Lake Casita closure

[mark poulson]

I know this isn't a hardbait issue, exactly, but Lake Casitas in Ojai, CA., is probably the premier big bass lake in SoCal, and that's where I, and a lot of my fellow nutcases, throw big hardbaits for big bass.

The Ventura County water department, in their infinite wisdom, are proposing to close Casitas to public boating to prevent the introduction of the invasive Quagga mussel. The mussel has turned up in some other SoCal lakes, and the Ventura people think this is the way to stop it from coming to Casitas.

Here's an article from a local paper about it:

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/20/quagga-mussel-threat-puts-focus-on-lake-casitas/

As the article points out, all of the other SoCal lakes are watching what happens at Casitas before they make their decisions concerning whether or not to close their lakes to stop the mussel's spread.

There are only a handful of bass lakes available to fishermen in SoCal as it is, so the danger of having nowhere to fish is real.

The guy mentioned in the article, Ron Cervanka, who has spearheaded the keep the lake open movement, such as it is, has been fishing for bass competitively for ever. He, Dick Trask, and Don Iovino (the godfathers of finesse fishing and sonar use) used to fish together.

He's no alarmist. He's a cop. And if he says there's a real danger of the lakes all being closed, then the threat is real.

He's started a "Clean and Dry" campaign with all the bass circuits in SoCal, to spread the word about our responsibility as anglers and boaters to help prevent the mussels' spread.

But it may not be enough.

The next public meeting of the water district, during which they may vote to close the lake, is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb.13th, at 4:30 pm. The site is not confirmed yet, due to the huge amount of attendance of local opposition people to the last meeting. They say they're trying to get a larger hall to accommodate everyone.

But there's a chance that the water board members are going to have a private meeting before that, or at least one that's open to the public but announced with so little lead time that no organized opposition has time to present their case.

They could well decide the lake's fate, and, with it, the fate of the local economies as well as boaters and anglers, without any meaningful input from the stakeholders, other than their own side.

I don't think this is fair, or the right way to go about this.

If you want to participate, you can email me at mpoulson47@sbcglobal.net

and I will give you some contact info so you can make your feelings known.

[Spike-A-Pike]

Mark.

It’s a problem going on in fisheries across the nation. In my home state of Wisconsin, Zebra mussel have been a problem for over 20 years. The new threat is Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia and all the new WI state laws that it has generated over the last 9 months.

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) is a deadly fish virus and an invasive species that is threatening Wisconsin’s fish. VHS was diagnosed for the first time ever in the Great Lakes as the cause of large fish kills in lakes Huron, St. Clair, Erie, Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River in 2005 and 2006. Thousands of muskies, walleye, lake whitefish, freshwater drum, yellow perch, gizzard shad, redhorse and round gobies died. Many Chinook salmon, white bass, emerald shiners, smallmouth bass, bluegill, black crappie, burbot, and northern pike were diseased but did not die in large numbers.

The WI DNR is advising boats to be disinfected with a cup of bleach mixed with 5 gallons of fresh water, leave it 10 minutes and rinse with fresh water away from the lakes and rivers you plan to fish. I am half tempted to start a chain of boat and trailer washes across the state.

The fact remains, just because it is best for fishing to keep the lake open, SoCal has always had a water shortage, and even though nobody wants to close the lake, public safety will win out. I think a group effort between both sides is going to offer a solution in the best interests of all. I haven't heard of a single case where the Zebra mussel has been whipped out or is in retreat, but good news doesn't sell news papers.

Good luck, but I think there are going to be changes coming.