Davis Lake 7/11-7/17

[1flyfisher]

LOL the good ole days. Like you said in your message the other day. "We may be looking back years from now and saying ...remember the good ole days at lake davis"
Hell I hope that's not the case.

Thing I liked about the snails besides fattening the crap out of the fish was in the fall when they float around it was the only food source(almost/you know what I mean) around and it got the fish to rise, move around and hunt and cruise in the shallows. A Snail hatch.

yeah the ones I saw last fall were quite small.

Yes I agree with you 100% on the dfg being fed up with davis. they have had problems from the very beginning when the lake was first filled with maintaining fish populations and all sorts of issues besides the pike.

good for your dad! he is always in the lead on shit like this. he's the man!!!
if he needs me and other folks to sign a letter I know i would be happy too. It is harder for them to say nothing to a larger group. Tell your dad I say thanks for the effort and work and I am right with him and will help in any way I can.....sucks so badthe fish are covered with parasites and now there are no more snails......that does not bode well for the future of the fishery.

i agree a 2 fish limit 4 to take home is plenty....just like eagle.

talk to you later

Paul,

You make some really good points and as I take all this in I feel it is a combination of factors, some we know about and some not. I have not seen a single snail since last fall, and even then they were not the robust size snails we are used to seeing. Remember how back in the day the wind would come in and most anglers called it a day, and we would anchor up in a bay, and watch the floating snails get gorged on by big rainbows. All it took was a floating line and a simple Jay Fair snail, and just let your fly soak out in the waves with very little movement - You just had to keep a tight leash. Those were some good times!

Dad has been sending DFG formal complaints on this issue and many others and they are not listening at this time - I think they are fed up with the lake and all the $ that has been dumped into it. Maybe it's time we treat Lake Davis like Eagle - Close it down Dec. 31st to the end of May, reduce the daily limit and x number in possesion, and no use of livewells, ect. I'm all for it but that is just my personal opinion.

Let me know what you find out about the snails.........

Jon.

[FRSam]

Hey Jon / Paul...I fished the lake this morning and had a good morning over at Fungawi. The fish were working again and I took them on a flash back damsel nymph tied on a Tiemco #14 2457. I lost count but I'm sure it was easily over 10 fish within a hours time primarily along the shore line. Between 7:30 and 8:30 was the magic hour. The biggest was probably around 18" which isn't great but I did notice the bigger fish were clean for the most part.

I went up to Freedman and Cow after and there were still some fish working there - a couple of grabs but none to hand. I was off the water by 10:00am. Surface water temps on the way in were 74 degrees - ouch. None of the fish I took seemed to have any problem with recovery upon release.

Beautiful morning...Fungawi was flat - no wind -with fish working - it just doesn't get much better.

Regarding the snails I wonder if the increase in the population of crawdads hasn't had an effect on the snails? I had a tank here I was keeping with Lake Davis bugs and I put in a couple of small crawdads and within days they'd completely cleaned out the tank. I no longer have the tank set up, as I believe it's illegal, but I can't remember if I had any snails in there but I think I did. Maybe it's a population swing all the dead fish equals tons of crawdads no more dead fish the crawdads go after the snails - just a thought.

And what's going on with the west side road? It was great and now they've covered it with gravel enough to create that washboard effect - I was doing 15 miles an hour on the way out this morning and still getting bumped around.

I'll keep an eye out for you on the lake,

Pete

[michaeln]

I mentioned earlier in this thread that I had emailed DFG about the copepod problem. They sent me a form letter response, exactly the same one they sent to a guy on the North American Fly Fishing board a couple months ago:


Dear Mr. Nelson,

Thank you for contacting us concerning the copepods or "fish lice" on
the trout at Lake Davis.

We are aware of the situation at Lake Davis. We examined a number of
trout from Lake Davis last year 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.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Amber

Amber S. Rossi
District Fisheries Biologist: Plumas/Sierra County
California Department of Fish and Game
P.O. Box 419
Quincy, CA 95971
Phone (530) 283-6864
Cell (530) 520-4753
Fax (530) 283-2938
arossi@dfg.ca.gov

[michaeln]

In other words "We have no intention of doing anything but sitting on our hands and watching the situation go to hell".

[1flyfisher]

They say they believe it will go away in time. I hope they are right and it happens soon.

In other words "We have no intention of doing anything but sitting on our hands and watching the situation go to hell".

[1flyfisher]

Hey Jon / Paul...I fished the lake this morning and had a good morning over at Fungawi. The fish were working again and I took them on a flash back damsel nymph tied on a Tiemco #14 2457. I lost count but I'm sure it was easily over 10 fish within a hours time primarily along the shore line. Between 7:30 and 8:30 was the magic hour. The biggest was probably around 18" which isn't great but I did notice the bigger fish were clean for the most part.

