BASS just added the following to their conservation page;

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/conservation/news/story?page=b_con_news_calif_casitas

For details see the western forum.

WRB

Thanks, WRB.  This is so unfortunate.  I hope our California fishermen can keep the rest of their waters open.  

Wow, I agree with the director on conservation that the bass anglers would be the biggest help, all they need is to be educated on the threat.

dear fisher-folk:

your unhappiness at the closings of lakes Casitas and Cachuma is understandable. Some people have asked what is the point of the temporary closing. Given time, scientists may develop a way to eliminate the quagga and zebra-- this story appeared today:

(Media-Newswire.com) - ALBANY, NY --- Marrone Organic Innovations, Inc. ( MOI ) of Davis, Calif. has been awarded a National Science Foundation ( NSF ) grant to commercialize technology invented and patented by a New York State Museum scientist that uses a natural bacterium to control invasive mussels that have fouled water supplies across the United States.

The NSF has awarded Marrone a two-year $500,000 Small Business Technology Transfer grant for the Commercialization of an Innovative Green Technology for Controlling Zebra Mussels. Last year, the State Museum selected MOI as a commercial partner for this microbial biopesticide technology that was invented and patented by Dr. Daniel Molloy, director of the Museum's Field Research Laboratory in Cambridge, N.Y.  The award includes $275,000 to support the Museum's research efforts in this industry-government partnership. Another subaward of $25,000 will go to another small business, Particle and Coating Technologies, Inc. of St. Louis, Mo. to assist in product formulation.

The fouling caused by zebra mussels and their close relatives, quagga mussels, represents billions of dollars in economic damage and has a major negative impact on freshwater ecosystems.  To find an environmentally safe control method, Molloy's lab screened over 700 bacteria before identifying a strain of the common bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, as being lethal to these mussels when ingested.

and you can find more news with a Google search. sorry I can't post the link, I'm new here.

Nobody wants to see lakes closed, especially the local businesses and government. Closings mean a big loss of revenue, but infestations of this so-far uncontrollable mussel mean permanent damage to the lake's ecology, and to the infrastructure which may be delivering water to local residents.

You are smart people -- I'm sure you don't want to see the kind of destruction that has happened in the Great Lakes in our Western lakes.

Thanks for your understanding and help.

I have a cheaper way. I will tell every Italian I know, that they taste good with tomato sauce. Give each one of them 2 cans of crushed tomatos,a rake and directions to the local mussell bed

Yummy

Boats are not the primary means of transporting these species, waterfowl are.

Closures are wrong. If California has a ballot measure process in these municipalities, people need to gather signatures and put it up for a public vote. No matter what the outcome,  the water goons can do nothing.

I am sick and tired of these baloney closures that don't protect anything.

Boats are not the primary means of transporting these species, waterfowl are.

Closures are wrong. If California has a ballot measure process in these municipalities, people need to gather signatures and put it up for a public vote. No matter what the outcome, the water goons can do nothing.

I am sick and tired of these baloney closures that don't protect anything.

exactly

Get ready to start a ballot initiative drive guys. That's your best bet.

Lake Cachuma board voted today, 25 March, to keep the lake open to outside boaters with restrictions and inspections. Details to be posted on the lake Cachuma web site.

WRB

Sounds like a great approach.  I am happy for our brothers in So Cal.  Maybe they will reverse the other closures.

Lake Cachuma board voted today, 25 March, to keep the lake open to outside boaters with restrictions and inspections. Details to be posted on the lake Cachuma web site.

WRB

Great victory guys. Way to shut down the enviro nuts and utility goons.

Lake Cachuma board voted today, 25 March, to keep the lake open to outside boaters with restrictions and inspections. Details to be posted on the lake Cachuma web site.

WRB

Great victory guys. Way to shut down the enviro nuts and utility goons.

that was a needed victory and will show other lake management groups that a closure is not the answer

Every lake owned by the public needs to be open to fishing and at least non motorized boating. Closing public lakes is tyranny.

Lake Casitas starts their outside boat inspection program today, 5 May 2008. The lake ranger set a priority list based on people that had dry storage first, the outsiders given a number based on the date they called.

Basically you take your boat to the lake for inspection and if you pass the clean & dry routine, your boat is locked onto the trailer with a sealed lock. You return home, no fishing allowed until a 10 day period. After 10 days you can take your rig back to the and fish "if" the seal isn't broken. When you leave a new seal is attached. You can return whenver you want as long as the seal hasn't been broken.

The lock and seal is $50 in addition to the standard entry fee.

lake Cachuma is inspecting boats upon arrival, washing the hull and trailer in a hot pressure wash, then you can enter the lake.

All the SoCal lakes are now on a inspection routine of some short, so be warned and call before you hual. The NorCal lakes are using your zip code for validation to enter some of those lakes. If you are from SoCal, it's a 14 day waiting period.

WRB

Thanks for the update.