One of Clear Lake”s least known native fish is about to start its annual migration to spawn. March is the month when the hitch leave the lake and migrate up the streams to there spawning grounds. The principle streams the hitch migrate up are Kelsey Creek, Adobe Creek, Seigler Creek, Middle Creek and Cole Creek.
Hitch are a native fish and date back thousands of years. The name hitch is a Pomo word. Another American Indian name for the fish is Chi and at one time they were the dominant fish in Clear Lake. Thousands of hitch annually migrate up the streams that empty into Clear Lake. In fact, old photos show hitch packed from shore to shore in Kelsey Creek during the spring months. Whereas they don”t migrate in the vast numbers of years ago, significant numbers of hitch do enter the creeks to spawn at times.
The Clear Lake hitch is a subspecies of the Sacramento hitch. Their scientific name is Lavinia Exilicauda Chi and this species of hitch is found in no other place in the world. They are part of the minnow family of fishes. Hitch have no front teeth and feed on plankton and small insects. The fish originally was an important food fish for American Indians who lived on the shores of Clear Lake. In fact, many American Indians still consider the hitch a traditional food source. Hitch are also an important forage fish for the larger predators such as bass and catfish.
Hitch spawn in streams from March through June. During spawning activity, four or five males often attend each female. Male hitch exhibit a rusty color on their paired fins during spawning. Their eggs are large and non-adhesive, meaning they don”t stick to the bottom and will drift. The eggs often lodge between rocks and gravel. The eggs hatch in about five days.
Hitch are not strong swimmers, which means if a stream has fast water, large rocks or dams, this can obstruct the spawning process. That”s what has happened to the hitch trying to spawn in Kelsey and Adobe creeks. At one time Kelsey Creek and Adobe Creek were the primary creeks for spawning hitch. But loss of habitat and the erection of dams has destroyed much of the hitch”s spawning area. Many of these streams are now drying up early in the year, which prevents the hitch from spawning.
Hitch can”t jump like salmon or steelhead. They even have a hard time going over fish ladders. The ideal streams for hitch to spawn in contain gravel and slow-moving water.
While most bass fishermen have never seen a hitch, they are an important part of the food chain for Clear Lake”s most popular game fish. Largemouth bass regularly feed on hitch. In fact, hitch are responsible for the popular bass fishing technique know as “ripping,” which was first started at Clear Lake. Ripping is when a fisherman retrieves a long floating minnow-like lure with short, hard jerks. The action of the lure resembles a hitch. The lake record bass of 17.52 pounds caught in 1990 had a large hitch in its stomach.
Why do we care about this small native fish that is rarely seen and isn”t a game fish? One reason is because it is a native fish and is nearly as old as Clear Lake. More importantly it is an indicator of what”s happening to our environment. If a species as old as the hitch can disappear, then we know something terribly wrong is going on in our lake.
Another reason is that most of the original native fish in Clear Lake have disappeared. A good example is the Clear Lake Splittail. It was a fish that closely resembled the hitch and once was in the lake by the thousands. It is now considered extinct.
There are a group of concerned citizens who are trying to restore the hitch population. They have formed an organization called the Chi Council for Clear Lake Hitch and their members annually fan out along the streams and count the number of hitch spawning. They also have been very active in restoring the spawning areas. More information about the organization can be obtained from their Web site at www.lakelive.org/chicouncil
