Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

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WB Staff
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Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by WB Staff »

Hundreds of dead fish washed up on the shores of Clear Lake last week of July

Story and pix here: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/72439 ... artslide=0


Taken 7/30/17. Bass, catfish, hitch, bluegill, crappie, smelt, shad all died suddenly. It looks as though they had been there at least a day, but it's tough to tell because they decompose rapidly in 100 degree heat. Something is clearly not right in this end of the lake.
Rich hamilton
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by Rich hamilton »

Grass = O2 no grass= dead fish. Pretty simple but fishing habitat is a very low priority in California. RR
If I don't meet you no more in this world Then I'll see you in the next one. Don't be late... Don't be late... Stevie Ray/Hendrix
Stratos278
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Location: Gun Barrel City TX

Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by Stratos278 »

Matt Allen has a post on his Facebook page about this. I took the liberty of copying and re-posting here.
(NOTE: pretty lengthy but a good read)

"If you're a Bass Fisherman who is upset about the conditions at Clearlake here is your chance to make an actual difference!
Are you mad about algae, weed spraying, dying fish, and terrible water quality? Clear Lake Water Quality is trying to make a difference! Support them and support your lake! The algae situation in Clearlake won't change until the quality of water coming into the lake changes.
If at all possible be at this meeting on August 28th. If you can't attend, at least help spread the word!
This is taken from Clear Lake Water Quality's facebook page explaining what is going on. In short... current water quality standards are not
being met and that needs to stop now!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This delay of compliance date for the Clear Lake Nutrient TMDL should NOT BE ALLOWED because that means more years before the county, cities and forest service/blm need to be in compliance with the nutrient loading requirements of the TMDL. Show up to this meeting to say NO EXTENSION ON THE COMPLIANCE DATES! The Clear Lake Nutrient TMDL was what was put in place to eliminate Nuisance Algal/Cyanobacteria Blooms. If we allow delays with compliance, there will be delays with ending the cyanobacteria blooms!

"On August 28th there is a Water Board TMDL workshop. Central Valley Regional Water Control Board staff are hosting a public outreach meeting at 1PM on Monday August 28 to provide an update on progress towards meeting the goals of the Clear Lake Nutrient TMDL, and to get input on possible extension of the compliance date for an additional ten or twenty years. They are also asking for guidance on appropriate milestones to measure progress. The workshop, which is the first of this sort since 2012, will be held at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

All stakeholders (which means everyone who lives in Lake County, does business here, or is associated with an agency or NGO affected by water quality and watershed management) are encouraged to attend and share their views.
To submit written comments, access background documents, or ask questions, contact Holly Grover, holly.grover@waterboards.ca.gov "
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Thank you so much to those that are willing to stand up and demand that the standards put in place to protect this amazing lake are actually enforced! Im embarassed that I'm posting this while I myself won't be there but I'll literally be out of state and am submitting my written comments early.
You guys are awesome, thank you for supporting the lake!"

NOTE: This re-post was authorized by Matt
Last edited by Stratos278 on Thu Aug 10, 2017 1:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jim C.
"Rip Some Lips!!!!"
Stratos278
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Location: Gun Barrel City TX

Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by Stratos278 »

Here's the link to Clear Lake Water Quality's Facebook page, more info there.

https://www.facebook.com/ClearLakeWater ... f=mentions
Jim C.
"Rip Some Lips!!!!"
mark poulson
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by mark poulson »

Local realtors can't be happy with this. It's hard to sell a property when there is a dead fish stink, and dead fish floating on the lake, which is supposed to be the major selling point for homes there
If I were a Clear Lake homeowner, I'd be pretty upset about the dead fish and the stink they will make. There must be a lot of flies, too.
Attitude plus effort equal success
CLEAN AND DRY
Stratos278
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Location: Gun Barrel City TX

Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by Stratos278 »

mark poulson wrote:Local realtors can't be happy with this. It's hard to sell a property when there is a dead fish stink, and dead fish floating on the lake, which is supposed to be the major selling point for homes there
If I were a Clear Lake homeowner, I'd be pretty upset about the dead fish and the stink they will make. There must be a lot of flies, too.
if the whole truth was known, the Clear Lake homeowners may be part of the problem. I would venture that more than a few are behind the efforts to control the aquatic vegetation through spraying and pellet spreading. The submergent weeds/grasses add oxygen to the lake and provide a kind of natural filter that helps control the algae blooms.
Jim C.
"Rip Some Lips!!!!"
birdman920
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by birdman920 »

if you start adding up all the factors to the water quality! yes! I would add the weed control "overkill", the local vineyards fertilizer & misc chemicals that last winters rain runoff washed into the water !... the only saving grace' the lake has one of the highest fish density counts of most lakes in the country!.
toddmc
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Location: La Quinta, CA

Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by toddmc »

mark poulson wrote:Local realtors can't be happy with this. It's hard to sell a property when there is a dead fish stink, and dead fish floating on the lake, which is supposed to be the major selling point for homes there
If I were a Clear Lake homeowner, I'd be pretty upset about the dead fish and the stink they will make. There must be a lot of flies, too.
It has been a goal for me to buy a summer home in the Clearlake area since I first visited in the early 2000's. Between the meth heads and algae stink, my wife won't come near the place. This could be a good thing if I could secretly appropriate funds :wink: .
I can go to areas here with less meth heads, but the smell of the algae is a lot harder to escape. You can smell it long before you get here when you are coming up on Highway 20. It is no wonder that the property values are so low and there is no one skiing/pleasure boating on the lake. I would think that the homeowners would be bright enough to figure out that having the grass to deal with is a better alternative. Bass anglers will never be enough to support this area alone.
I am currently sitting in a room at the Clearlake Vista Resort taking a breather before I head back out. It's too bad that the areas that I like to fish in the south are all full of blue green algae and dead fish. It would be nice to have more of the lake to fish. The lake is fishing a lot smaller this week. It's going to fish even smaller with the weekend fisherman.
birdman920
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by birdman920 »

You know' I wonder what it would be like if CL was a pristine,prime destination for water sports enthusiasts ! say like Lake Guntersville! except in Cali ? it would end up being so crowded' high priced' basically a "ZOO"!!!!!...right now ' the CL is fishing great that's all I care about ! my buddy & I ' lease a house in the oaks for 6k a year ! I can overlook all the alge & tweekers for that price !...
Rich hamilton
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by Rich hamilton »

RE; lake Guntersville, check out the video halfway down the webpage. I wish Clearlake was like this.

https://guntersvilleal.org
If I don't meet you no more in this world Then I'll see you in the next one. Don't be late... Don't be late... Stevie Ray/Hendrix
toddmc
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by toddmc »

birdman920 wrote:You know' I wonder what it would be like if CL was a pristine,prime destination for water sports enthusiasts ! say like Lake Guntersville! except in Cali ? it would end up being so crowded' high priced' basically a "ZOO"!!!!!...right now ' the CL is fishing great that's all I care about ! my buddy & I ' lease a house in the oaks for 6k a year ! I can overlook all the alge & tweekers for that price !...
I'm with you in that inexpensive and quiet are nice. I purposely wait to come in August during the middle of the week when the kids have gone back to school and I can have the lake almost to myself. It would take years of clean water and money pouring into this area to get the investors lined up like they are in Guntersville. I don't see any real job creation here, except in grape farming.
It's hard to beat the price of your rental, but I purposely chose a place in the middle of the lake where I am close to the areas that I like to fish and upwind from the algae smell. Unfortunately, there have been a few fish dying almost everywhere, many of them big ones, and they don't help the smell in the immediate area. Just a little better water quality is all that I need.
clearlakeoutdoors
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by clearlakeoutdoors »

Fished from windflower to Lucerne yesterday morning never saw any blue green algae ,saw a few dead fish. Water color was good and fishing was good.We caught around 30 on a frog with a 9 and a 6 pounder , caught a bunch on spinnerbaits ,jigs, worms, squarebills and some buzzbait fish.
CJ - Soda Bay
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by CJ - Soda Bay »

I frequently read posts with comments about the aquatic vegetation being killed off on the lake. I wanted to provide a few comments. First, with regards to the dead fish, there are a few although they appear to be scattered and nothing in mass numbers (Soda Bay area down through Henderson Point). The past 2 years there has been a consistent algae bloom clouding the water and preventing sunlight from hitting the bottom. This coupled with a higher lake level is why there are fewer weeds on the lake. The recent fish die offs are most likely attributed to the high-water temperatures, normal weed die off at this time of year and lack of oxygen. Most of the aquatic weed treatments took place months ago to prevent the weeds from growing to begin with.

