The recent discovery that a herpes virus from a Koi fish dumped into the lake caused the carp die-off is not unusual. Clear Lake has been a dumping ground for a number of exotic fish as well as unwanted plants. In fact, the carp themselves were dumped into the lake many years ago.
What is disturbing is the speed the virus spread throughout the entire carp population — dead carp starting showing up around the lake in a matter of just a few weeks. If the virus had also targeted bass, crappie and catfish, the lake”s fisheries could have been wiped out and there would be nothing anyone could do about it.
While most fishermen could care less about the carp, there are a few who do fish for carp. In fact, there are even carp derbies held on the lake, events that draw fishermen from throughout the United States.
It is not just unwanted fish that get dumped into the lake. A few years ago a caiman (a relative of the alligator) was found swimming in the lake and there have been several large snapping turtles found here. Tropical fish such as gold fish are regularly found in the lake. Several years ago a fisherman caught a piranha, a small fish with huge teeth that comes from South America. There have been reports of striped bass and even sturgeon being seen, but that has never been verified.
As for weeds, there are more than 20 different species of weeds in the lake that aren”t native. The worst is hydrilla, which can spread incredibly fast and choke off the lake. Primrose is another unwanted aquatic plant that someone put int0 the lake.
How did these fish, animals and weeds all get into the lake? The Koi probably came from a backyard pool. Koi are one of the more popular fish for backyard pools. In fact, there have been a number of reports of fishermen seeing Koi swimming in Clear Lake down through the years.
The tropical fish more than likely came from aquariums that were dumped into the lake. When people want to get rid of their pet fish they just dump them into the nearest lake for some reason. What happens is that the fish often survive and breed. In the end they become pests.
Plants also get dumped from aquariums and backyard pools. Most of the unauthorized dumping is done by lakeside residents who are either cleaning out their aquariums or backyard pools.
Lindner, Siemantel win
The team of Bill Siemantel of Castaic and Troy Lindner of Los Angeles won the American Bass Tournament of Champions held last weekend out of Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina. Their weight for the two-day event was 48.67 pounds. They weighed in 26.92 pounds on day one and 21.75 pounds on day two. They won a new, fully-equipped Ranger bass boat valued at more than $40,000.
Lindner said he and his partner caught all their fish in the north end of the lake using swimbaits and crankbaits. According to Lindner, the team caught approximately 20 fish on Friday and 15 on Saturday.
Second place went to the team of Bob Transano and Steven Mels with 45.40 pounds and third place went to Randy McAbee Jr. and Randy McAbee Sr. with 44.49 pounds.
Rounding out the top five places were fourth-place finishers Thomas Cordova and Jason Gellman with 42.38 pounds and fifth-place finishers Brandon Silvey and Mike Goacalves with 41.25 pounds.
The tournament drew 167 teams and a total of 1,049 fish were caught. The total weight was 3,224 pounds for a 3.07-pound average per fish. Only 53 teams weighed in limits both days of the tournament. The overall average number of fish caught per boat was only 6.28.
Most of the fishermen said the fishing was very tough and they struggled to catch a limit
