THE DRO
making the mostof
T
he western United States is in the
midst of one of the worst drought pe-
riods that we have witnessed in many
years. In the calendar year of 2013, Paso Robles received only 1.93 inches of rain-
fall. This is the driest year I can remember and
I’m 59-years-old. With no rainfall in this part of
California, as I write this article, the prognosis for
runoff is not good for the 2013/2014 winter.
I have included some pictures of one of our
local lakes, San Antonio in southern Monterey
County, which is down to 4.7 percent of capacity.
This is the lowest the lake has been since it was
completed in 1966.
There are no launch ramps in the water at this
time. This means there will be more pressure on
neighboring lakes that do have water, not only
from fishermen, but also the pleasure boaters as
the weather warms.
San Antonio Lake and Nacimiento Lake are both impoundments that are used to recharge the aquifers near the cities of Monterey and Salinas. Nacimiento Lake is currently at 21 percent of capacity and normally fills three to four times faster than San Antonio, but not this past summer due to work that was done on the power
station at the base of the dam at Nacimiento. So, the reason San Antonio Lake is so much lower than Nacimiento is not a function of the drought.
These two lakes are in southern Monterey County and receive thousands of visits from fishermen each year. Since Santa Margarita Lake only has 38 percent of its capacity left, it won’t be the choice of anglers looking for a place to go fishing.
This means for Central California - Lake Lopez at 56 percent - will be very busy this year. And it won’t just be all fishermen on the water.
This condition can be found all over the western United States. I am referring to the lakes I fish here as central California, since I am very familiar with them; but what I’m talking about will apply to anywhere a drought takes a watershed to lower than normal water levels.
With the low water conditions, now is a good time to do some homework on your local lakes. Observe the bank structure that is normally under water, find areas where you previously have had success and figure out why you caught fish in a particular area.
By studying the topography of the bank below where you caught those fish, you can learn a lot about why bass hold in certain areas. In
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