[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 8/27/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

August 27, 2008

 

3. Watersheds –

 

 

Sierra trout rescue mission: Effort made to catch thousands of fish before Caples Lake drained

The Stockton Record- 8/27/08

By Dana M. Nichols, Staff Writer

 

KIRKWOOD - The fish in Caples Lake had not yet realized Tuesday morning that the folks stringing nets across the water and zapping the lake with bolts of fish-shocking electrical current actually meant them well.

 

Only seven or eight fish - including one 24-inch rainbow trout - had been caught and transferred to holding pens by noon. Most fish, thousands of them by California Department of Fish and Game estimates, were taking mid-day siestas in deep spots, refusing to get tangled or shocked.

 

But the brown trout, rainbows, brook trout and lake trout of Caples have everything to gain by cooperating with what authorities say is an unusual three-day rescue operation. Instead of sizzling in frying pans or on grills, the fish will be trucked to Silver Lake, seven miles away, in an effort to save them from likely death.

 

The fish face death because Caples Lake is being lowered for emergency repairs to the dam's outlet gates, and the water could freeze solid this winter, said Stafford Lehr, a senior environmental scientist for the Department of Fish and Game.

 

"We had the potential for a total fish kill during the winter," Lehr said.

 

The lake is beloved by anglers because it is stunningly beautiful, and some of the trout live in the lake for years, allowing them to grow large. Fish 18 to 20 inches long are caught frequently. The lake also contains some 20-year-old fish that reach 3 feet in length, Lehr said.

 

So anglers were dismayed to learn recently that the entire Caples Lake fish population was in jeopardy and that El Dorado Irrigation District, which operates the dam, had known for months that it needed urgent repairs.

 

"The (California Sportfishing Protection Alliance) does think it took a little long to discover the problem," said Chris Shutes, a spokesman for the Alliance.

 

It was March when irrigation district staff notified federal regulators that they were having problems opening and closing the dam's gates.

 

The gates are crucial not only to control water for irrigation use and to prevent floods, but also to control flows needed for trout fisheries below the dam in Caples Creek.

 

On June 10 and 11, divers went underwater and discovered that the rusted gate mechanisms were on the verge of failure, said George Osborne, president of the El Dorado Irrigation District board. The board declared an emergency on July 1.

 

But it wasn't until much more recently that it was clear repairing the gates would require lowering the lake until as little as 6 feet of water was left, making a solid freeze possible, Lehr said. "This whole operation has come together in about 21/2 weeks," he said.

 

The more than 100 people working in the rescue include 80 volunteers from CSPA, Trout Unlimited and other fishing groups.

 

One of them was Steve Dexter of Minden, Nev., a member of the High Sierra Fly Casters who was helping staff one of three electro-shocking boats and was thrilled to help place an 18-inch brown trout into the boat's live-fish tank.

 

The state Fish and Game staff and volunteers are working around the clock, taking 12-hour shifts. Lehr said they are using three methods to catch the fish:

 

» Three electro-shock boats that can send a charge 8 or 10 feet deep. Once stunned, a fish turns belly up, so it can be netted and placed in he boat's tank, where it revives.

 

» Using gill nets and trammel nets, which are like walls of netting stretched from the lake surface to its bottom. Fish get caught in the nets and will die unless the nets are checked every few hours.

 

» Using hoop nets, sort of a one-way trap that allows a fish to swim in but not out.

 

Once enough fish accumulate in the holding pens, then they are transferred to a tank truck for the trip to Silver Lake.

 

Lehr said he expected the fishing to improve late Tuesday and again early today. As anglers know, fish are most active at dawn and dusk. And fish are much easier to catch when they are moving. Meanwhile, the lake is dropping 8 to 10 inches a day, and irrigation district officials hope to make the gate repairs in September and October.

 

The district is paying roughly $150,000 for the rescue, about two-thirds of that for state Fish and Game staff and equipment and the rest to provide meals to volunteers.

 

Next spring, district officials plan to spend another $229,000 restocking the lake with admittedly much smaller fish. Some of that money will come from area businesses that depend on the recreation economy, including nearby Kirkwood Mountain Resort. Irrigation district board president Osborne understands how important a vibrant Caples Lake fishery is to the region.

 

"Every year there are a bunch of us old firefighters that fish this lake for a week in the fall," Osborne said. He looked at a rocky outcropping on the lake's far shore and remembered a day almost two years ago. "I caught a real nice 19-inch rainbow."

 

Frying pans are not large enough for a fish that size, but it was not a problem for Osborne. "I always barbecue it," he said.#

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