14 April 9 , 2021 VOL . 40 • ISS . 7
LAKE ALMANOR
Big Browns – Best Bet
CHESTER - There is lots of activity on Almanor , bass boats , trollers , fly and bank fishermen are all testing their skills . Water temp raised another couple of degrees this past week and is quickly approaching the fifty degree mark . Snow at lake level is melting quickly and our smaller creeks are depositing water into the lake . Lake level currently sits at 4481 approximately three feet less than last year , visibility has increased to 8-10 ’. Boat traffic has been off the charts and it will only increase over the next few weeks with numerous bass tournaments scheduled . The canyon dam boat ramp remains the only public boat ramp and I counted 32 trailers in the lot yesterday . I have not heard of an official opening date for the USFS public ramp at Almanor West , there are reports of 50 + boats , bass tournaments in the next few weeks , which will make for crowded conditions at best . Bass boats are struggling to catch fish as are trollers . Hamilton Branch remains your best shot at catching mature fish from shore . Trollers continue to catch more browns than bows and the quality of fish is superb with browns approaching the double digit mark . Rainbows remain elusive . Insects are hatching throughout the lake ; I would expect the rainbow bite to improve over the next few weeks . It ’ s that time of year , we are all anxious to get out on the water , catch some fish and enjoy our beautiful lake . As boat pressure increases , our boat ramps are going to get crowded and patience will run thin . There have been at least two well written articles in the AFA annual newsletter on launching and retrieving your boat . We can all use a good refresher in both . Regretfully Saturday , I witnessed
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firsthand a complete disregard for posted USFS rules and boat ramp etiquette as a fellow fisherman set up camp in his cab over camper in the Canyon Dam parking lot and left his boat in the water over night attached to the only public boat ramp on Lake Almanor on perhaps the busiest day of the season this year . Please be prepared at the ramp , offer your assistance if needed and be courteous , don ’ t let a bad experience at the boat ramp ruin your day on the water !
- Quail Lodge Lake Almanor Lodging & Guide Service
AMERICAN RIVER
Bureau Takes Drastic Measure to Increase Delta Outflows
RANCHO CORDOVA – For seven days in mid-March 2021 , the Bureau of
Reclamation substantially increased Folsom Lake storage releases . Roughly , the releases tripled in volume . The release of over 20,000 acre-feet of water
Jason Rivera caught this line stripping hook jaw male Cutbow at Lake Amador . This fish weighed in at 15.9 pounds ! This monster feel prey to a Fire Tiger Rapala that Jason was trolling at the mouth of the Dry Camp Cove . Photo Courtesy of Lake Amador
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is significant for a year in which Folsom storage is not much better than it was in the worst year on record – 1977 . With the release in mid-March , the lake level dropped 3 feet . Yes , there was rain in the forecast and a decent snowpack , but certainly no flood concerns .
So why ? The reason was to meet state water quality
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requirements for Delta outflow . Delta outflow increased from 7,000 cfs to 12,000 cfs for a few days . The outflow pulse was needed to meet an obscure and complicated provision in the Bay-Delta ’ s D-1641 Water Quality Control Plan called “ footnote 11 .” The footnote ( specifies a formula for determining minimum daily Delta outflow for February through June in different water year types . The base requirement is 7100 cfs 3-day running average minimum ( that was being met . What was not met is the requirement in Table 4 to increase Delta outflow from Feb-Jun for the general ecological benefit from higher natural Delta outflow . That requirement is met by meeting a specified average number of days of obtaining an electrical conductivity level ( EC ) of 2640 . Since even that requirement was not met either the Executive Director of the State Water Board allowed Reclamation and the Department of Water
Resources not to meet it . The primary problem with this Delta Outflow requirement is the abrupt and arbitrary way it is met . If all that is needed to relax the requirement is a “ BOGSAT ,” 2 then all stakeholders need to be involved . Why did Reclamation place the burden primarily on Folsom Reservoir ? Why did Reclamation release all the water over just a few days ? The abrupt releases likely affected steelhead spawning . The lost storage will likely make salmon migration and spawning in the fall worse as well . At a minimum , Reclamation should have provided some form of notice of this major action . Reclamation should also document the effects .
- Thomas Cannon , California Sportfishing Protection Alliance ( CSPA )
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