California's Drought Condition's

eastbayanglers · Post by **eastbayanglers** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:23 am

Well here we are with another yr and again we are low on water. Many lakes that are within my area are so low that people can not even launch there boat's. I have talked to a few folks that were going to extreme's to lauch, and its not worth it. Lots of soft mud, dirt, even my wading boots are sinking down to my knee area at times. Yes i have been stuck and barely got out a few times recently. I think my real concern is that California has been in decline, and the fishing as a whole has been a shadow of what it was. Is the state itself on a downward spiral, i think so, has the lakes been mismanaged, yes. Still remembering the days when we were being planted with hatchery trout and fishing was good. Most importantly the Florida Strain LM they introduced in the 80's would use these trout to grow to trophy size. Now with less water and less hatcherys around California, i have talked to many lakes that outsource, they are going to other states to buy fish. That robust stocking program we had with rainbow trout created Giant LM but with the demise of california hatcherys were have little to no fish being stocked. The crystal basin recreation area for example has been IMHO Destroyed. The plants that i see still happening are quite pathetic in general throughout most of CA. There are a few exception's, but it breaks my heart to see. Hard to see California ever recover, i can name lake after lake and tell you about what used to be, i have met many ex guides who stopped due to fisherys in there area no longer being a good fishery due to not being managed right. Lets not forget the many Droves of people who travel CA to camp and fish, having that pressure means if a lake is planted there is sure to be some combat fishing aka people everywhere. Planted trout are essential to California, & i would prefer they feed on them rather then our panfish which i have also seen a decline.

WRB · Post by **WRB** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 9:35 pm

If you want to understand California drought read the USC paper on MegaDroughts published in New York Times is you can find it. The study uses soil and tree samples dating back to year O BC. Starting approximately year 850 (847) a mega drought began along the California coast with less then 6” annual rain fall. This mega drought lasted approximately 250 years until year 1100 (1098) . The 2nd mega drought lasted 100 years from year approximately 1200 to 1300. The conclusion was the past 150 years was a wet cycle averaging over 14” annual rain fall and we may be entering another mega drought. The report was written in 2012.
Tom

Post by **WB Staff** » Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:29 am

Something on the megadroughts from 2013.Not the specific one WRB mentioned

Is the West’s Dry Spell Really a Megadrought?

SAN FRANCISCO — The drought that has been afflicting most of the Western states for the past 13 years may be a “megadrought,” and the likelihood is high that this century could see a multi-decade dry spell like nothing else seen over the past 1,000 years, according to research presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting on Wednesday and Thursday.

Today, drought or abnormally dry conditions are affecting every state west of the Mississippi River and many on the East Coast, with much of the Southwest under long-term severe, extreme or exceptional drought conditions. While drought conditions nationwide are down this year, they remain entrenched in the West.

https://www.climatecentral.org/news/is- ... ught-16824

Kwin · Post by **Kwin** » Tue Dec 22, 2020 12:12 pm

Drought conditions promote big fish cycles. Trout or no trout.

gabuelhaj · Post by **gabuelhaj** » Tue Dec 22, 2020 3:02 pm

With all this massive building going on, where is the water coming from?

Good luck!

Pat · Post by **Pat** » Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:18 pm

The only way to get more water is through desalinization. That is basically drought proof.

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Thu Dec 24, 2020 6:02 am

gabuelhaj wrote:With all this massive building going on, where is the water coming from?

Good luck!

Exactly.

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Thu Dec 24, 2020 6:02 am

Pat wrote:The only way to get more water is through desalinization. That is basically drought proof.

And for agriculture to use less.

jiggin4bass · Post by **jiggin4bass** » Thu Dec 24, 2020 12:20 pm

The number 1 cash crop in ca is Dairy $7.34 billion
Feed by the alfalfa the most water used to produce milk
Almond are number 2 at 6.75 billion
Just remember the water going to be moved for the next 100 years and nobody is going to stop that it's life deal with it people. If you don't like farming move out of ca. You've got kamala harris is moving in now so brace yourselfs for what's coming ca.

eastbayanglers · Post by **eastbayanglers** » Thu Dec 24, 2020 12:52 pm

What hurts is how all this will lead to California and its fishery suffering. I know some say with a Drought yr the fishing can be great, i agree the fish are concentrated into a small area with little to no structure to hide in will equal good fishing that yr but leads to many yrs of not so good fishing. I am worried about fisherys that are so low that fish have no where to hide, and are more vulnerable especially during spawn.