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Fishermen rock on at lake opening
Concertlike hoopla greets Diamond Valley
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 4, 2003
HEMET – It was the atmosphere of a rock concert for fishermen.
Cars were lined up 1½ miles outside the gates of Diamond Valley Lake yesterday morning as more than 1,000 excited anglers – many of whom camped out overnight – eagerly awaited their chance to pull a fish out of Southern California's newest fishery.
They weren't disappointed.
"It was worth the wait," Marcus Noble, 18, of El Cajon said as he and his cousin Austin Noble escorted a 4½-pound largemouth bass back to their shoreline fishing spot after weighing it.
Fishermen had waited patiently for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to open this fish-filled reservoir in the high desert. The district is calling it "the jewel of California lakes," and yesterday the public finally got to try this fishing gem that, to most, had been ornamental water for more than three years.
Noble didn't reach his fishing spot on the shoreline until 9 a.m. because of the line of 250 private boats, 38 rental boats and a sellout crowd of reservation-only anglers.
Noble was in diapers when the district first explored the concept of building a massive reservoir to store a six-month supply of emergency water for Southern California. He was in grade school when construction began in 1995 of what became a $2 billion project. But yesterday he joined others for a day many said they'd never forget.
"Being able to fish this lake the first day like this . . . it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Poway resident Joe Aldridge, who fished with Scott Ferguson of Fallbrook and Brent Whitaker of Julian.
A disc jockey tried to describe the surreal scene outside the lake as he interviewed fishermen on his cell phone in the predawn darkness. "I swear, it's like a concert atmosphere here," he reported.
It was a Southern California happening, all right. There even was a carload of gate-crashers who made an unsuccessful attempt at a run past security guard Jim Rusk.
"Everyone wants to get on the big lake because the word is out there's big fish in it," Rusk said. "But no reservation, no fish."
Anglers began lining up at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, even though there had been an official warning from MWD that Hemet police wouldn't allow vehicles and boats to line up on busy Dominigoni Parkway. But by 4 a.m. yesterday, the rigs, RVs, boats and trailers stretched more than 1½ miles from the entrance. One angler slept on the dirt shoulder of the parkway next to his boat. Another slept in a tent. Others, such as Chris and Andrea Nicoll of Fallbrook, slept in their rig.
Chuck and Andrea Moreno of Ontario had their rental RV in the second spot in line. The fishing-crazy couple braved the elements even though Andrea is seven months pregnant.
Chuck said he proposed to Andrea by tying her engagement ring on her line when she wasn't looking when they were fishing one day.
"I told her this is a day like that, a day we'll never forget," Chuck said. Added Andrea: "This is right up there with getting married and having a baby."
There was free coffee, and there were commemorative plastic floating key cases and cameras, all courtesy of MWD. Fishermen were encouraged to take plenty of pictures, turn in the disposable cameras on the way out, and MWD would process the film and send the pictures to the anglers. The only condition was that MWD gets to keep a set for possible use in its newsletter or on its Web site.
The sizes of the boats – everything from 12-foot aluminums to 24-foot fancy Bayliners – reflected the diverse fishery of this 4,500-acre reservoir that is 4½ miles long and two miles wide and has three dams. Its deepest – as much as 260 feet – and coldest water has four strains of rainbow trout that fight like wild fish. Its enhanced shoreline of structure and habitat, mixed with natural cover, holds largemouth and smallmouth bass that fishermen say, pound-for-pound, are some of the toughest fish they've ever hooked.
Tom Stone of Baldwin Park and fishing buddy Maurice Camp of Murrieta were No. 1 in line.
"We just wanted to be somewhere reasonable in line, but we never dreamed we'd be first," Camp said. "I just hope we're first all day."
As it turned out, Camp and Stone found tough fishing, as many did. Most fished for bass exclusively, but Camp and Stone joined a handful of others and tried trolling for trout. They were still looking for their first fish at 10 a.m.
But, said Stone, "You don't have to catch fish to have fun."
Fishing had been phenomenal for those prefishing the lake and those who fished during special pre-opener events.
But even "virgin water," as many of the anglers referred to the lake, can be tough to fish, and the old axiom of 10 percent of the fishermen catching 90 percent of the fish kicked in here, too.
"It's about what I expected," said Mike Giusti, the Department of Fish and Game's associate fisheries biologist who oversaw the stocking and growing of the lake's fishery from an 80-acre stocking pool. "The expectations were a lot higher than the lake could deliver. But the guys who knew what they were doing caught a lot of fish today."
Giusti estimated the boat average was 15 bass. Gary Robson of Hemet and his two sons caught and released 90 bass.
Bob Muir, spokesman for MWD, said the day was "extremely successful and valuable."
"Valuable because any time you have a first full run you're provided with a lot of information that you couldn't get any other way than with a full house," Muir said. "Our goal now is to make some improvements and get people out as soon as possible.
"The big thing is we launched more boats than we've ever launched, and no one was hurt. There are still some things to work out, but for our first true test, we have to be happy and satisfied."
