09-07-2003, 02:06 PM
In my humble opinion, and from information gathered from Colorado's DOW, the fish are stressed out, putting them off their feed and changing their mating patterns. Meaning -- less fish. Also, stress from sudden dropping in water levels makes them more susceptable to disease and other fishy ailments that can wipe out entire schools, or an entire lake in a matter of weeks. Then, you add in a complete, early freeze-over, and you have no fish at all.
As a so-called "water" engineer once told me, "Do you want to fish, or eat?" in response to lowering the water level for irrigation demands. What I wanted to tell him, but didn't, if I fish, I eat (grilled fish, yum,yum).
The downside to an semi-end to a drought, the flash floods. After our Hayman Fire last year, there wass no stopping the rapid run-off. A hay bale just doesn't stop a lot of water. The ground is glazed from the heat (like glass) and can't absorb anything. During the last few heavy rains we've had, the run-off (silt, dirt, burnt logs, rocks, etc) has turned one of our once-premiere lakes in to something like used coffee grounds. The dead fish are numerous, like sand in a bottle, including a few lake trout that would make any man proud to hold up.
I don't want to be a doomsayer but things are only going to get worse, and the finger-pointing will begin in ernest. One proven point is this: politicians would rather be part of the problem than part of the solution.
I'm going to be doing a lot more driving in the next month, checking out different lakes and reservoirs as to conditions, especially water levels. I might even drown a worm or toss some metal while I'm at it. I don't think my research will yield anything cheerful to future fishing. I'd be interested in being kept informed as to water conditions in your area also, DrownedDesertRat.
One item I failed to mention. Dam engineers are using the low water levels as an excuse to drain the water down all the way to make repairs or improvements. Okay, but how are they going to refill it? By relying on a PMS strickened Mother Nature? Now that's counting on a lot. We have a former excellent fishery called Lake Antero that the state engineers did exactly that. It was three years ago and it is still just a small puddle, the last time I looked. Let Mother Nature do it? That equates to letting a wife pick out your shorts, you never know what you'll get.
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As a so-called "water" engineer once told me, "Do you want to fish, or eat?" in response to lowering the water level for irrigation demands. What I wanted to tell him, but didn't, if I fish, I eat (grilled fish, yum,yum).
The downside to an semi-end to a drought, the flash floods. After our Hayman Fire last year, there wass no stopping the rapid run-off. A hay bale just doesn't stop a lot of water. The ground is glazed from the heat (like glass) and can't absorb anything. During the last few heavy rains we've had, the run-off (silt, dirt, burnt logs, rocks, etc) has turned one of our once-premiere lakes in to something like used coffee grounds. The dead fish are numerous, like sand in a bottle, including a few lake trout that would make any man proud to hold up.
I don't want to be a doomsayer but things are only going to get worse, and the finger-pointing will begin in ernest. One proven point is this: politicians would rather be part of the problem than part of the solution.
I'm going to be doing a lot more driving in the next month, checking out different lakes and reservoirs as to conditions, especially water levels. I might even drown a worm or toss some metal while I'm at it. I don't think my research will yield anything cheerful to future fishing. I'd be interested in being kept informed as to water conditions in your area also, DrownedDesertRat.
One item I failed to mention. Dam engineers are using the low water levels as an excuse to drain the water down all the way to make repairs or improvements. Okay, but how are they going to refill it? By relying on a PMS strickened Mother Nature? Now that's counting on a lot. We have a former excellent fishery called Lake Antero that the state engineers did exactly that. It was three years ago and it is still just a small puddle, the last time I looked. Let Mother Nature do it? That equates to letting a wife pick out your shorts, you never know what you'll get.
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