Low Down at Lex Sat 4.26.08 w/ pics

The fish have two options. Some head upstream if there's enough water to make it passable. Others make a run through the outlet pipes underneath the dam and end up in Los Gatos Creek. It's a rough trip, but some do survive. The odd thing is they tend to go in large groups... lemming-like. The most recent example of this mass exodus occurred last year when Uvas Reservoir went nearly bone dry.

How do you know they went down stream in Uvas last year? I was watching many people, some coming together in large groups harvesting everything they can when the levels were low. Many a limit have been kept and gone to feed family and friends.

This is not the first year that uvas was drwn down that low. It was the same way on the previous year. So it is 2 years in a row that they did this. In Chesbro it was the first year to be drawn down this low and I have no doubts that people have done the same there with the fishery.

Lexington however is much larger than the other 2 and it is also much deeper. So the fish may have a better chance. Just my 2 cents.

what does 'make a mass break for it' mean???? I mean, where are they going to go?

The fish have two options. Some head upstream if there's enough water to make it passable. Others make a run through the outlet pipes underneath the dam and end up in Los Gatos Creek. It's a rough trip, but some do survive. The odd thing is they tend to go in large groups... lemming-like. The most recent example of this mass exodus occurred last year when Uvas Reservoir went nearly bone dry. I don't know what the queue is, but we'll be watching the temp, dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity at the outlet. Elevation data for Lexington (and all other SCVWD reservoirs) is posted for all who are interested at http://alert.valleywater.org/gageresv-cross.html. Hope I made sense.

makes sense, very interesting. what happens to fish that go to los gatos creek tho?

Some fish could take up residence in the creek. Some could end up downstream at Vasona. Ultimately, DFG will dictate how the fish resources in Los Gatos Creek are managed.

...and DFG does such a good job at managing our fish resources