Concertlike hoopla greets Diamond Valley
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 4, 2003
HEMET – It was the atmosphere of a rock concert for fishermen.
Cars were lined up 1½ miles outside the gates of Diamond Valley Lake yesterday morning as more than 1,000 excited anglers – many of whom camped out overnight – eagerly awaited their chance to pull a fish out of Southern California's newest fishery.
They weren't disappointed.
"It was worth the wait," Marcus Noble, 18, of El Cajon said as he and his cousin Austin Noble escorted a 4½-pound largemouth bass back to their shoreline fishing spot after weighing it.
Fishermen had waited patiently for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to open this fish-filled reservoir in the high desert. The district is calling it "the jewel of California lakes," and yesterday the public finally got to try this fishing gem that, to most, had been ornamental water for more than three years.
Noble didn't reach his fishing spot on the shoreline until 9 a.m. because of the line of 250 private boats, 38 rental boats and a sellout crowd of reservation-only anglers.
Noble was in diapers when the district first explored the concept of building a massive reservoir to store a six-month supply of emergency water for Southern California. He was in grade school when construction began in 1995 of what became a $2 billion project. But yesterday he joined others for a day many said they'd never forget.
"Being able to fish this lake the first day like this . . . it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Poway resident Joe Aldridge, who fished with Scott Ferguson of Fallbrook and Brent Whitaker of Julian.
A disc jockey tried to describe the surreal scene outside the lake as he interviewed fishermen on his cell phone in the predawn darkness. "I swear, it's like a concert atmosphere here," he reported.
It was a Southern California happening, all right. There even was a carload of gate-crashers who made an unsuccessful attempt at a run past security guard Jim Rusk.
"Everyone wants to get on the big lake because the word is out there's big fish in it," Rusk said. "But no reservation, no fish."
Anglers began lining up at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, even though there had been an official warning from MWD that Hemet police wouldn't allow vehicles and boats to line up on busy Dominigoni Parkway. But by 4 a.m. yesterday, the rigs, RVs, boats and trailers stretched more than 1½ miles from the entrance. One angler slept on the dirt shoulder of the parkway next to his boat. Another slept in a tent. Others, such as Chris and Andrea Nicoll of Fallbrook, slept in their rig.
Chuck and Andrea Moreno of Ontario had their rental RV in the second spot in line. The fishing-crazy couple braved the elements even though Andrea is seven months pregnant.
Chuck said he proposed to Andrea by tying her engagement ring on her line when she wasn't looking when they were fishing one day.
"I told her this is a day like that, a day we'll never forget," Chuck said. Added Andrea: "This is right up there with getting married and having a baby."
There was free coffee, and there were commemorative plastic floating key cases and cameras, all courtesy of MWD. Fishermen were encouraged to take plenty of pictures, turn in the disposable cameras on the way out, and MWD would process the film and send the pictures to the anglers. The only condition was that MWD gets to keep a set for possible use in its newsletter or on its Web site.
The sizes of the boats – everything from 12-foot aluminums to 24-foot fancy Bayliners – reflected the diverse fishery of this 4,500-acre reservoir that is 4½ miles long and two miles wide and has three dams. Its deepest – as much as 260 feet – and coldest water has four strains of rainbow trout that fight like wild fish. Its enhanced shoreline of structure and habitat, mixed with natural cover, holds largemouth and smallmouth bass that fishermen say, pound-for-pound, are some of the toughest fish they've ever hooked.
Tom Stone of Baldwin Park and fishing buddy Maurice Camp of Murrieta were No. 1 in line.
"We just wanted to be somewhere reasonable in line, but we never dreamed we'd be first," Camp said. "I just hope we're first all day."
As it turned out, Camp and Stone found tough fishing, as many did. Most fished for bass exclusively, but Camp and Stone joined a handful of others and tried trolling for trout. They were still looking for their first fish at 10 a.m.
But, said Stone, "You don't have to catch fish to have fun."
Fishing had been phenomenal for those prefishing the lake and those who fished during special pre-opener events.
But even "virgin water," as many of the anglers referred to the lake, can be tough to fish, and the old axiom of 10 percent of the fishermen catching 90 percent of the fish kicked in here, too.
"It's about what I expected," said Mike Giusti, the Department of Fish and Game's associate fisheries biologist who oversaw the stocking and growing of the lake's fishery from an 80-acre stocking pool. "The expectations were a lot higher than the lake could deliver. But the guys who knew what they were doing caught a lot of fish today."
Giusti estimated the boat average was 15 bass. Gary Robson of Hemet and his two sons caught and released 90 bass.
Bob Muir, spokesman for MWD, said the day was "extremely successful and valuable."
"Valuable because any time you have a first full run you're provided with a lot of information that you couldn't get any other way than with a full house," Muir said. "Our goal now is to make some improvements and get people out as soon as possible.
"The big thing is we launched more boats than we've ever launched, and no one was hurt. There are still some things to work out, but for our first true test, we have to be happy and satisfied."
