The mystery surrounding the recent carp die-off at Clear Lake has been solved. According to Department of Fish and Game fishery biologist Jay Rowan, the results of laboratory tests show the carp died from a virus called “Koi Herpes Virus.” It”s a virus that”s common to Koi fish, which are members of the carp family and often used in backyard ponds and aquariums.
Rowan said he suspects the virus got into Clear Lake by someone releasing Koi fish into the lake. Since carp often swim in small schools, the virus probably spread rapidly. The good news is that other species of fish in the lake don”t get the virus.
According to Rowan, the virus has subsided and the carp die-off is over for the most part. It is estimated that up to 10,000 carp may have died from the disease.
According to the University of Florida, the virus has a fatality rate of 80-100 percent in susceptible fish populations when the water temperature is between 72-81 degrees. Infected fish die within 24-48 hours after contacting the disease.
Bass tourney winners
Noble Moore of Clearlake Oaks and Gary Briggs of Clearlake won back-to-back bass tournaments held on Clear Lake last weekend. They started out winning the two-day Angler”s Choice Tournament of Champions (TOC) held on Friday and Saturday, then they turned around and won the Angler”s Choice team tournament on Sunday.
The Angler”s Choice TOC fielded 138 boats and went out of Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina. Moore and Briggs had a two-day weight of 48.61 pounds and they won a new bass boat worth more than $40,000.
They weighed in 22.86 pounds on the first day of the tournament, which put them in second place. On Saturday, the final day of the tournament, they brought 25.75 pounds of bass to the scales, which put them atop the leader board.
On Sunday, Moore and Briggs took top honors in the Angler”s Choice team tournament with 23.25 pounds and won $1,752. In second place was the team Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville and Jerry Tilton of Lakeport with 23.18 pounds. They won $819. The tournament drew 15 teams.
Clear Lake will be a busy place again this weekend as American Bass (ABA) holds its TOC out of Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina.
The tournament is expected to draw approximately 150 boats. Fishermen are coming from as far away as Arizona, Colorado and Utah.
The tournament gets under way today and concludes Saturday. The weigh-in both today and Saturday is 3 p.m. at Konocti Vista.
Overall the fishing has improved just slightly but is still nothing to brag about. Most of the fishermen, including the tournament anglers, are happy to put five or six fish per day in the boat. The bass are widely scattered and both the north and south ends of the lake are seeing a lot of fishermen. One problem has been the intense fishing pressure. With TOCs scheduled for just about every weekend, the bass are being hammered and that has made the fish wary.
Deer hunters wrap it up
B-zone deer hunters wrap up their season Sunday and from all reports most are happy to see it end. This will probably go down as one of the poorest seasons in memory.
Earlier this week Dan Stableman of Lakeport and his daughter, Sandi Rodoni, were deer hunting the Mendocino National Forest near Covelo when they came across a hunter walking down a remote back road with blood pouring from his face. They stopped to assist the man and learned that he had blacked out while driving his truck. The vehicle had gone over an embankment and crashed into a ravine. It was destroyed. The hunter”s life was saved because the airbags had deployed.
After getting out of the truck he crawled back up to the road. His injuries included wounds to his head as well as a couple of broken ribs. They took the hunter back to Covelo to receive medical treatment. It goes to show that anything can happen when you”re in the wilderness and it”s wise to be prepared.