I went up to Freedman and Cow after and there were still some fish working there - a couple of grabs but none to hand. I was off the water by 10:00am. Surface water temps on the way in were 74 degrees - ouch. None of the fish I took seemed to have any problem with recovery upon release.

Beautiful morning...Fungawi was flat - no wind -with fish working - it just doesn't get much better.

Nice! yeah this time of year with these conditions they quit early. Seemed like every day when I was there, there was a breeze early and they instantly quit.

Regarding the snails I wonder if the increase in the population of crawdads hasn't had an effect on the snails? I had a tank here I was keeping with Lake Davis bugs and I put in a couple of small crawdads and within days they'd completely cleaned out the tank. I no longer have the tank set up, as I believe it's illegal, but I can't remember if I had any snails in there but I think I did. Maybe it's a population swing all the dead fish equals tons of crawdads no more dead fish the crawdads go after the snails - just a thought.

That could be possible also. Until CADFG does a study we are all just speculating. But nothing wrong with that since we aren't getting any answers from them on the snails. I went Bass fishing at Casitas lake and brought home some crawdads. Threw them into one of my tanks. In about 2 seconds they were tearing into all my $$$ tropical fish.

And what's going on with the west side road? It was great and now they've covered it with gravel enough to create that washboard effect - I was doing 15 miles an hour on the way out this morning and still getting bumped around.

The road was fine last week. Pretty smooth but loads of gravel on it in places.

I'll keep an eye out for you on the lake,

I think I am done for now. The short window of opportunity I found is too little fishing time for me to go. But then again....

[1flyfisher]

I sent off this letter to cadfg to see if they are investigating the snail die off in davis lake and what they may have found out about it or what they are doing about it. I will post their response information when I receive it.


July 21, 2010

Amber S. Rossi
District Fisheries Biologist: Plumas/Sierra County
California Department of Fish and Game
P.O. Box 419
Quincy, CA 95971
Phone (530) 283-6864


Dear Amber Rossi,

I am writing to you as one of many concerned Lake Davis fly-fishermen regarding what appears to be the complete die off of the entire snail population in Lake Davis. Myself and others have noticed a steady yearly decline over the last 10+ or so years following the first rotenone treatment in 1997. Each year fewer and fewer snails could be found. Now they are nowhere to be found anywhere in the lake. Historically snails could easily be found floating in the water column from spring through the summer into fall any day of the fishing season. The population of snails was always quite massive as they are extremely prolific breeders. The snails provided an extremely important food source for the trout population especially in the fall prior to winter ice over when floating snails were eagerly eaten by hungry trout fattening themselves for winter survival. Aside from being a major food source for trout they also perform a variety of important functions such as cleaning the lake of dying plant and animal matter which in turn dramatically improves water quality.

Now they are nowhere to be found. Not a single one. I have looked all over the entire lake this year over a course of 18 days of fishing and have not been able to find a single snail of any type. If they are present they are not difficult to find as they regularly float to the surface and can be found in the water column, washed up along the many shallow points, clinging to weed beds, or floating on the surface all over the entire lake. Over the past many decades of flyfishing Lake Davis I would always see hundreds every day. I have spoken to dozens of other fly-fishermen this season and no one has been able to find or collect a single one. Last season there was a small remaining population in a cove across from Mosquito Slough. That last remaining population of snails are also now gone.

Snails have always existed in the area creeks and in Lake Davis and they are an extremely vital part of the fishery and now part of that environment is dying off if it hasn't entirely already died off. Snails dying off and the trout covered with various parasites seems to indicate a very serious problem with the lakes water quality.

Are any studies being conducted to determine why they are dying/died off?
I would like to know exactly what cadfg has been doing to determine why this important trout food source has died off?
I would also like to know what cadfg is doing to reestablish the snail population?

Sincerely,


A Concerned Lake Davis Fly Fisherman

[Terry Imai]

Went to Davis on July 23 after reading a decent report on the Reno Flyshop report (bad idea). Got there first thing in the a.m. and only saw two tubes on Jenkins (another bad omen). Talked with a guy getting out and he was bummed about the fishing and high water temp. I fished for several hours and checked out several spots but with the water temps around 74 fahr. and no bug activity, I knew I was wasting my time. Davis could be a trophy fly fishery and the town of Portola wouldn't look like a ghost town if they knew how to cater to the flyfishermen rather than the bait guys. It just seems that the flyfishermen will spend a few dollars in the town rather than the bait guys just bring their food and probably only spend their money on liquor if they run out. Davis is one my favorite lakes but it's too bad it has been given the short end of the stick.