressure means we will do well?  Or the drought itself will shut them down?

 

I’m rooting for a deluge.  I want lots of rain. I don’t mind boat traffic. 

 

 

sadly, I do not think we will see a deluge this year, I hope im wrong but, I dont see it happening, california has a water crisis and its getting really bad, I think they need to build really deep resavoirs that get a LOT of runoff for them to maintain themselves, because all of my local lakes are taking a NET loss  from the last few years.

[WRB]

Clear Lake is the largest natural lake within California boarder.

The ability to raise it comes from a wooden dam called Rumsey, they add boards to rise about 7’ above it’s natural high water line.

Rain is the only source from the watershed.

Tom

[NorcalBassin]

Melones is almost 160ft below full pool at this point. When it got even lower than this a few years ago I found the fishing to still be really good as long as they weren't dumping too much water. Right now it's going down 4-6"/day and the fishing has been tougher than usual most days. The water level at Clear Lake is much more stable (less loss/day), and having most boats and tourneys off the water should make for great kayak fishing. 

[schplurg]

1 hour ago, NorcalBassin said:

Melones is almost 160ft below full pool at this point. When it got even lower than this a few years ago I found the fishing to still be really good as long as they weren't dumping too much water. Right now it's going down 4-6"/day and the fishing has been tougher than usual most days. The water level at Clear Lake is much more stable (less loss/day), and having most boats and tourneys off the water should make for great kayak fishing. 

 

 

Wow double since I was there. Here is a screenshot from a video four months ago when it was about 80 feet (my cousin)...

 

It's double this now at 160 feet? Wow that is scary. It gets up to 500 feet deep. Thank goodness. The released water provides a good bit of electricity and feeds "my Dad's" lake.

 

I drove over Lake Shasta two months ago and it was even worse. I think. Hardly any snow on Mt. Shasta either. None now I believe.

 

My hopes for Cali and water next year are grim. The desert wants Cali back.

[Hammer 4]

We Need Rain, and Badly.

[MN Fisher]

24 minutes ago, Hammer 4 said:

We Need Rain, and Badly.

MInnesota is in the same boat - while the Twin Cities area is only classified as "Moderate Drought", up in the Red Lake area they're classified as in "Exceptional Drought" with most of northern MN in "Extreme Drought".

[Darth-Baiter]

Wow.  It’s kinda rainy.  Later this Afternoon it will be here.  !

[NorcalBassin]

19 hours ago, schplurg said:

It's double this now at 160 feet? Wow that is scary. It gets up to 500 feet deep. Thank goodness. The released water provides a good bit of electricity and feeds "my Dad's" lake.

That's the only silver lining, especially now that most of the lake lice is off the water there until next summer. It is a nice change to go there and fish a lake nearly at full pool.

 

Tuttletown is already well down the 3rd (lowest) ramp and there's only about another 22 feet before it's out of the water. If they don't slow the rate they're sending the water through we'll likely be losing lake access from this side in late October/early November. 

[cyclops2]

With both poles having melted most ice.    Why not record rains all over the world ?

[schplurg]

Ocean levels have risen as a result of melting polar ice. I want to be careful though about getting into a climate change discussion because "Irene" will probably come along and close the thread.

 

Just went to a local lake, Calero, to check it out. Good-ish news.

 

It's open, not incredibly low, and is only 8 bucks including vessel inspection (kayak). Small lake but this time of year there will be few pleasure craft. Gonna yak it tomorrow.

[WRB]

Apparently Salmon and Steelhead can swim up dry river beds, bass need water?

Tom

[TnRiver46]

On 9/17/2021 at 9:45 PM, schplurg said:

If we have another dry year I will move away, possibly Oregon where my family is, and plenty of fishable water.

If?? I mean I’m no psychic but……. aren’t they all dry years in California?

[WRB]

11 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

If?? I mean I’m no psychic but……. aren’t they all dry years in California?

Yes, wet years are less common the dry years along the California coast. California is basically 2 states geographically weather wise. We have 2 opposing ocean currents, Southern Humbolt and Northern Arctic current. Warm water vs cold water creating very different storm potential along 1,000 miles of coastline.

California has a history of drought cycles and wet cycles. Mega Drought cycles occur where less then 6” of annual rain fall over 100 to 250 year time periods*. Average rain fall is 14” and we have been within average the past 100 years. 

If we are entering a Mega Drought cycle life as we know it will change drastically. 

Tom

* 850AD to 1100AD & 1200AD to 1300AD.

 

[Zippo Guy]

Lake Oroville is at 628.65 feet today,  down from 900 feet when full. The electrical power plant was shut down for the first time over a month ago. All boat ramps have been closed for about the same time. The shore has about 30 feet of very soft mud between the water where you can stand to fish.

