Clear Lake Hitch Endangered Species?

Greg_Cornish · Post by **Greg_Cornish** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:05 am

Community workshop to discuss process to list Clear Lake hitch as endangered species.

www.lakelive.info/chicouncil

TRUFISH · Post by **TRUFISH** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:29 am

I had heard that if this does go through and they list Hitch as an endangered species, then all non-native species (black bass) have to be eradicated.

Good bye tournaments at clear lake.

Has anyone heard the same thing?

J.Rios · Post by **J.Rios** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:19 pm

If everyone will notice "The Center for Biological Diversity" is pushing this. I am afraid no good can come of it. Enviro whackos with good lawyers and a pile of money. Enjoy Clear Lake all you can now,cause bleak days are ahead!!!

briansII · Post by **briansII** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:38 pm

J. Rios wrote:If everyone will notice "The Center for Biological Diversity" is pushing this. I am afraid no good can come of it. Enviro whackos with good lawyers and a pile of money. Enjoy Clear Lake all you can now,cause bleak days are ahead!!!

If anyone is curious about who is the Center For Biological Diversity, go to their website. Look at who the staff is. This has the potential to get ugly.

briansII

Jason Milligan · Post by **Jason Milligan** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:08 pm

Many businesses are already dying off in Lake County. If you take bass fishing away from Clearlake...let's just say it won't be a place you'd even want to drive through!

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:49 pm

I have never seen Clear Lake or a hitch, but it sounds like you NoCal anglers need to let your voices be heard.
According to the link, there's an open to the public meeting on Dec. 3.

clearlakeoutdoors · Post by **clearlakeoutdoors** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 7:26 am

I encourage anglers and local business owners make a show at the meeting . I will be there!. There are more hitch out there right now than Ive ever seen!! Mostly juvenilles that wont spawn for several years and thats the only time the make a effort to count the hitch . There needs to be a study on the hitch in the lake before the are put on the endangered species list.There needs to be some creek restoration work done and there needs to be a limit on the take of hitch . Right now because the indians have been eating them for many decades you can legally net or club as many as you want . But you cant use them for bait. The hitch and the Bass will still be in the lake long after we are all gone!
Dave

MGJR · Post by **MGJR** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 7:45 am

TRUFISH wrote:I had heard that if this does go through and they list Hitch as an endangered species, then all non-native species (black bass) have to be eradicated.

Good bye tournaments at clear lake.

Has anyone heard the same thing?

Where do people come up with this stuff?

Oldschool · Post by **Oldschool** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:44 am

MGJR wrote:
TRUFISH wrote:I had heard that if this does go through and they list Hitch as an endangered species, then all non-native species (black bass) have to be eradicated.

Good bye tournaments at clear lake.

Has anyone heard the same thing?

Where do people come up with this stuff?

Most bass anglers react to what we hear and read and not having a fishery management or biologist education tend react on prior events that have had a direct impact on our fishing.
The DFG has changed, the times are changing and funding is at a all time low. Special interest groups, including anglers, have agendas that create the DFG to spend time and money to satisfy or be in compliant to law suits or pressures being applied. If the DFG only had to manage fisheries and enforce regulations, life would be normal, those days are gone.
Tom

biteme · Post by **biteme** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:53 am

Oldschool wrote:
MGJR wrote:
TRUFISH wrote:I had heard that if this does go through and they list Hitch as an endangered species, then all non-native species (black bass) have to be eradicated.

Good bye tournaments at clear lake.

Has anyone heard the same thing?

Where do people come up with this stuff?
Most bass anglers react to what we hear and read and not having a fishery management or biologist education tend react on prior events that have had a direct impact on our fishing.
The DFG has changed, the times are changing and funding is at a all time low. Special interest groups, including anglers, have agendas that create the DFG to spend time and money to satisfy or be in compliant to law suits or pressures being applied. If the DFG only had to manage fisheries and enforce regulations, life would be normal, those days are gone.
Tom

Correction, Fish and WILDLIFE department. Lol the new name change should tell us something.

Obi-Hub · Post by **Obi-Hub** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:15 am

biteme wrote: Correction, Fish and WILDLIFE department. Lol the new name change should tell us something.

Yup... that sportsmen are going to take it where the sun don't shine

CN · Post by CN » Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:00 pm

I believe some of the local Tribes are in favor of it also. They may not care at all if the lake had no Largemouth in it but to kill the lake of all fish that are not native seem's pretty extreme. So there will only be hitch in this big natural lake because that will also include catfish, crappie, carp, bluegill and so on. Thing's like this get started over one fool that has no clue but is sharp enough to get there way.....pretty scary.

frank · Post by **frank** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:53 pm

All this invasive species talk cracks me up. We are the biggest invasive species of them all. It is ok for humans to move in and make changes that impact nature (I said impact, did not mention good or bad, that is a different debate), but if a fish eats another fish it is unacceptable.

Peripheral canal? Damns? Removing nuisance bears from their native habitat because humans built a house there. You can’t plant trout in places that have been receiving plants for decades because they are impacting native frogs.

It is all one big joke. The biggest invasive species of them all is trying to play creator and decide what does and does not belong in a specific place or environment. There is a phrase out there about a kettle that is black or something.

crankster123 · Post by **crankster123** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:14 pm

I agree with Dave. Killing off the bass is not the only solution to preserving the hitch population. Before any kind of legislation gets passed, scientists need to do more research and find alternative ways to help the hitch, like restoring more shoreline to offer more spawning habitat.

-Kenji

DanIsaac · Post by **DanIsaac** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:32 pm

everyone needs to educate themselves on this.....Clear Lake is only first on the list, as they say. This is the same exact group which got the "trout plants" stopped years back,
and, they are the only organization to go head to head against the NRA and WIN outright.
325,000+ members strong, very educated with tons of resources. I've talked with 40 or 50 people regarding this and the most amazing response from all but 3 was "this will never happen", which is the exact attitude this group is hoping for.

As for the Indians......they want the "grant monies" which will be given out should the hitch
be put on the list. Studies, rehab, etc etc... Oh, and should this happen, all bets are off as the "Endangered Species Act" is already (protocol) layed out as to how and what will be done, and the parties involved do not care about the social-economic impact it will have on the community, and the came right out and admitted that last evening.

The meeting last evening was for the other side to lay out their case to the public...basically they tried to put lipstick on a pig, and say it was a sheep!

Now, if this goes to the next step, everyone who can needs to pack Lakeport and voice their opinions, locals and non-locals alike. If we play the part we so often have in the past
we will lose. This is NO time for the community, both the fishing community or the community in general to be apathetic.

I absolutely hate politics, but we had ALL better become involved when called upon this time.

Dan

Vince Borges · Post by **Vince Borges** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:01 pm

Good luck Dan! It's like trying to get people to go see troubled waters and help stop the canals! I went to the viewing in Stockton and expected it to be full of angry anglers! To my surprise, it was full of farmers and politicians! The only place anglers ever cry about something or voice there opinion is on Forums like this one! Now I know there are a lot of anglers who put a LOT more time and effort into the troubled waters project then I, but how is it that a body of water that host an average of 1000+ fisherman per week not have any angler support in Stockton (home of the Delta) to help educate themselves about what's really going on! If you ask me, anglers have no right to bitch and complain if they can't even take an hour of there time to help fight the cause!