04-06-2014, 10:37 PM
Needakickerfish,
I'm a member of the of the of the committee that developed on the Yuba Management Plan.
These are my views to address some of your issues:
Water Levels and Habitat in Yuba.
The Yuba Working Group has members of the water users on the committee. The third meeting into the process the water users gave a presentation on how they manage the water. Every drop of water in Yuba is committed. It could be drained completely dry if the water users wanted. That's also a very real possibility in the near future. Most of the water left in Yuba is owned by IPP. They try to keep a reserve in the reservoir for dry years. There is a talk of them building a natural gas power generator in the near future. If this happens, IPP will use their allotment every year. In fact, they will be purchasing water from the agricultural users.
In addition; the water users won't allow putting anything in the reservoir that would take away any storage capacity. They did work with the anglers and the DWR about a dozen years ago. Christmas trees, burms, rock reefs and other artificial habitat were put into Yuba. Most of the key members that organized these efforts are on the Yuba committee. It was determined that the scale on which it would be needed was too large anyway.
Without any control of the water level we decided to look into what we could control. After looking at the water level data, it was assumed that during the years when the water level remained somewhat steady the walleye and perch were able to get off successful spawns. In the mid-late 90's we had several years in a row this happened. Perch and walleye fishing were fantastic. Most of the pike in Yuba were very large.
In several of the recent years the water level has started dropping in April and continued all the way through fall. This has been a detriment to the walleye and perch populations. Excessive northern pike have also pressured the perch and walleye.
This is were the stocking of perch and walleye comes in.
Supplementing walleye and perch is something that we can control. Especially on years the water levels impact the spawn.
It's hard to explain all of the reasons the committee used to develop the plan.
We also looked at other prey species and decide to try this approach first.
[signature]
I'm a member of the of the of the committee that developed on the Yuba Management Plan.
These are my views to address some of your issues:
Water Levels and Habitat in Yuba.
The Yuba Working Group has members of the water users on the committee. The third meeting into the process the water users gave a presentation on how they manage the water. Every drop of water in Yuba is committed. It could be drained completely dry if the water users wanted. That's also a very real possibility in the near future. Most of the water left in Yuba is owned by IPP. They try to keep a reserve in the reservoir for dry years. There is a talk of them building a natural gas power generator in the near future. If this happens, IPP will use their allotment every year. In fact, they will be purchasing water from the agricultural users.
In addition; the water users won't allow putting anything in the reservoir that would take away any storage capacity. They did work with the anglers and the DWR about a dozen years ago. Christmas trees, burms, rock reefs and other artificial habitat were put into Yuba. Most of the key members that organized these efforts are on the Yuba committee. It was determined that the scale on which it would be needed was too large anyway.
Without any control of the water level we decided to look into what we could control. After looking at the water level data, it was assumed that during the years when the water level remained somewhat steady the walleye and perch were able to get off successful spawns. In the mid-late 90's we had several years in a row this happened. Perch and walleye fishing were fantastic. Most of the pike in Yuba were very large.
In several of the recent years the water level has started dropping in April and continued all the way through fall. This has been a detriment to the walleye and perch populations. Excessive northern pike have also pressured the perch and walleye.
This is were the stocking of perch and walleye comes in.
Supplementing walleye and perch is something that we can control. Especially on years the water levels impact the spawn.
It's hard to explain all of the reasons the committee used to develop the plan.
We also looked at other prey species and decide to try this approach first.
[signature]