Lake Davis to be Poisoned Again to Kill Fish

Lake Davis to be Poisoned Again to Kill Fish

For the second time in a decade, the California Department of Fish and Game plans to poison Lake Davis to rid the lake of unwanted northern pike fish.

In the early 1990s, someone illegally planted northern pike in the Plumas County lake, a fish so voracious, it eats almost all other fish. If it swam downstream, officials warned it could threaten and perhaps wipe out native fisheries in the delta.

"This is a difficult problem and it's one with no easy solutions," said Fish and Game project manager for the pike eradication plan, Ed Pert. "I think that we're all trying to come up with the best possible solution to a difficult problem."

.....snip

"We really don't know the total effect but we see diseases like autism, Down syndrome, cancer, breast cancer in women going way up," said Wilson. Wilson says there has been an unusually high rate of autism and cancer among students at C. Roy Carmichael Elementary School in Portola where he teaches. However, Dr. Hank Foley of The Plumas County Public Health Agency told News 10 there is no statistical evidence to support that claim and no evidence to indicate even a casual connection between the poisoning a decade ago and illnesses or birth defects that have occurred since then.

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=31539

and many times after that. It used to be one of the great trout lakes for trolling. I can't believe they have to go through this "eradication" routine again... :(

As I recall, the locals were very upset about it last time, and...well...here we are again, poisoning their environment AND destroying the very thing (the trout population, that poison kills everything) that provides their income.

I understand the northern pike is a desireable game fish but whoever slipped them into the lake should be locked up.

to come and do some pike fishing. No 'non-resident' license needed, limits and no size restrictions. Charge $10 a head and give out daily prizes with a percentage of the fees collected for biggest fish and highest total weight. Spend the rest of it trying to trap and eradicate the rest of the population without having to poison the whole damn lake.

...maybe they could significantly lower the level of the lake before they started; it's a man-made PG&E lake, so the water level is contollable.

It's an idea worth thinking about; however, many solutions were suggested last time, and the State F&G still opted for the poison... :shrug:

could help sway them? It would be in the best interest of conservation to do something like this first. Since it's a man made lake and could be lowered to increase chances of success, I personally don't see why they wouldn't do it. Plus they could raise some funds instead of spending on poison, cleanup & restocking....

Point us at who to write to, and I'll write a letter or 200 myself... I fully support special hunts and fishing events to control populations of game and fish and aid in conservation.

Here ya go:


Addresses
DFGHeadquarters
1416 9th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Information Desk: Room 117 (no licenses sold here)


E-MAIL
Director: Director@dfg.ca.gov
Chief Deputy Directory: ChiefDeputyDirector@dfg.ca.gov

Inland/Freshwater Fishing, Sport Fish Management: tforeman@dfg.ca.gov

I will do the same. :hi:

and Good Luck.

I'll definitely send them a few emails. Nothing harsh or out of line. Just suggestions and encouragement.

You'd think it would be easy for a couple of commercial operations to harvest the pike. I hope a lot of people protest this and make them think of a different solution. We've got people starving and they're poisoning fish. :crazy:

ducks, etc., from dipping a drink or landing in this poisoned lake? Yep, they could feed a lot of people with those fish... and make some money in the process.

Pike is good eating and they usually live in couples, get the male and the female and you are good!
WOW! all the pike you can fish and eat!

northerns is raccoon food. catch em? throw em on the beach.

...I just heard they responded to the hook like a game fish.

:hi:

Fisherpeople pay big money to fly into Canada for pike fishing. I can't believe they can't figure out how to license some pike businesses and just sell it. It'll keep the population down and let the trout thrive. They'd have to hold a lottery for all the fishermen who would sign up to run a commercial operation if the fishing were free.

Made a lot of dough skinning and filleting Northerns and Pickerel (Walleyes) for American tourists.

I would never eat a pike, though. The camp operator always told us the flesh was wormy.

but have this tricky y bone in their that makes em hard to filet. why ya gotta catch the big fuckers.
a friend of my grandpa's gave em a HUGE one. had to knock it out with a mallet before fileting it. can't remember eating it tho. remeber how big. musta been about a yard long. just sitting there in the stationary tub.

My dad knew how, and he tried to teach me, but I never got to fish for pike enough to practice often. There's a method of filleting, though, that plans for the Y bone as the cuts are made, and (if you do it correctly) lets you lift them all out, in one long strip, all at once.

I saw my dad do this several times, and I can't for the life of me remember exactly what cuts he made, but he was very good at doing that. Another thing to remember about northern pike is that they have to be cooked correctly; consult a cookbook with entries on pike. Cooked properly, I recall them being very mild and really quite tasty.

It's been years since I had northern pike. Hmmmm.... summer's not over, either....