Berryessa is back

Nice to see the water return after a 3 year dry spell.

Here's a Hydrological update:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/histPlot/DataPlotter.jsp?staid=BER&sensor_no=6&duration=D&start=01%2F15%2F2013+00%3A06&end=now&geom=Medium 

I'm so pumped for the upcoming fishing. I made a New Year's resolution to catch five new species of fish and Kokanee is one I'm really after. Thing is, I've never fished for Kokanee before so I got some work to do.

That's awesome.

I'm so pumped for the upcoming fishing. I made a New Year's resolution to catch five new species of fish and Kokanee is one I'm really after. Thing is, I've never fished for Kokanee before so I got some work to do.

I'd fish somewhere else for koke's. Berryessa has been low and warm the past few years that all the koke's died off. Don't think they'll plant it anytime soon.

Thats sick, cant wait... I just want it to hit the glory hole... because I've never seen it spill. haha

I'm so pumped for the upcoming fishing. I made a New Year's resolution to catch five new species of fish and Kokanee is one I'm really after. Thing is, I've never fished for Kokanee before so I got some work to do.

I'd fish somewhere else for koke's. Berryessa has been low and warm the past few years that all the koke's died off. Don't think they'll plant it anytime soon.

Huh?  They planted 50,111 in 2016 ... http://www.ciffi.org/pdf/plants/2016-Kokanee-plants.pdf

-Allen

About half of that 50k plant died and the other eaten by the Florida strain bass.

About half of that 50k plant died and the other eaten by the Florida strain bass.

Source?

-Allen

They are still there... Just gotta find them...

Thats sick, cant wait... I just want it to hit the glory hole... because I've never seen it spill. haha

Well, until it spills over, you can always ...

About half of that 50k plant died and the other eaten by the Florida strain bass.

Source?

-Allen

I wouldn't say that's true, but I wouldn't say its untrue either, except they were likely eaten by an Alabama strain bass rather than a Florida one.  The water level was so bad that there likely was very little space for the wee bittles to survive last year's warm water conditions.  One can only hope and wait to see what happens.

Hope you guys have been watching the shoreline for all the structure that's now submerged fish heaven! I know I sure was when I was doing my water flea activities!

I'd like to see the glory hole draining, I moved to Ca 7 years ago and I'll I ever hear are stories about it.

About half of that 50k plant died and the other eaten by the Florida strain bass.

Source?

-Allen

I wouldn't say that's true, but I wouldn't say its untrue either, except they were likely eaten by an Alabama strain bass rather than a Florida one.  The water level was so bad that there likely was very little space for the wee bittles to survive last year's warm water conditions.  One can only hope and wait to see what happens.

How low is low?  Surface elevation of Berryessa is 443'.  At it's worst it was 395' elevation.  The deepest part of the lake is 158' in elevation.  Seems plenty deep, and likely plenty cool, with plenty of space.

-Allen

About half of that 50k plant died and the other eaten by the Florida strain bass.

Source?

-Allen

I wouldn't say that's true, but I wouldn't say its untrue either, except they were likely eaten by an Alabama strain bass rather than a Florida one.  The water level was so bad that there likely was very little space for the wee bittles to survive last year's warm water conditions.  One can only hope and wait to see what happens.

How low is low?  Surface elevation of Berryessa is 443'.  At it's worst it was 395' elevation.  The deepest part of the lake is 158' in elevation.  Seems plenty deep, and likely plenty cool, with plenty of space.

-Allen

I read an article about it, I'll try and find it and post it.  Not really about the water temp by itself, more about optimal oxygen levels for salmonids.

Lesser Acre feet also likely created more opportunities for predation. I heard anecdotally of a lot of bass being caught last year in kokanee trolling areas and depths.

http://www.ciffi.org/2-uncategorised/78-meeting-with-dfw-report

Berryessa Study:

A study over the past 18 months has been conducted on Lake Berryessa.   It is hoped that we could determine why the kokanee fishery has declined there.  By using water quality samples from late 2015 and through 2016, it was discovered that the dissolved oxygen content of Lake Berryessa is at a level of 2, a level of 5 is needed for kokanee to thrive.  Given the watershed of Lake Berryessa (all rain and no snow) water entering the lake is warmer than lakes that receive their water from snow melt.  This is a unique dynamic that Berryessa has that those lakes with snow melt-rivers don’t experience.  Speculation is when Berryessa drops somewhere below 60% capacity, the hypolimnium is so small and this has depleted oxygen causing the kokanee to die off.  When Berryessa fills, the layer is thicker and the greater oxygen there is available.  More work is to be done, but this is good work and is fact based.  Kyle is looking at some ways we might change the plant process of kokanee fingerlings, to see if we can improve survival; this includes a barge drop of the fish in deeper water.  Final plans are still being determined.