MLPA Impact

If you haven’t been following the saga of the Marine Life Protection Act and the proposed ocean closures now is a good time to start.  There was a meeting held yesterday with up to 1,000 people attending and voicing their opinions.  Commercial and sport fishermen are worried closures would hurt their trade/sport.  Environmentalists are making themselves heard.  And others are only worried how we are going to pay for enforcement.  Here are a few articles to read so you can catch up on all the drama.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/oct/20/ocean-closures-meeting-draws-huge-crowd/

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/9d98c284-fcf4-59d2-b9b2-979fe9222ff1.html

Catch and Release Tips

Since I mostly practice and advocate catch and release I thought I’d post these tips.  Most experienced anglers know these but it never hurts to review them from time to time.

Use artificial baits, not live bait.
Fish are often hooked deeper on live bait then on artificials.

Use barbless hooks for catch and release fishing.
You can also bend down the barb of a regular hook. Barbless hooks do less damage to the fish you catch and allow you to release it easier.

Set the hook as quickly as possible.
Letting the fish take the bait will give it time to swallow it. As soon as you feel the bite the fish has the bait in its mouth in most cases.

Land the fish as quickly as possible.
The longer you fight a fish the more lactic acid builds up in its body and the less likely it is to survive. Use heavy line and tackle to help you land them quickly. If you plan on practicing catch and release, ultralight tackle is not the best way to go. The exception to this rule is when you catch fish in deep water. In that case bring them in slowly to allow them to adjust to the pressure change. If they float belly up when you try to release them they have an inflated swim bladder. In that case use a needle to deflate the bladder or better, use a line with a weight and a tiny hook to take the fish back to deeper water. When you pull hard the small hook will come out if barely hooked in the skin of the lip.

Don’t use a net when landing fish.
Nets damage the fish so don’t use one if you can land the fish you catch if you are planning on releasing it. If you have to use a net, a rubber or cotton net is better than a nylon net because they will do less damage.

Wet your hands when touching fish.
Dry hands will damage the slime on fish that helps protect them, as well as damaging skin and scales.

Keep the fish in the water.
If you can take the hook out of the fish without taking the fish out of the water catch and release is much more successful. If you need to take pictures or measure the fish keep it near the water and put it back in the water as quickly as possible.

Don’t hold the fish in the gills or eyes and don’t bend the jaw.
Don’t squeeze the fish tightly. You can damage eyes and gills with your hands and if you hold a fish by the lower jaw and bend it, for example holding a bass up by the lower lip and turning it sideways for a picture, you can damage the jaw so badly the fish can’t feed.

Keep the fish off the ground and boat deck.
If it flops around on the ground or boat it can damage itself.

Don’t pull a hook out of a fish.
If a fish is hooked deeply, use pliers or a hook removal tool to back the hook out the way it went in. If the hook is deep in a fish’s throat or in its gills, cut the line and leave the hook in it. Cut the line just outside the mouth of the fish.

Don’t use stainless steel hooks.
If you have to leave the hook in a fish that is hooked deeply, regular hooks will rust fairly quickly, stainless steel hooks will not.

Hold the fish in the water until it starts to move on its own.
Hold it under the belly and keep it upright. Keep its head pointed away from the side of the boat or anything else it might hit as it swims off. Some say move the fish back and forth in the water to move water over its gills, others say don’t do this, it can damage the gills. In current, face the fish upstream into the current.

If you can think of any others let me know!

This Months Water Bill

 

Lake Henshaw

I received my water bill in the mail today… oh joy.  My normal routine is the tear the envelope open and extract the bill without bothering anything else that might be inside.  But today I must have been bored because I decided to see what was so important that my local water utility needs to inform me about.

I found a flyer titled “Reflections”.   It’s whole purpose was to inform local residents of the continued drought to our region and offer tips for water conservation.  The flyer had some great info about Lake Henshaw and its water levels.  Apparently Henshaw peaked at only 29% capacity in May for this year.  After visiting the utilities website I found that currently Henshaw is only at 10% capacity.  Also, this lake is the only local source of water for the Vista Irrigation District and it supplies 30% of the water needed in the district.  The other 70% is imported from the Colorado River.  There were lots of other interesting facts and general info.

I have to admit it, the whole time I was reading this article I was thinking about the effects of drought on fishing.  When water levels get low I start worrying about fish populations, water oxygenation and launch ramp conditions.  Henshaw has never been a very popular place for sport fishing but drought affects all the lakes in our area and we should do what we can to keep our lakes healthy.    Maybe there is something I can do?

If I thought rain dancing would help I’d have done it.  That would be easy.  As it turns out, conserving water is mostly inconvenient or costly.  The backside of the flyer offered suggestions such as purchasing newer and more efficient dish and clothes washers and washing vehicles with just one bucket of water and not use a constantly running hose.  There were a few more that didn’t really apply to me but they were good suggestions anyway.  However there were two things listed that I could do right now with little effort.  I could change the number of days my sprinkler system waters per week from 4 to 3.  Also, change the duration of my sprinklers from ten minutes to seven.  I figured what the heck and made the adjustment on my control panel.

So there you have it, I’m now conserving water.  I feel better about myself.  Of course that might change if my lawn turns brown but we’ll see how it goes.  I’d suggest everyone find the website for your local water utility and do some reading.  As fishermen the info provided should be especially relevent and hopefully you will have a better understanding of the water situation in southern California.