 

We have a walk of about 40 yards over very fine dust, then plywood planks down a steep slope to get to a ramp where the shuttle comes by to take us out to our houseboat. They took out over 80 houseboats out of the lake at the beginning of summer in anticipation of this problem. The houseboats are now very close together and bang into each other as they swing on their buoys. It is maybe a 50 yard hike up the steep paved ramp to get to where you can park your vehicle. This is still the middle of September and no rain in sight for the foreseeable future. Yes,  there is a draught in California. 

[schplurg]

13 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

If?? I mean I’m no psychic but……. aren’t they all dry years in California?

 

Getting consistently drier. Two years ago many of these lakes were full, including my local ones. It comes and goes as Tom said, but it's getting worse.

 

And as it gets drier things burn. Last year we all breathed a lot of toxic smoke filled air for months, who knows what was in it. I'm seeing less reason to stay here. In fact I see little reason to, for me personally.

 

The Delta will be affected as well if we don't have enough snowpack for the rivers. The salt from the bay could flow further into the Delta and screw up the farmlands there and it would be a literal disaster. We can drain lakes to keep the rivers flowing, but there goes our water. And the lakes are low, of course.

 

This dryness also has resulted in power being shut off for millions of people for several days, including our entire town, for fear of fires starting from the electrical "grid" being overloaded.

 

Yep we are in big trouble.

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, WRB said:

Yes, wet years are less common the dry years along the California coast. California is basically 2 states geographically weather wise. We have 2 opposing ocean currents, Southern Humbolt and Northern Arctic current. Warm water vs cold water creating very different storm potential along 1,000 miles of coastline.

California has a history of drought cycles and wet cycles. Mega Drought cycles occur where less then 6” of annual rain fall over 100 to 250 year time periods*. Average rain fall is 14” and we have been within average the past 100 years. 

If we are entering a Mega Drought cycle life as we know it will change drastically. 

Tom

* 850AD to 1100AD & 1200AD to 1300AD.

 

Wow. Average is 14”/year? That’s crazy dry. Seems like a lot of areas on the east coast can get 14” in a week from time to time 

[WRB]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Wow. Average is 14”/year? That’s crazy dry. Seems like a lot of areas on the east coast can get 14” in a week from time to time 

14” to supply nearly 40 million people and massive agriculture industry.

California wars are historic.

Tom

[NorcalBassin]

CA's precipitation is highly variable based on latitude and elevation. I'm in the lower elevations of the Sierras (3500') and we average 40-45" of rain/yr. Problem is nearly all of our rain falls between Nov-April, so things dry up real quick in the summer especially when there's not much of a snowpack. Going from nearly full to 160ft down over the course of just a couple years has been much in part due to gross mismanagement of the state's water storage reservoirs. Lots of politics involved so I'll just leave it at that.

[king fisher]

Eastern WA is going through the worst drought in recorded history.  Last winters snow pack in the mountains was above average, so if you are a fisherman fishing any of the Columbia river drainage system, the water levels are almost normal.  Same with the farms in the Columbia River Basin, that irrigate their crops from the Columbia Reservoirs.  No effect from the drought.  

        If you fish further east on natural lakes and rivers not fed by the Cascade mountains you will see the effect of the drought.  There are small lakes south of Spokane that have completely dried up for the first time any one can remember.  Dry land crops were a complete failure, and no one can plant winter wheat until rain comes because their is zero moisture in the ground for the seed to sprout.  One bad year does not make a dust bowl.  Hopefully next spring everyone will be complaining about to much water.

      Here in Nayarit Mexico we had the worst drought in many years.    The fishing at my favorite lake was unbelievably good because of the low water, but the local commercial fisherman and I were afraid of a big die off, and bad times to come, if the drought continued.  Fortunately  the rainy season came early and the region is having the most rain any one can remember.  It all worked out well.  Low water made the fishing great, and the rains came in time to save the fishery.  Hopefully the Western US will have similar luck.   

[TnRiver46]

Middle TN received 8.7” of rain in the last two days 

[schplurg]

Not good news...

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/24/us/southwest-drought-forecast-climate-change/index.html

 

"NOAA's latest projections show a 70& to 80% chance of La Niña emerging during the Northern Hemisphere winter season. With La Niña conditions coupled with warming temperatures, DeWitt said the Southwest will see enhanced evaporation that will intensify drought in certain places."

[Smalls]

Here in NM we had lakes that didn't have a single boat ramp til about a month ago. Less water means fish have less hiding spots from me ?‍♂️.

 

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

5 minutes ago, Smalls said:

Here in NM we had lakes that didn't have a single boat ramp til about a month ago. Less water means fish have less hiding spots from me ?‍♂️.

 

 

You ever heard of morphy lake around mora ?

5 minutes ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

You ever heard of morphy lake around mora ?

The reason I ask is I’m vacationing  in coyote creek around guadalupita and wanted to check it out.