This is it. The last straw. This was the place I was going to teach my boy to fish for bass. Next week I start making phone calls.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7951-1_23_10_closed.jpg.JPG

Attachment #1, (.JPG file)

Anyone have any idea as to WHY?

Buzzfish

WOW!

dood you know we will be making some calls next week for a reason. This sux so bad I cant even explain it. We dont have many more places to kickboat anymore

This just totally bites.... :(

WTF? Do you think it has anything to do with DFG trying to get steelhead re-established in the bay area? I read recently that they did something to the creeks/streams (Guadalupe?) to encoourage winter runs. Maybe this is the upstream follow through...it would be sick to hook up a steelhead at SC.

Buzzfish

http://www.alamedacreek.org/Press_Releases/Alameda%20Creek%20fishing%20regs%20PR%2012-15-09.pdf

"The new regulations provide year-round closure of all fishing for areas downstream of the major reservoirs in the Alameda Creek watershed, while continuing to allow catch-and-release fly-fishing (with artificial lures and barbless hooks) where there is legal access for fishing in tributaries upstream of these reservoirs, from the end of April through November 15.

The Alameda Creek Alliance, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration, Friends of Sausal Creek, Golden West Women Flyfishers, Mission Peak Fly Anglers, Nature in the City, Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers, Regional Parks Association, and Tri-City Ecology Center supported the proposed changes to the fishing regulations for Alameda Creek and its tributaries."

Hey, I just donated to one of those x(

EFFN BS. Time to fight

Please read this excerpt from a recent study by the Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration regarding Alameda Creek (which Arroyo Del Valle and the back ponds at Shadow Cliffs are a part of)():

Page 37 - 5.4.1.2 Task No. 2. Evaluate predator populations in the backwater pools. More should be learned about how predators (mainly bass) arrive at, and use, the backwater pools. The first step would be a literature review of bass life history requirements. Then estimates of (1) predator numbers and sizes (possibly using mark-recapture) and (2) habitat quality from late-spring through early-fall would serve as a background to contrast future management actions. One desirable management option would be to passively eliminate, or greatly suppress, bass in the backwater pools. With elimination of bass unlikely, the effects of bass predation on steelhead juvenile growth and survival might be needed in the future, once steelhead begin to repopulate the watershed.

If you think that this will stop with the back ponds, you should think again. Any study on, "where do bass come from" in Alameda creek will quickly identify Del Valle Reservoir, Shadow Cliffs main lake, the Quarry Lakes, Calaveras, and San Antonio reservoir. I know from talking to Brian Sak years ago that bass predation on landlocked steelhead in Calaveras reservoir has already been studied.

Connect the dots in your mind here. The groups that are behind steelhead restoration in Alameda creek will fall on a spectrum of beliefs and values. Some will balk at the idea of eradicating bass from the lakes or closing lakes to fishing. Other groups will not and would like nothing better.

The Center for Biological Diversity is very much involved in this Alameda creek issue and is working with the Alameda Creek Alliance () and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (). Recall that this is the same group responsible for ending trout stocking at hundreds of locations around the state, achieved via their lawsuit against the CA Department of Fish and Game.

I've said before and will say again. These groups believe they are doing nothing but good. They carry a flag of righteousness and hold it high. While I agree with much of what they are doing, I do not agree with their methods. Fundamentally these groups are putting pointless bandaids on amputated limbs.

The problem for steelhead in Alameda creek is Del Valle, Calaveras, and San Antonio reservoirs. The reason those reservoirs exist is to provide water for human use. While San Francisco water district may serve up tap water to the same people who are responsible for closing the back ponds at Shadow Cliffs to fishing, they are not about to tell those people to stop drinking it so trout can live.

The result is one less recreational opportunity for the people who live and work in the East Bay. It's not so that steelhead will be saved, it's so that people who got the closure can feel good about themselves.

My position on this issue will be that the back ponds at Shadow Cliffs should stay open to fishing on an artificial lure, catch and release only basis. In the coming weeks I will devise a plan to achieve this goal.

Update

I talked with Pete Alexander who is the fisheries guy for EBPARKS. He told me that the no-fishing regs have not gone in to effect yet. They will go in to effect March 1, 2010. So, you CAN go fish the back ponds right now if you want. He said he contacted the people at Shadow Cliffs and asked them to take down the sign posted on the photo board.

I am continuing to work on this issue and working on getting in touch with the DFG biologists who are involved. The ideal way to get it so that fishing is allowed in the back ponds again is to have DFG biologists on your side, then go to the DFG commission and follow the formal process for regulation changes. Whether or not the DFG folks involved will support that notion remains to be seen.

This tells me we now have until March 1st to get this worked out. Let me know what I can do tell help.

I will, and thank you. Today I also talked with Krissy Adkinson who is one of the DFG biologists involved with this area. She was surprised to hear about the no fishing sign and was going to look in to it more. She also said she would spend some time in the area to learn more about the waterway there. This seemed good.

I'm still in an information gathering phase, trying to get a feel for who is on what side of this. An ideal situation would be to discover that most of the involved constituents were not opposed to bass fishing in the back ponds. I don't know if that will be the case, but so far my feeling is that a compromise situation could be worked out. Stay tuned. I'm going to chip away at this each and every day.