The county does treat approximately 286 acres of weeds in front of docks. This accounts for about 0.01% of the lake’s total surface area. The cost for a homeowner to treat in front of their dock is about $2k for the summer. Most residents on my block will not undertake this expense. When I read about the lake being treated for weeds, I wonder who is paying for this? These treatments take place in late May or early June when the water temperature is not high to prevent fish kills. Any treatments taking place later in the summer would be when a hydrilla plant is discovered and these are becoming far less common. Last year there were several posts with regards to the treatments occurring. This turned out to be the DFG who provided an update at the Board of Supervisors Meeting (as a result of this message board). The link to the video presentation is at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/View. ... 4B77BCB592

Bass fisherman are vital to the economy of the area and your interests should be heard and appreciated. The lakefront owners are bright. We want the same things, just not an abundance of weeds that prevent us from using our homes, which directly affects property values. I have noticed the lakefront property values increasing for the first time in years. Homes are not sitting very long and I think it is a direct correlation to the lake improving. Hopefully we can all come together to improve the conditions in the lake for everyone to enjoy.
toddmc
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Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:07 am
Location: La Quinta, CA

Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by toddmc »

CJ - Soda Bay wrote:I frequently read posts with comments about the aquatic vegetation being killed off on the lake. I wanted to provide a few comments. First, with regards to the dead fish, there are a few although they appear to be scattered and nothing in mass numbers (Soda Bay area down through Henderson Point). The past 2 years there has been a consistent algae bloom clouding the water and preventing sunlight from hitting the bottom. This coupled with a higher lake level is why there are fewer weeds on the lake. The recent fish die offs are most likely attributed to the high-water temperatures, normal weed die off at this time of year and lack of oxygen. Most of the aquatic weed treatments took place months ago to prevent the weeds from growing to begin with.

The county does treat approximately 286 acres of weeds in front of docks. This accounts for about 0.01% of the lake’s total surface area. The cost for a homeowner to treat in front of their dock is about $2k for the summer. Most residents on my block will not undertake this expense. When I read about the lake being treated for weeds, I wonder who is paying for this? These treatments take place in late May or early June when the water temperature is not high to prevent fish kills. Any treatments taking place later in the summer would be when a hydrilla plant is discovered and these are becoming far less common. Last year there were several posts with regards to the treatments occurring. This turned out to be the DFG who provided an update at the Board of Supervisors Meeting (as a result of this message board). The link to the video presentation is at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/View. ... 4B77BCB592
Bass fisherman are vital to the economy of the area and your interests should be heard and appreciated. The lakefront owners are bright. We want the same things, just not an abundance of weeds that prevent us from using our homes, which directly affects property values. I have noticed the lakefront property values increasing for the first time in years. Homes are not sitting very long and I think it is a direct correlation to the lake improving. Hopefully we can all come together to improve the conditions in the lake for everyone to enjoy.
You are right in that the dead fish are mostly singles that aren't close together, but they are scattered almost everywhere. I've seen a lot of floating 5 pound plus fish though. The water temp is less than 80 degrees most places. I would think that these fish would be more hearty. I don't know if the water temp is the issue as you say. The dead smaller fish are probably just sinking to the bottom.
If the pelleting is as small as you claim, why is there so little grass? Does the science really support that the algae is killing the hydrilla. I saw the air boat out yesterday.
On the bright side, the water quality has gotten much better the last several days. I was able to fish Monitor Island and a few areas down south that were full of algae earlier in the week. The smell has gotten a lot better also.
clearlakeoutdoors
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by clearlakeoutdoors »

Besides the private paid spraying there is also county and state spraying (3 different entities)
They were still spraying last week
The problem is no one regulates it
There should not be any spraying during high water temps.
There should not be any spraying when DO count is down.
no reason to spray some areas at all
If it was up to me there would be no spraying allowed the weeds die off every fall anyway.
Poison gets in our tap water and in the rice fields
Leave the weeds alone!!!!!!
Dave
mark poulson
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Re: Dead fish wash ashore on Clear Lake

Post by mark poulson »

clearlakeoutdoors wrote:Besides the private paid spraying there is also county and state spraying (3 different entities)
They were still spraying last week
The problem is no one regulates it
There should not be any spraying during high water temps.
There should not be any spraying when DO count is down.
no reason to spray some areas at all
If it was up to me there would be no spraying allowed the weeds die off every fall anyway.
Poison gets in our tap water and in the rice fields
Leave the weeds alone!!!!!!
Dave
Exactly!
Attitude plus effort equal success
CLEAN AND DRY
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