Fish and Game Commission to consider ban on American R.

[David Lee]

Time for an edit .... and perhaps a meal of Crow .

I did a bit of reading on another board .......

http://www.fishsniffer.com/cgi-bin/f...num=1201210049

Looks like the NCCFFF haven't run this idea past ANY other fishing groups .

I would have expected more from such a well-respected group .

This pooch-screw pretty much creates a 'us against them' feeling between sportfishing factions . I can understand closing the UPPER river 'till , say , April - the way it used to be .... but what is the point of closing the whole 26 miles of the American river ?? How can anyone snag Steelhead in the deep waters below I-80 ? IMO , all this possible closure does is create hostile feelings between gear fishers and fly fishers , all of whom SHOULD be joined together in fighting for the DFG to be fully funded , and to protect our waters and ecosystem .

We ALL will lose if we don't find some common ground between us to solve these problems .

David

[Charlie Gonzales]

Yeah I was deeply saddened by the way fly fisherman were put out there in this article. Definately puts us in an us VS them battle. I work with about six gear fisherman and had to stay out of sight or deal with a ration of shhh all day. Dont agree with closing the entire river for the same reasons Dave pointed and cause I start fishing the Lower section in march for stripers. But I have ALWAYS felt that the upper river should stay closed til March.

[Charlie Gonzales]

Something that just came to mind..... could a closure like this have a negative effect and allow too many hatchery fish to remain in the system and compete with the wild ones?

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

WOW, I just read that thread. Fly-fisherman are sure gettin the axe in there. Good grief....

[Darian]

Seems to me that this closure may make it easier for illegal fishers to go undetected.... Nobody out there to observe and report (even if Warden's aren't available).

Has anyone confronted NCCFFF with this to ask what their thoughts were based on and why they "went it alone" Why wasn't the request for other waters in this area, as well You know, just general stuff.

[caltagm]

That's my question too, Darian. If the purpose is to reduce or eliminate snaggers, then how is closing the river going to do it? Who really thinks that this illegal practice will stop just because the regulations say they can't be on the river? Especially if there aren't enough Wardens to enforce the closure. Don't the regulations already prohibit snagging? Creating new regulations does nothing except kill trees if they can't be enforced.

Mike

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

This is a letter received by the GBF Conservation Committee last month:

Low Flow American River Fishing Closure Requested
Date: December 9, 2007
To: Rick Radoff, President, Granite Bay Flycasters
From: Dave Ford, Northern California Council, Federation of Fly Fishers


FYI, at the quarterly meeting on December 1, the NCCFFF voted to request that the California Fish and Game commission close the American River to all fishing if the flows fall below 1100 cfs.

I was the one that asked for this resolution. Mike Laing (representing your club) and I (representing the NCC) are on the AROG--the American River Operating Group of the US Bureau of Reclamation. This group tries to control releases from Folsom and Nimbus to keep temperature and water quantity right for salmon and steelhead spawning. There is an agreed flow management standard between various state and federal agencies that specifies minimum American River flows for various types of weather-years. The lowest flow under this agreement is 1140 cfs, where we are now. If conditions are such that there is insufficient water in Folsom (or at least the water they can get to) there is an alternative that kicks in whereby the flows can drop to 500 cfs, and still another stage where they could drop to 200 cfs. At those release levels, almost anybody could walk across the river.

Should this occur, the snaggers will be out with pitchforks! Fish and Game surveys reported at the late November AROG meeting indicated that salmon and steelhead numbers now in the river are very low--only 30 some odd fish have been head-chopped. Normally at this time of the year, the quantities are multiple times greater than this.

So the lack of fish in the river this year and the drastically low flows led to the vote for the standby F&G Commission action, should the flows drop further. The rain these past few days may bail us out, but if it doesn't we are prepared to act.

If you have any questions, give me a call (916) 967-3847.

Dave Ford
Northern California Council
Federation of Fly Fishers

[Bob Laskodi]

<<<Should this occur, the snaggers will be out with pitchforks!>>>
So Dave Ford's recommendation is to close the A to fishing when it gets too low because the snaggers will be nailing them with pitchforks! Gee, last time I looked it's illegal to pitchfork steelies any where!
So, now no one will be out fishing to report the "pitchforkers" at all to the DFG! Seems like a fantastic solution to the problem!
I'm not sure whether or not I want a low flow closure on the A, (maybe yes, may be no) but NCCFFF approach to this problem is seriously making me rethink my membership in the FFF.

[Dustin Revel]

<<<
I'm not sure whether or not I want a low flow closure on the A, (maybe yes, may be no) but NCCFFF approach to this problem is seriously making me rethink my membership in the FFF.

I'm not going to jump ship yet, but i'm sure glad our money is going to good use

Coming from someone who has never fished the american it seems that fishermen and snaggers combined are not the root of the A's problems, and to improve that piece of water our efforts should be focused on the actual causes of the demise of our fisheries.

Dusty

[Darian]

Hmmmm,.... If memory serves me correctly, Mrs. Fins (Robyn) is on the Conservation Committee of the GBF. And, apparently, Mike Laing (also a GBF Member) assisted in drafting this letter, why wasn't some local notice posted earlier As Robyn pointed out, the letter to GBF was recieved in late December (....a month ago). Now, I'm not aiming this at Robyn. She just happens to be part of the chain of events.

The agreed upon flow regimes I understand as water for fish is secondary to flood protection needs along the American R and water contractors still want their deliverables.

What concerns me about this is this committee formed by BuRec, SAFCA, and 2 clubs would choose to act without at least notifying local fishing clubs about this prospect. They can't say they didn't have time. Maybe things wouldn't work out any different but at least there would've been time to provide comment.

OK,.... Enough for me. I'm outa here

ps. Since this action was requested unilaterally, maybe NCCFFF and GBF members should volunteer to do citizen patrol, daily, on the river during the closure.... "It's the only way to be sure", Lt. Ripley, Alien's.