Lake Davis

[TigerLilly]

Joining the ranks of its Oregon namesake, Lake Davis, CA is quickly becoming an historical trout fly fishing destination. Over this past week it seemed that VERY few anglers scored trout on flies. Camped next to a pretty knowledgeable group who fished three days without a trout to hand, packed up early, and left for some other water.

A few trollers got fish on spoons but most got skunked. Plenty of hardware chucking bass anglers out, but they are settling for scads of very small fish to satiate their tug fix. Rumor has it that even Jon Baiocchi has packed up and quit his Lake Davis guide service and is now concentrating on Frenchman's where the fly fishing is still pretty decent.

What can be done? IMHO nothing, but watch the pond settle into the sunset along with so many other of our quality fisheries that have been destroyed by bassholes. When the lake levels lower and more shallow structure becomes visible, maybe the fishing will pick up, but the sense is that fish aren't there.

[PV_Premier]

IMHO nothing, but watch the pond settle into the sunset along with so many other of our quality fisheries that have been destroyed by bassholes.

C'mon, let's be clear--the bass fisherman are not actively doing anything to ruin the lake. :rolleyes: They're simply taking advantage of a fishery that has not been well managed for wild trout reproduction and where the bass are flourishing. If you want to call someone a "basshole" talk to the DFW.

[Scott V]

At least those "bassholes" are bringing in money to the surrounding area. I guess I shouldn't talk about the multitude of bass tournaments I myself fish, I would hate to be labeled by some hateful person.
And in case you didn't know it, Davis use to be a good bass lake back in the day.

[TigerLilly]

C'mon, let's be clear--the bass fisherman are not actively doing anything to ruin the lake. :rolleyes: They're simply taking advantage of a fishery that has not been well managed for wild trout reproduction and where the bass are flourishing. If you want to call someone a "basshole" talk to the DFW.

DFW had nothing to do with the bass illegally planted in Lake Davis by bassholes. Davis is one of the premier trout waters in the state and only moderate bass habitat at best. Bassholes ruined the fishery in their short sighted greed. As far as "not being well managed for wild trout", Lake Davis has NEVER been managed for wild trout because it has historically been robustly planted with fingerlings that flourish at Davis in numbers that supported both a catch and release and catch and keep fishery. Don't blame DFW because bassholes (and pikeholes) illegally dump shit in the lake.

[Scott V]

DFW had nothing to do with the bass illegally planted in Lake Davis by bassholes. Davis is one of the premier trout waters in the state and only moderate bass habitat at best. Bassholes ruined the fishery in their short sighted greed. As far as "not being well managed for wild trout", Lake Davis has NEVER been managed for wild trout because it has historically been robustly planted with fingerlings that flourish at Davis in numbers that supported both a catch and release and catch and keep fishery. Don't blame DFW because bassholes (and pikeholes) illegally dump shit in the lake.


Can you provide any proof that "bassholes" transported and brought bass to the lake, or is this just an assumption on your part.

I ask because I am tired of people making a blanket statement about a group of people. Just like how some bass fisherman think all fly fisherman are stuck up conceded fisherman, which in reality is true for a good number of them I hate to say.

[cyama]

Lake Davis has been a mostly put and take fishery for the most part. This is why they have a five fish limit. Recently they have changed planting schedules and there are less fish planted and less eagle lake fish. Fishing lakes is very different than fishing streams water temps, wind, outside temps all come into play. Knowing a lake is much different than fishing a lake. Where to go at certain times and weather is very important. Just on a side note to spark up some more controversy I actually prefer catching a nice smallie, they rip line!!

[ycflyfisher]

I've fished Davis a grand total of once, but I do read this forum and noting some of the comments of those who fish Davis frequently, it isn't all that difficult to offer up a reasonable explanation of what's going on at Davis....and no Bizzare 'basshole' or the 'DFG are all a bunch of agenda driven idiots' conspiracy theories are required.

Davis is simply an ecosystem that is in an extreme state of flux largely due to 4 years of extreme and prolonged drought.

Anglers tend to think of aquatic ecosystems are some kind of constant, steady-state, giant aquariums. That couldn't be further from the truth.

First you all reported that damsels and snails became less abundant to the point of nearly disappearing.

Then someone reporting seeing a significant amount of dead catfish. The catfish that I've caught in other impoundments on the Feather drainage (Butt, Almanor and Antelope) have all been bullheads.

Then Hex magically start appearing in fishable abundance, to the point where Jon and others were speculating that someone did a bucket plant of Hex at Davis. I've observed Hex in every shallow impoundment on the Feather drainage I've spent time on during june/July all the way down to the afterbay. I'm certain that Hex have long been present in Davis but up until recently only in 'What if...' levels of abundance.

All the while the aforementioned was being observed, the lake level fell each year as the drought became more pronounced.

Clearly, the benthic zone of Davis underwent some DRASTIC changes during the period of flux, and the DO content dropped significantly: enough to kill bullheads which can survive in really low water quality with really low DO.

Hex thrive in low DO environs particularly if a falling DO content leads to wholesale die-offs of other invert pops and a huge reduction in interspecies competition for the Hex. Hex habitat expands at Davis and with a huge reduction in comp, bang, you got a fishable hex hatch.

