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Jim Matthews
4//5/06
Outdoor News Service
SALTON SEA COMING BACK AGAIN: Long-time Salton Sea angler Norm Niver said he thought the always-near-death body of water's fishery was again making a comeback.
For the past 40 years, scientists have said the Salton Sea was on the verge of becoming a dead sea, a sea too salty for fish life. And for 40 years the sea continues to surprise those same scientists by bouncing back from its death bed and running a marathon.
The last run of good fishing ended in 2002, which was about as good as anyone could remember for corvina. That year marked the sixth year in a row of excellent fishing, and the corvina had just been getting bigger and bigger. By the 2001 and 2002 seasons, anglers were reporting more big corvina than had been caught in decades.
The big corvina years followed a tilapia boom that started in 1994 and continued through the rest of that decade. By 2002, the tilapia had almost disappeared. For the past two seasons almost no tilapia or corvina have been caught.
Niver's news is simple: things look to be turning around because there are lots and lots of tilapia showing around the sea again. Most are small -- under eight inches -- but Niver thinks the pendulum might be swinging the other way again. Corvina eat tilapia and the food supply is back.
Stay tuned. The Salton Sea has been the state's most productive fishery in the past. Several times. Another encore would be nice for those of us who remember five-fish corvina stringers that weighed 75 pounds or 120-quart ice chests filled with 1 1/2-pound tilapia. In fact, it would be nice for people who don't remember those times, too.
Perhaps the rumors of the Salton Sea's death have been greatly exaggerated yet again.
4//5/06
Outdoor News Service
SALTON SEA COMING BACK AGAIN: Long-time Salton Sea angler Norm Niver said he thought the always-near-death body of water's fishery was again making a comeback.
For the past 40 years, scientists have said the Salton Sea was on the verge of becoming a dead sea, a sea too salty for fish life. And for 40 years the sea continues to surprise those same scientists by bouncing back from its death bed and running a marathon.
The last run of good fishing ended in 2002, which was about as good as anyone could remember for corvina. That year marked the sixth year in a row of excellent fishing, and the corvina had just been getting bigger and bigger. By the 2001 and 2002 seasons, anglers were reporting more big corvina than had been caught in decades.
The big corvina years followed a tilapia boom that started in 1994 and continued through the rest of that decade. By 2002, the tilapia had almost disappeared. For the past two seasons almost no tilapia or corvina have been caught.
Niver's news is simple: things look to be turning around because there are lots and lots of tilapia showing around the sea again. Most are small -- under eight inches -- but Niver thinks the pendulum might be swinging the other way again. Corvina eat tilapia and the food supply is back.
Stay tuned. The Salton Sea has been the state's most productive fishery in the past. Several times. Another encore would be nice for those of us who remember five-fish corvina stringers that weighed 75 pounds or 120-quart ice chests filled with 1 1/2-pound tilapia. In fact, it would be nice for people who don't remember those times, too.
Perhaps the rumors of the Salton Sea's death have been greatly exaggerated yet again.
