Not a good idea!

Packrat · Senior Member

Not a good idea!

SK60 · Senior Member

I agree, beyond the "wanton waste" legal issues, the impact on the intent to protect or improve the fishery will be negligible or nonexistent. Energy is better spent in improving the living conditions of the fish through positive management efforts for Putah such as those Greg B has been talking about.

ChucktheDuck · Senior Member

I agree also. I fish Cache creek for smallmouth bass and they seem to be in a constant struggle/balance with the pikeminnows. I am always wondering if the bass would be better off without the pikeminnows eating all the young, or if the two populations keep eachother in check. Either way there seems to be a healthy population of both species in the creek. Pikeminnows can be annoying to catch when you get into a bunch of little ones, but I have hooked some 2 foot screamers that thrashed my bass bug like a tarpon and took me for a fun (albeit short) ride!! They are one of California's native fish and definitely worth preserving.
chuck

dtp916 · Senior Member

I recommended the head bashing, but it is not something I practice...I release all the fish I catch.

No prejudice on the species here

brian clemens · Senior Member

there are a few remote ponds that i fish for large mouth bass in the marysville area, it has gin clear water and fish it from pre spawn to post spawn and i see what these pike minnows do to the basses beds. i have seen 3-5 of these fish gang up on a nest and thrash all the eggs on the nest and leave nothing. i have only done the toss one time, and that was at the yuba. and i release all fish that i catch. every once in a great while ill keep a small salmon or small steelhead. sometimes i am just in the mood for fresh fish. but as far as the tossing goes, i did it one time, those pike minnows are everywhere in that area. actually if you fish the yuba near sycamore ranch, and you see the dirt bikers up on the mountain, there are a crap load of dredger ponds in that area and thats where i go. i want to hit those up with a fly rod soon. lots of 2-3lb bass in those ponds.

shon42073 · Senior Member

All the squawfish i have caught have been while bass fishing at berryesssa, So i never have felt the need to kill one, Since both smallmouth and largemouth bass are not native to the western u.s I personally dont care if they get eatin up by squawfish. But I stand by my original statement, If i catch a squawfish in a trout stream its not gonna be released alive and well back into that stream .

Packrat · Senior Member

brian clemens wrote:

there are a few remote ponds that i fish for large mouth bass in the marysville area, it has gin clear water and fish it from pre spawn to post spawn and i see what these pike minnows do to the basses beds. i have seen 3-5 of these fish gang up on a nest and thrash all the eggs on the nest and leave nothing. i have only done the toss one time, and that was at the yuba. and i release all fish that i catch. every once in a great while ill keep a small salmon or small steelhead. sometimes i am just in the mood for fresh fish. but as far as the tossing goes, i did it one time, those pike minnows are everywhere in that area. actually if you fish the yuba near sycamore ranch, and you see the dirt bikers up on the mountain, there are a crap load of dredger ponds in that area and thats where i go. i want to hit those up with a fly rod soon. lots of 2-3lb bass in those ponds.

You've seen pike minnows in bass ponds???? Don't know why but that seems had to believe....

Swinger · Veteran Member

I may be wrong, but I remember hearing that Squawfish/pikeminnow were supposed to be killed on the lower Sac. I think it was my brother-in law who told me this back in 1990. Don't know if was ever true. Anyway I used to toss them on shore but those suckers were tough. I would come back in an hour or so and they were gone, flopped back in the river. I don't do it any more. I haven't knowingly killed a fish in years.

Has anyone ever eaten one? A guy I used to fish with said that he did. He said it was very boney but the meat was pretty tastey. No thank you.

yukon mike · Senior Member

I was told by a guide on the Lower Sac in Redding that DFG does not officially condone the
killing of squawfish but unofficially they are in favor of flinging them up onto the bank for
wildlife to enjoy. Up there they have made the most of all of the diversion gates
and other manmade structures that other fish have to make their way through,
whereupon the squawfish will feast. However, since Putah doesn't have any of that between
the Lake Solano Diversion Dam and Monticello Dam, they are probably ok. I would
rather feed them to the bobcats though. Kitties deserve fresh fish. Meow.. .

Mike

WytEurp · Senior Member

Hey Mike,

I kept meaning to stop by your tabel last week at the fly fishing show to meet you. I was trying to talk my wife into letting me buy one of your paintings....

Marty

yukon mike · Senior Member

I'm right here where you can get me like live bait. The show wasn't all that great but I have heard
from a couple of potential projects that will be insane exposure. We shall see. I did meet
a few folks from this site and it was nice to see.

Mike

brian clemens · Senior Member

these bass ponds are behind sycamore ranch on the yuba, they are the dredger ponds, and when the flows are up, you get fresh running water throughout those ponds, so all types of fish come into those ponds, there is one in particular, where you can actually target these fish, this pond has a inlet and outlet of continues fresh water throughout the yr. dont know how, but that is the only one that has it. guess the water goes through the small mountians over there. so i am guessing that when the high flows come thats how the pike minnows get into those ponds. and the one that has a inflow and outflow, well those fish can come and go as they please, but they dont because they have plenty of food in those ponds.

SK60 · Senior Member

The water level in most dredger ponds is entirely dependent on the water level of the river that feeds them. The river water moves out through the porous rock tailings along the banks due to the hydrostatic (water) pressure produced by the weight of the water. Levels in the ponds will rise and fall with the river level. Those fish got in there in the days when there weren't any dams and the lower reaches of the Feather and Yuba Rivers flooded into the tailings almost every winter. I used to catch occasional 6"-8" steelies on worms out of the Oroville� ponds� in the winters� before Oroville Dam went in.