New limits on fishing in Lake Casitas

[DeltaBound]

by Hugo Martín

LAKE CASITAS anglers will face new bag limits under a plan to improve bass fishing at the oak-studded reservoir near Ojai.

The Casitas Municipal Water District board of directors approved a fish management plan last week that would close several coves during the spring spawning season and limit fish taken from the lake. The new rules would not apply during tournaments.
Under the new rules, anglers can take no more than three catfish (down from 10), five crappie (down from 25) and five sunfish (previously no limit). The maximum of five largemouth bass per angler will not change, but bass 12 to 18 inches must be released. The rules will go into effect when the board adopts a specific ordinance in the next few months.

[Eric Wong]

Very interesting!

I'm sure hope the rule would say ALL bass under 18 inches have to be released, not just those between 12-18 inches. I've gotten into it with people on the bank with a bucket of 6-8 inch bass before.

Eric

[Ron C]

...is in violation of state DFG regulations (in addition to any special lake regulations). I would recommend ratting 'em out to lake officials if you see this in the future. Even though most lake officials are not "peace officers" and likely do not have the authority to issue citations, they can certainly issue a warning or drop a dime to the local sheriffs office or PD, who do have the authority to issue citations for Fish & Game Code violations. Unfortunately, the DFG Enforcement Division has been drastically reduced over the past few years and the chances of having a Game Wardon around are very remote.

[Kelly Ripa]

Sat at Cachuma last year and watched three guys using 4 rods each fishing crawdads. They had about 40 smallmouth and largemouth on some stringers so I went to the marina to complain and was told that the rangers have no authority to write anything up. I was very persistant and got ahold of the DFG which was 40 miles away at the time and explained the problem and they said they might get to it. I came in around 1:00 for some lunch and called the officers cell phone again and he informed me that he was glassing these guys but could not determine where the fish on the stringers were and was going to wait for them to leave before he stopped them. I told him it was unacceptable to let them kill more fish because he didn't want to walk down to where they were as the stringers were quite visable with all of the floating bass on them. When I went back out after lunch they were getting there stuff taken away and there citations written. Sometimes you just HAVE to be a jerk to make things happen. That warden has hundreds of square miles to protect and it cannot be easy to do. If you can't get the warden to come ask if the license of the vehicle they are driving is good enough. Ron you can correct me here but I don't think a game warden needs a search warrant and can fine them for possesion infractions and the like at there home.