With lower lake levels as the drought burns on, you get more complete sun penetration and significantly increased vegetation growth. What grows eventually dies. You get a potentially deadly benthic zone.

Bass because they are littoral are less dependent on the benthic zone become more abundant.

With falling lake levels and correspondingly increased water temps, Davis trout are forced to seek thermal refugia and attempt to make a living in or near an impaired benthic zone. The trout pop plummets.

I think that scenario or something very similar is what's more likely to be going on at Davis.

With Davis being near capacity going into the summer the last two years as long as we get avg or better precip for 2 or so more consecutive years, I'd expect Davis to flux back towards what you all seem to think is 'normal' for Davis.

Whether that comprises of a 'full rebound' or a 'dead cat bounce' or something in between is uncertain. Whenever extreme conditional changes occur that significantly imperil certain species, some of those species may be quick to recover, some may recover slowly and some may never experience significant recovery. There are a lot of moving parts that can influence the recovery of the trout habitat in an ecosystem like Davis.

Just my take.

[OceanSunfish]

That poor lake has been screwed up for 20-25 years now.............. very very sad to see what it has become from what it was prior to the illegal introduction of Northern Pike and subsequent actions.

If only the first treatment was better planned and allowed to be carried out correctly.......... things may be much different there today.

As an aside, there appears to be an abundance of LMB so.......... how about electro shock and removal or a few years of unlimited catch-and-keep on LMB until the trout get a foothold again?

CA already has an abundance of top notch LMB fisheries....... CA is losing what was an incredible body of water for Eagle Lake trout....... (Should have been kept exclusively Eagle Lake trout)

I miss how Davis Lake was......

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I know that Oregon and Nevada both have lots of shallow weedy lakes like Davis CA that have bass and trout.

Not sure how this is actually working out?

[TigerLilly]

Can you provide any proof that "bassholes" transported and brought bass to the lake, or is this just an assumption on your part.


Both State Fish and Wildlife and the County Fish Commission vehemently deny planting bass in Davis. In fact, both are livid that LMB got into the system.

As with the pike, bass were purposefully and illegally planted into Lake Davis and it wasn't via my fairy godmother. Fluctuating lake levels likely help the bass, but the notion that changing lake levels somehow made bass magically appear in the lake is ludicrous.

[Scott V]

Both State Fish and Wildlife and the County Fish Commission vehemently deny planting bass in Davis. In fact, both are livid that LMB got into the system.

As with the pike, bass were purposefully and illegally planted into Lake Davis and it wasn't via my fairy godmother. Fluctuating lake levels likely help the bass, but the notion that changing lake levels somehow made bass magically appear in the lake is ludicrous.

Yeah, because the government has NEVER lied to us about anything, right?

Keep accusing others of what you do not know. Very mature!

[Jake O]

Both State Fish and Wildlife and the County Fish Commission vehemently deny planting bass in Davis. In fact, both are livid that LMB got into the system.

As with the pike, bass were purposefully and illegally planted into Lake Davis and it wasn't via my fairy godmother. Fluctuating lake levels likely help the bass, but the notion that changing lake levels somehow made bass magically appear in the lake is ludicrous.

Are you sure they are Large Mouths? I would highly, highly, doubt that they are LMB--most likely spotted bass. There are very few lakes in Northern CA where LMB do well (clear lake probably being #1). Most lakes have a handful of LMB to spotted bass.

[Darian]

IMO,.... Yubaflyshers' explanation for the current situation at Davis makes the most sense to me. Regardless, I recall reading that Bass (whether illegally introduced or not) were in Lake Davis for some time before the introduction of Pike and the subsequent poisonings.

Tigerlilly's rant should've ended with the first post as it's obvious that no explanation will satisfy his or her need to do so. Everyone take a deep breath, lighten up, adapt and fish a different lake until Davis comes back. Nothing further to be accomplished by this heated discussion.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Here is an email response I just got from veteran fisheries friend Chris Pasley who manages a Federal fish hatchery in Washington state.


"I've seen it work out in some lakes. It sounds like the problems may be more related to poor trout conditions with several consecutive drought years and resulting increased temps, weed growth, lower water levels etc. etc. We have a few local lakes up here in North Central Washington that have been experiencing problems for the trout due to a couple back to back extra hot summers and resulting increased weed growth leading to low DO winter and summer kills. Don't really know being so far removed from that area for a long time now, but that is one theory."


Chris use to work at the shop a long time ago. He grew up in Sacramento. I believe he went to Humboldt for Fisheries.

He work at a fish hatchery in Valdez, Alaska.

When he worked for us he also guided Steelhead on foot on the Lower Feather River when it was fishing better.


Chris is on my short list of the top 10 fly fisher I know well and fished with some.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Here is an email from Davis Lake Don....

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Lake conditions great, lots of biomass and water is good. Just VERY FEW FISH. 1 or 2 a day but really nice sizes. Fish and game just won’t commit resources necessary to bring fish numbers up. Frenchman’s is much better right now. Sad situation and will get worse and older fish die off.