Ca Dfg Urggggg !!!!

[Fish Chris]

Okay, for starters, the Ca DFG, does less for our fish and game, with more money spent, than any other Dept of F/G that I know of ! They are constantly shutting down programs, but continue to make even more laws that they can't enforce, which only makes it harder for the honest fishermen

But here's the latest;

Since Striped Bass were imported from the East coast 130 years ago, they have become one of the most prized sportfish on the West coast. The size and possession limit has been two, at 18" or more, forever, and that was fine.

But now, after all this time, the Ca DFG has decided that Stripers are a problem, to some little endangered Delta Smelt + Salmon and Steelhead. Well, here's the thing > I don't doubt that the Delta Smelt + the Salmonids are hurting, but nearly all the evidence points to other causes for their decline, mostly, the fact that we send so much of our freshwater down to So Cal

The Ca DFG's answer ? The Striped Bass eradication plan ! Yes, you read this correctly. The Ca DFG is currently working on measures to reduce current Striper populations in both size and number. Their first plan of attack is to change the possession limit from 2 to 10, and the size from 18" to 12" !

IMPO, this is absolutely ridiculous. My biggest hope, is that this plan, will be an even bigger FAIL than many / most of the other plans the CA DFG has taken on. Heck, we already have LOTS of poachers taking 50, 10" fish per day as it is, then you have the guys like me, who regardless of size and possession limits, still wouldn't keep more than 1 or 2, 10 to 15 lb'ers anyway.

Their have been countless studies done to show the effectiveness (or often, non-effectiveness) of F/G regs, when people don't choose to follow them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know, it's one thing when your DFG does little or nothing, to protect your fishing resources, but it's quite another when they launch an all out direct assault on them !!!! This REALLY makes it hard for me to buy a license.

Urggggg....

Fish

Ca DFG = EPIC FAIL !

[00 mod]

Sounds like a bad deal, but if you are correct in their failures in the past, lets hope this one is as well! Keep up the fishing and let us know how this turns out!

Jeff

[J Francho]

I think you will just end up with bigger, older stripers in lower quantities. Their trout and salmon fishery is in serious jeopardy, and they are desperate to fix it. From what I've read, it's mostly a habitat issue. Write your leaders, and tell them to get rid of all the dams.

[BigEbass]

yeah, I live in Alabama...we have some water issues here between alabama, GA, and FL...but I have read that out in yall's neck of the woods, the H20 issues are huge...read somewhere that LA can really only sustain like 3 million folks based on its water resources, but yall send water from like 1000 miles away (northern CA) and from other places to achieve sustain the urban population.

[Grey Wolf]

It's stupidity like this(ERADICATION PLANS OF ANY SORT) that makes me glad I don't belong to the human race.

[J Francho]

It's stupidity like this(ERADICATION PLANS OF ANY SORT) that makes me glad I don't belong to the human race.

I always knew you were an alien, this just proves it!

Seriously though, I agree about the eradication part. In NY, you are compelled to kill any gobies you catch. Really? "Seaweed Jeffrey?" There are trillions of the things in our lakes. All this means is some redneck will proudly leave a pile of dead fish behind to stink up local parks and boardwalks. Leaves a really nice impression for non anglers to see. Makes us look like wasteful slobs.

[WRB]

There was a time when our CA sport fishing license fee ($42+ today) went to fund sport fishing programs. Today the fee goes into the general fund for everyones use. To say California is in a sad state of misappropriated funds would be an understatement.

Now our new DFG director is a humane society memember and using the infighting between various delta fishery users as a means to divide and conquer; the salmon anglers agianst the striper anglers, etc. The end game is the peripheral canal project, the end users are big agriculture corperations, the SoCal public water users are a smaller factor.

The delta smelt is a pawn as is the sport fisheries in this high stakes game of water supply. Due to the delta smelt 1/3rd of the water going south has been shut off tp further pressure politicans to approve the PC. Now the DFG has joined in to add more pressure...it's all a BS politics.

Tom

[Fish Chris]

Tom, your commentary was spot on !

Really sucks, don't it ?

Fish

There was a time when our CA sport fishing license fee ($42+ today) went to fund sport fishing programs. Today the fee goes into the general fund for everyones use. To say California is in a sad state of misappropriated funds would be an understatement.

Now our new DFG director is a humane society memember and using the infighting between various delta fishery users as a means to divide and conquer; the salmon anglers agianst the striper anglers, etc. The end game is the peripheral canal project, the end users are big agriculture corperations, the SoCal public water users are a smaller factor.

The delta smelt is a pawn as is the sport fisheries in this high stakes game of water supply. Due to the delta smelt 1/3rd of the water going south has been shut off tp further pressure politicans to approve the PC. Now the DFG has joined in to add more pressure...it's all a BS politics.

Tom

[Jaheff]

There was a time when our CA sport fishing license fee ($42+ today) went to fund sport fishing programs. Today the fee goes into the general fund for everyones use. To say California is in a sad state of misappropriated funds would be an understatement.

Now our new DFG director is a humane society memember and using the infighting between various delta fishery users as a means to divide and conquer; the salmon anglers agianst the striper anglers, etc. The end game is the peripheral canal project, the end users are big agriculture corperations, the SoCal public water users are a smaller factor.

