Outdoors with Don Q: Drought has the makings of poor summer fishing

With July just around the corner, unless something dramatic and unforeseen happens in the future, 2014 has all the earmarks of being a very poor fishing summer because of our ongoing drought.

Our sparse Sierra Nevada snowpack from last winter is gone, the spring run-off was almost non-existent, and that is bad news for fishing this summer in our streams, creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes and reservoirs.

Wildhorse and Willow Creek Reservoirs:
Part of that bad news has already arrived with the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) lifting the restrictions on how many game fish a fisherman can keep from Wildhorse Reservoir and Willow Creek Reservoir, both located in remote Northern Elko County.

“With the conditions as they are, we expect to lose the majority of the trout at Wildhorse and Willow Creek Reservoirs this summer,” said Jon C. Sjöberg, Fisheries Division Chief. “The purpose of this regulation change is to give anglers the maximum opportunity to harvest these fish as soon as possible before conditions get any worse.”

Wildhorse Reservoir was at only 24 percent of capacity in early May and is projected to drop even further this summer. Other waters are already at or near record low levels.

Here are quotations from people associated with some of those waters:
Almanor Lake, California: Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced that Lake Almanor and Bucks Lake water levels are projected to be below normal this summer due to drought conditions.

Boca Reservoir, Calif.: Lake level has leveled off now and may dip slightly as they are releasing more water out than in at the moment. 
Small car top boats only here or float tubes, water level is too low to launch anything else.

Bridgeport Reservoir, Calif.: Very low water.
I suggest you go to the Bridge early this season, fall may be iffy.
Fish here early friends, fall may be tough.

Bucks Lake, Calif.: Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced that Lake Almanor and Bucks Lake water levels are projected to be below normal this summer due to drought conditions.

Carson River, East, California: The fish being caught are planters.
Carson River, West, California: The fish being caught are planters.
Crowley Lake, Calif.: Boaters warned to watch for obstacles.
Davis Lake, Calif.: The lake level is at 65%.
Feather River, Calif.: The flows are abysmally low here and dropping daily. Hardly a striper made it up this trickle this season but some shad are starting to show at Verona and Shanghai.
Boaters beware the river is not safe at this point…unless you are in a canoe.

Hot Creek, Calif.: Water flow is 15 CFS. Dry fly fishing is nonexistent. Weeds are becoming an issue in some sections very early, I am sad to report.

Jackson Meadows, California: Lake is relatively low for this time of year so launching larger boats may be a problem.
Jiggs Reservoir, Nevada: Has dried up.
Lahontan Reservoir, Nevada: All boat launches are unavailable due to low lake levels. Launching can only be done from the beach at your own risk. Decreasing water levels continually expose new rock and sand bar hazards; extreme caution is advised for boats pulling skiers or traveling at higher speeds.
Lewiston Lake, Calif.: The reservoir is really, really low.
Prosser Reservoir, California: Lake at 38 percent capacity.
Rye Patch Reservoir, Nevada: The boat ramp is closed due to low water. Twenty feet-plus boats have launched from the shore without any problems but it is at the boaters own risk.
Sabrina Lake, California: The boat ramp is closed.
South Lake, California: Hardest hit by the drought, South Lake is very low. The lake is still bigger than Lake George in Mammoth, but hardly the large reservoir we're used to. We don't expect any stocking this year as accessing the lake is just too difficult.
Topaz Lake: The boat ramps are closed.
Walker Lake, Nevada: No Lahontan cutthroat have been reported or seen at Walker Lake since 2009. Launching is not possible right now.
Walker River, East, California: The EW is facing some tough times this season, go easy on them friends.
Walker River, West, California: Water is low and fish are in deeper holes.
Washoe Lake, Nevada: Getting lower and lower every day.
Wildhorse Reservoir, Nevada: It is also almost impossible to launch a boat here as the boat ramp is still quite a ways out of the water.
Willow Creek Reservoir, Nevada: The lake is down to around 5 percent of capacity and turbid. It is not worth the trip. This fishery is probably gone until we get enough moisture to recharge both it and the surrounding lands.

Finally:
Sad to say, but if someone tells you that fishing is good at a particular location or a number of locations, chances are pretty good they are:
1. Talking about a large lake such as Lake Tahoe, or
2. Where water flow is regulated by water authorities, or
3. Talking about recent fish plants by the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Alpine County Fish and Game Commission, various resorts, private fish hatcheries, or
4. Trying to promote his or her business associated with fishing, or
5. Any combination of the above.
Also sad to say, this summer you might have to take up: Sightseeing, camping, hiking, bike riding, horseback riding, mountain climbing, bird watching, outdoor photography, etc., rather than using your fishing pole.
This could be a record-setting drought summer.
Pray for rain...lots of it and very frequently...all summer and all fall.
We need it...desperately!
And, we need the rain without any lightning strikes.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you if nearby Washoe Lake has ever gone dry in the past.
If he grins and says, "Yes, in fact it has gone dry a number of times," he is a longtime Western Nevada resident.

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now. Don's wife, Elaine, is the Outdoor photographer. They can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com.