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Some suspect kokanee will be gobbled up in San Vicente
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 24, 2003
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/outdoors/images/030524fish.jpg[/mg]
Question remains whether the kokanee salmon fingerlings to be planted in San Vicente Reservoir will grow to this size for local anglers. UNION-TRIBUNE
Question remains whether the kokanee salmon fingerlings to be planted in San Vicente Reservoir will grow to this size for local anglers.
These have been interesting times for Southern California lakes when it comes to planting a variety of fish.
Yes, lakes here have become virtual dumping grounds for all kinds of fish in recent years.
The list of transplanted finned critters includes brown trout, steelhead trout, some weird thing called "lightning trout," wipers, even the massive sturgeon in tiny Cuyamaca Lake.
Now there's another fish due here in the next couple of weeks. As many as 15,000 kokanee salmon fingerlings will be planted in San Vicente, joining that fishery's existing population that includes largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, crappie, rainbow trout, channel catfish, blue catfish and carp.
"The hors d'oeuvres are on their way," said Jim Brown, city lakes program director.
"That's a perfect description of them," said Department of Fish and Game senior fisheries biologist Dwayne Maxwell. "I don't think for a minute they'll establish themselves in San Vicente. When we first planted kokanee we planted them as forage fish, and that's what they'll be at San Vicente."
Rod Browning, chairman of the board for the California Inland Fisheries Foundation Inc. (CIFFI), doesn't agree with Brown, Maxwell or any others who doubt that kokanee will survive in San Vicente.
"Once kokanee become abundant in Southern California you'll see a change in the way people fish the lake," Browning said. "These fish need deep, cold water, and you need downriggers and fish finders to fish them. We fish them with light tackle in depths of 110 to 120 feet."
Browning said CIFFI's intentions are good. The organization's roots as a nonprofit fisheries group began shortly after 1988 when the DFG quit planting kokanee salmon, the nonanadromous or freshwater form of sockeye salmon. CIFFI has planted more than 10 million fingerlings over the last nine years, but all in Northern and Central California. Unlike in other parts of California, they're meeting opposition here.
"There's no guarantee that all these fish won't be eaten," DFG biologist Dennis Lee said. "This is an experimental thing, and we think this is one fish that might survive at San Vicente. But I'm not totally convinced there's enough food, that it's cold enough to keep them around for a couple of years and that there aren't too many predators."
Terry Foreman, the DFG's Ramona-based associate fisheries biologist, agrees with Maxwell.
"They're going to be very live, very fresh sushi for the big bass in San Vicente," Foreman said.
Foreman is concerned that the kokanee, which compete with shad for plankton, might hurt the shad population and thus weaken San Vicente as a bass fishery.
"It would be a shame, too, because the bass fishery at San Vicente right now rivals that of Diamond Valley Reservoir (yet to open)," Foreman said.
City lakes fisheries biologist Larry Bottroff said the amount of kokanee that survive, if they do, shouldn't disrupt San Vicente's shad or bass population.
"It can't hurt anything," Bottroff said. "And it may be a slight plus if enough survive."
If the kokanee do survive in San Vicente, they'll only live for about three years before they transform from a bright silver to a brilliant red-orange, attempt to spawn and then die. Lee said the kokanee could reach up to 2 to 3 pounds by then, depending on the food source. He doesn't expect them to reproduce in San Vicente.
"What makes it such a popular fishery is that kokanee are really good to eat," Lee said. "It's not a catch-and-release fishery."
Lee said the plan is to try plants for three years to see if the fish take. If they don't, the program will be discontinued here.
No matter what happens at San Vicente, the CIFFI will continue to do its good work throughout the central and northern part of the state. Lee said the organization has been a tremendous help to the DFG, donating cash, material and volunteer time to help make up for the state's lack of funding for fishing-related projects.
"I don't know of any organization in California, maybe the U.S., that has been this generous in its support of fishing," Lee said.
Each year CIFFI donates $25,000 to the DFG, and that money is matched with federal funds from the Wallop-Breaux Trust Fund, money collected on excise taxes and import duties on recreational boating and sportfishing products and fuel taxes for motorboats and small engine fuel.
"We've given the DFG over $500,000 in dollars and product over the last 11 years," said Browning, who was voted Californian of the Year last year by the members of the Outdoor Writers Association of California. Browning said he accepted the award on behalf of the CIFFI and its 1,400 members.
Over the years, CIFFI has rebuilt hatcheries (San Joaquin and American River) and each year the volunteers collect kokanee roe to preserve and expand the state's kokanee population.
City lakes program manager Jim Brown said he hopes the organization's first plant at San Vicente isn't judged by this one-time shot. He said the water temperature and conditions at San Vicente aren't that conducive for a plant right now.
"The only negative is that they use this effort and judge the potential success by this plant alone," Brown said. "We may be looking at one hell of a fishery for people if these fish take."