The delta smelt is a pawn as is the sport fisheries in this high stakes game of water supply. Due to the delta smelt 1/3rd of the water going south has been shut off tp further pressure politicans to approve the PC. Now the DFG has joined in to add more pressure...it's all a BS politics.

Tom

Totally agree. How do I follow that?

WRB, I don't know if you already know this,but Dixon Lake is now a no license lake. The story is they got a federal grant, and are not part of the state program? They now can have their own rules, which sucks, it's a one pole per person rule. I use to soak a trout rig and bass fish at the same time. It's how I learned to bass fish. The two pole Ca. endorsement means nothing.

I think they did this cause they sence some changes coming.

[NorcalBassin]

Just like that frog that shut down all the trout plants a couple years ago... what a joke.

[CoBass]

DFG stupidity isn't exclusive to California. Where I live (Colorado) our DOW has decided that northern pike are bad so they removed all bag,possession,and size limits state wide. They have also opened them up to bow-fishing.

If that wasn't bad enough, in order to save the Colorado pike-minnow (largest member of the minnow family), they have started an all out extermination of all northern pike and small mouth bass in the Yampa river. From Spring through Fall they run shocking boats down the river and collect and kill all northerns and smallies. They have been doing this for close to 10 yrs and studies have shown no improvement in the pike minnow population. The only thing they have accomplished with this project is wasting millions of dollars and ruining a world class northern and smallie fishery.

In order to increase the numbers of kokanee salmon in our state, the DOW is also gill netting and killing lake trout over 30 inches in lakes where they collect the salmon for milking and egg production. They are killing huge trophy fish that take decades to grow to trophy size to save another non-native species that can't even survive without human intervention. Without the collection of millions of eggs, the kokanee would not be able to survive here.

I feel your pain on the stripers but California is definitely not alone when it comes to idiots in charge of our fish and game.

[webertime]

I think you will just end up with bigger, older stripers in lower quantities. Their trout and salmon fishery is in serious jeopardy, and they are desperate to fix it. From what I've read, it's mostly a habitat issue. Write your leaders, and tell them to get rid of all the dams.

This is exactly the issue. My mother in law is buying some land in NorCal on the Eel River and by all accounts it's a sandpit with a little water running through it. Blow up some dams and re-plant the river/stream banks asap!

[WRB]

This is exactly the issue. My mother in law is buying some land in NorCal on the Eel River and by all accounts it's a sandpit with a little water running through it. Blow up some dams and re-plant the river/stream banks asap!

It would be nice if we all left and gave the US back to the indians.

Dams are built for multiple reasons with flood control and drinking water supply topping the list.

Tom

[J Francho]

We've removed over 1000 dams so far. Most are in such disrepair it's often cheaper to just blow them than fix them. Here's some really cool footage:

http://gizmodo.com/5856192/watch-this-dam-explosion-free-the-white-salmon-river?tag=watch-this

[MrsTomustang]

Tom..your comments are truth. I lived in the Sacramento/Elk Grove & Placer county areas for more than 20 years.

In all my adult years I have yet to find another state equal to the shear magnitude and catastrophic mismanagement of natural resources and tax revenues as California.

It is only now that I live in PA that I have a more objective basis to say so.I was one of the many guilty parties whom lived in master planned communities with CCRs requiring a green lawn. At the time, it seemed like nothing to use 1/4 million gallons of water monthly to keep the lawn green. Sadly, I was a guilty party to the mass urban sprawl that continues to this day.

The continual building and shifting of the natural geological layout of the areas, diversion of tributaries and reliance on other state's water resources have compunded both flooding issues and the endangerment to the Delta region.

Unfortunately, it seems as though nobody will inform the State they are essentially a desert. What accounts for a vast majority of our vegetables are grown within the San Joaquin region...a desert..kept green and fertile by the aquaduct system.

In the end we will all suffer from the lack of growth management and appropriate utilization of resources. Back centuries ago people moved or modified their production and behaviour to match their environment. NOW we manipulate our environment to suit our needs. No good can come from this and it certainly cannot be sustained.

Good luck out West. I got out while the getting was good.

Jenn

[WRB]

We've removed over 1000 dams so far. Most are in such disrepair it's often cheaper to just blow them than fix them. Here's some really cool footage:

http://gizmodo.com/5856192/watch-this-dam-explosion-free-the-white-salmon-river?tag=watch-this

The Eel river is a wild river and protected by both state and federal wild river status, no dams to blow up. Enjoy the sand bars, they are natural to this river system.

Tom

[J Francho]

The Eel river is a wild river and protected by both state and federal wild river status, no dams to blow up. Enjoy the sand bars, they are natural to this river system.

Tom

Tom,

My link is from the demolition of a dam on the White Salmon River.

~JF

[WRB]

Tom,

My link is from the demolition of a dam on the White Salmon River.

~JF

I know, thanks for sharing the clip. My comments were in response to an earlier webertime post about the Eel river. Without flood control dams on major rivers in CA, the river would cause major flooding of the central valley. Cal Trout does a good job of managing wild trout streams and we have some few old dams that cause problems that are being removed.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Tom