Awood
03-07-2015, 01:52 PM
The Lower Sacramento needs your help.
The last four years have severely impacted trout populations on the Lower Sac. Low water levels have had an adverse impact in following ways:
- Increased spawn mortality rate
- Increased access to previously inaccessible water
- Warmer Water Temperature
- Painful water management decision making
Declining fish populations has lead to the following behavior:
- Guides and unscrupulous anglers sitting on reds
- Guides and unscrupulous anglers anchoring on reds as a means to target trout pods
- Guide and unscrupulous anglers using motors to do laps on prime runs
In the past, this was less of a problem as the typical flow (10,000 cfs) prevented most of these behaviors. If you checkout the red across from the ramp at posse, the numbers are 1/10 what they were in years past (perhaps its the turbidity ;). Every boat hammers that spot. It's hard to watch. You know who you are. It's getting to the point where we need a site called "Guides who fish reds.com" A little extreme environmental marketing might change booking behavior.
The guides argument is as follows:
- Need to make a living
- Clients unwilling to work for their fish and appreciate the effort
- Need to keep up with the "jones;" if that guides doing it, I'm going to do it or I won't get business.
The Lower Sac is turning into the Checto; a non-stop train of guides / anglers hammering the resource into oblivion. It's hard to say with any certainty that conditions will ever return / recover. I'm putting the onus on guides in particular because they use the resource the most and profit the most. Guides need to be river stewards. If they don't play by the "rules" all is lost. Guides need to educate and respect the resource. People will listen and respond if we have reasonable best practices and mentors. It's not black and white but a little effort goes a long way.
I'm not touching the "hero" shots and poor fish handling skills. The bigger evils are what needs change the most.
I love Sac. Our "new weather" patterns are likely to be permanent. We need to adapt and work to be better stewards of the land.
Sorry for the rant.
Happy Saturday.
The last four years have severely impacted trout populations on the Lower Sac. Low water levels have had an adverse impact in following ways:
- Increased spawn mortality rate
- Increased access to previously inaccessible water
- Warmer Water Temperature
- Painful water management decision making
Declining fish populations has lead to the following behavior:
- Guides and unscrupulous anglers sitting on reds
- Guides and unscrupulous anglers anchoring on reds as a means to target trout pods
- Guide and unscrupulous anglers using motors to do laps on prime runs
In the past, this was less of a problem as the typical flow (10,000 cfs) prevented most of these behaviors. If you checkout the red across from the ramp at posse, the numbers are 1/10 what they were in years past (perhaps its the turbidity ;). Every boat hammers that spot. It's hard to watch. You know who you are. It's getting to the point where we need a site called "Guides who fish reds.com" A little extreme environmental marketing might change booking behavior.
The guides argument is as follows:
- Need to make a living
- Clients unwilling to work for their fish and appreciate the effort
- Need to keep up with the "jones;" if that guides doing it, I'm going to do it or I won't get business.
The Lower Sac is turning into the Checto; a non-stop train of guides / anglers hammering the resource into oblivion. It's hard to say with any certainty that conditions will ever return / recover. I'm putting the onus on guides in particular because they use the resource the most and profit the most. Guides need to be river stewards. If they don't play by the "rules" all is lost. Guides need to educate and respect the resource. People will listen and respond if we have reasonable best practices and mentors. It's not black and white but a little effort goes a long way.
I'm not touching the "hero" shots and poor fish handling skills. The bigger evils are what needs change the most.
I love Sac. Our "new weather" patterns are likely to be permanent. We need to adapt and work to be better stewards of the land.
Sorry for the rant.
Happy Saturday.