More success at Davis Lake in Nor Cal

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Email from a friend:

Hi Bill;

Just fished Davis for two days – We really smoked ‘em. Fished mostly off Camp five point with itty bitty stuff. Conventional streamers and nymphs were not nearly as productive.

Regards, John

[B Kane]

Great to hear Davis is Smoking good. Have one question about the condition of the fish. How bad are the parasites on those fish? I've heard that some of them are pretty bad.

[michaeln]

Of the fish I have caught at Davis this year, 75% of them were copepod infested. How bad? I don't know, both sides of the fish had sores and copepods, that's pretty bad in my book.

One is bad, more is disgusting.

[1flyfisher]

When I was up there I had heard that there were more fish and better fishing at Jenkins/Camp 5. I just stayed at cow with a few guys I know. I fished fugawee, cow and freeman. It was painfully slow with few bugs. I fished with some good fisherman this past week. A few of the best flyfisherman I know sash and jim moloney. Ask sash how it was, we did poorly. So did some other very good fishermen. It picked up a tiny bit on fri.
The bugs will come off and the fish will be eating them. What quality fish has yet to be seen. I hope I catch what I consider the usual quality of fish I have caught for a few decades @ davis and that is clean, fat beautiful rainbows 17"+. I am getting tired of the dinks but they are better than nothing. Little fish are better than no fish but.....I hope some nice fish show up this season. This is year 3 post nuke and the trout population should be kicking out this quality of fish.

I would like to know what CADFG is doing to get us there and if they have an explanation for the parasites?????? I guess they say this is normal for a lake. First time I've seen or heard of it in any sierra's lakes. Anyone seen this before? I was an aquarist for a long time in the past and I know that these parasites and problems are much more common to aquariums, koi ponds, hatcheries. Not lakes. I've never seen it in lakes. Just wondering. I'd like to know the current fish population. CADFG hasn't been stocking it as much as it has been in the past. They are below average in their stocking. Stable water levels and high water levels are nice. This lake always snaps back. It will get there. Weed beds will fill in the lake in time and that is usually just a fast one season. If they don't drop it much we will get to max pool next winter with an average winter. That would be nice. I like max pool to the current level. There is LOTS of great water in davis now. very happy about that.

I hope we have some decent hatches. Usually in high water years you can get some nice midge fishing. I have my fingers crossed for a good damsel hatch. We shall see.

[michaeln]

A guy on another board emailed the California F&G and received this response:

We are aware of the situation at Lake Davis. We examined a number of trout from Lake Davis to confirm the identity the organisms being seen. We found light to heavy numbers of copepods on the fish. The majority of the fish lice we observed were of the genus Salmincola. There may be a few of the genus Lernaea as well.

Common names for these copepods are “anchor worm, fish maggot” etc. The organisms found on these particular fish are commonly found in waters throughout the western United States. This organism usually does not affect fish health, though its appearance on fish can be unattractive. The presence of this organism on fish does not render the fish unfit for human consumption. It is not an internal parasite, but rather infects the gills, fins and flanks of susceptible species of fish. There are no practical treatment options available for lakes and reservoirs.

The increased numbers of these organisms being seen this year is most likely due the warming of the water and the high number of fish planted into Lake Davis. The organisms were already in Lake Davis. When Fish and Game planted the large number of trout into the lake we provided a large number of hosts for the parasite to live on and multiply from.

The copepod numbers will decline with cooling water temperatures and decreasing fish numbers.

[michaeln]

I don't understand what they said about it being caused by the warming of the water. Davis has been COLDER than normal, not warmer. That leaves the increased plants, which is what many of us have suspected anyway.

I think the DFG is blowing hot air up our nether regions.

[Troutstalker55B]

Those fish ARE playing small ball! Today we got into 13, 11 to the boat on a #20 green midge on 6x during the hatch in the morning. I have never fished a fly so small or tippet so light at the lake, but when you see fish coming up and eating a half dozen at a time - it's time to re think the whole game. I still think that the damsels will come off at some point, it's a waiting game. As for the parasites, DGF needs to do away with the smoke and mirrors and come up with some solutions - It's bad.

Jon.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think the Rainbow trout in Klamath Lake have this same parasites for many decades.

[1flyfisher]

I hope they go away soon.

A guy on another board emailed the California F&G and received this response:

We are aware of the situation at Lake Davis. We examined a number of trout from Lake Davis to confirm the identity the organisms being seen. We found light to heavy numbers of copepods on the fish. The majority of the fish lice we observed were of the genus Salmincola. There may be a few of the genus Lernaea as well.

I identified the copepods as Ergasilus which is the most numerous parasite on the trout I have seen.

Common names for these copepods are “anchor worm, fish maggot” etc. The organisms found on these particular fish are commonly found in waters throughout the western United States. Yes they are, that is true but they don't outbreak enmasse in lakes. This organism usually does not affect fish health, though its appearance on fish can be unattractive. Parasites of this nature are NOT a good thing to have for any type of fish whether they are in a fish tank or a lake. Although they don't kill their host, they weaken immunity and cause a host of other problems. One of which is Sores cause a LOSS of body fluids which you can imagine doesn't help enhance the fish with strength and vitality. If I had a tank, koi pond etc I would treat the water immediately to rid the water of them. The presence of this organism on fish does not render the fish unfit for human consumption. It is not an internal parasite, but rather infects the gills, fins and flanks of susceptible species of fish. Anchor worms bore into the meat of the fish and leaves a sore. I won't be eating any of them. My friend did, he said they were ok. He skinned them too. There are no practical treatment options available for lakes and reservoirs. True. But I suspect the infection originated from a hatchery. Just my opinion from what I know of fish aquaculture and lake environments and these types of parasites. I could very well be wrong, but until I find accurate confirmation I will continue to question DFG's claims.

The increased numbers of these organisms being seen this year is most likely due the warming of the water and the high number of fish planted into Lake Davis.
This could be true do to lower water levels but the claim of high numbers of fish is questionable.....If you look at the numbers that have been planted they are much lower than what is planted in an average stocking year over the history of the lake. The DFG's initial claims that they would stock millions of fish where never met. And were wild bs anyway.

The organisms were already in Lake Davis. When Fish and Game planted the large number of trout into the lake we provided a large number of hosts for the parasite to live on and multiply from.
They have planted fish for decades in the lake. In small and large numbers. This has never happened before. Of course there is a first time for everything. Has this ever happened in any sierra trout lake?

The copepod numbers will decline with cooling water temperatures and decreasing fish numbers.

We have had 2 very unusually cold spring/summers in a row. So far the parasites are still there and they seem to be on small 12-14" recent planters.

[1flyfisher]

I don't understand what they said about it being caused by the warming of the water. Davis has been COLDER than normal, not warmer. That leaves the increased plants, which is what many of us have suspected anyway.

I think the DFG is blowing hot air up our nether regions.

This year the spring has been colder than normal. last year was the coldest spring/summer I have ever experienced in a few decades on davis. BUT The water was very low, swampy, very weeded out and I imagine warmed up quite a bit in july and august at higher then normal temperatures. I wasn't taking water temps but the overall water quality was poor and if you know the history of lake davis it has had lots of problems with water quality and fish survivability. So their claim has some merit.