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 24, 2003
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/outdoors/images/030524fish.jpg[/mg]
Question remains whether the kokanee salmon fingerlings to be planted in San Vicente Reservoir will grow to this size for local anglers. UNION-TRIBUNE
Question remains whether the kokanee salmon fingerlings to be planted in San Vicente Reservoir will grow to this size for local anglers.
These have been interesting times for Southern California lakes when it comes to planting a variety of fish.
Yes, lakes here have become virtual dumping grounds for all kinds of fish in recent years.
The list of transplanted finned critters includes brown trout, steelhead trout, some weird thing called "lightning trout," wipers, even the massive sturgeon in tiny Cuyamaca Lake.
Now there's another fish due here in the next couple of weeks. As many as 15,000 kokanee salmon fingerlings will be planted in San Vicente, joining that fishery's existing population that includes largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, crappie, rainbow trout, channel catfish, blue catfish and carp.
"The hors d'oeuvres are on their way," said Jim Brown, city lakes program director.
"That's a perfect description of them," said Department of Fish and Game senior fisheries biologist Dwayne Maxwell. "I don't think for a minute they'll establish themselves in San Vicente. When we first planted kokanee we planted them as forage fish, and that's what they'll be at San Vicente."
Rod Browning, chairman of the board for the California Inland Fisheries Foundation Inc. (CIFFI), doesn't agree with Brown, Maxwell or any others who doubt that kokanee will survive in San Vicente.
"Once kokanee become abundant in Southern California you'll see a change in the way people fish the lake," Browning said. "These fish need deep, cold water, and you need downriggers and fish finders to fish them. We fish them with light tackle in depths of 110 to 120 feet."
Browning said CIFFI's intentions are good. The organization's roots as a nonprofit fisheries group began shortly after 1988 when the DFG quit planting kokanee salmon, the nonanadromous or freshwater form of sockeye salmon. CIFFI has planted more than 10 million fingerlings over the last nine years, but all in Northern and Central California. Unlike in other parts of California, they're meeting opposition here.
"There's no guarantee that all these fish won't be eaten," DFG biologist Dennis Lee said. "This is an experimental thing, and we think this is one fish that might survive at San Vicente. But I'm not totally convinced there's enough food, that it's cold enough to keep them around for a couple of years and that there aren't too many predators."
Terry Foreman, the DFG's Ramona-based associate fisheries biologist, agrees with Maxwell.
"They're going to be very live, very fresh sushi for the big bass in San Vicente," Foreman said.
Foreman is concerned that the kokanee, which compete with shad for plankton, might hurt the shad population and thus weaken San Vicente as a bass fishery.
"It would be a shame, too, because the bass fishery at San Vicente right now rivals that of Diamond Valley Reservoir (yet to open)," Foreman said.
City lakes fisheries biologist Larry Bottroff said the amount of kokanee that survive, if they do, shouldn't disrupt San Vicente's shad or bass population.
"It can't hurt anything," Bottroff said. "And it may be a slight plus if enough survive."
If the kokanee do survive in San Vicente, they'll only live for about three years before they transform from a bright silver to a brilliant red-orange, attempt to spawn and then die. Lee said the kokanee could reach up to 2 to 3 pounds by then, depending on the food source. He doesn't expect them to reproduce in San Vicente.
"What makes it such a popular fishery is that kokanee are really good to eat," Lee said. "It's not a catch-and-release fishery."
Lee said the plan is to try plants for three years to see if the fish take. If they don't, the program will be discontinued here.
No matter what happens at San Vicente, the CIFFI will continue to do its good work throughout the central and northern part of the state. Lee said the organization has been a tremendous help to the DFG, donating cash, material and volunteer time to help make up for the state's lack of funding for fishing-related projects.
"I don't know of any organization in California, maybe the U.S., that has been this generous in its support of fishing," Lee said.
Each year CIFFI donates $25,000 to the DFG, and that money is matched with federal funds from the Wallop-Breaux Trust Fund, money collected on excise taxes and import duties on recreational boating and sportfishing products and fuel taxes for motorboats and small engine fuel.
"We've given the DFG over $500,000 in dollars and product over the last 11 years," said Browning, who was voted Californian of the Year last year by the members of the Outdoor Writers Association of California. Browning said he accepted the award on behalf of the CIFFI and its 1,400 members.
Over the years, CIFFI has rebuilt hatcheries (San Joaquin and American River) and each year the volunteers collect kokanee roe to preserve and expand the state's kokanee population.
City lakes program manager Jim Brown said he hopes the organization's first plant at San Vicente isn't judged by this one-time shot. He said the water temperature and conditions at San Vicente aren't that conducive for a plant right now.
"The only negative is that they use this effort and judge the potential success by this plant alone," Brown said. "We may be looking at one hell of a fishery for people if these fish take."
