According to the Press Democrat, Clear Lake State Park will not be on the list, but Anderson Marsh in Lower Lake may be. Current discussions on Plan B options seem to be on raising entrance fees to $10-12.
More here: 220 State Parks Could Face Closure
If you have not already, go over to the official Save the Parks site to read the details, and send letters to your state representatives.
"Today, the Governor took aim at California's treasured state parks,
releasing a budget that contains the most draconian cuts ever
considered for the state park system," declared Elizabeth Goldstein,
president of the California State Parks Foundation (CSPF). "Never
before have so many parks, and such a diversity of state parks, state
historic parks, state recreation areas, and state beaches been placed
on the chopping block. The millions of Californians who visit their
parks will not tolerate this and will lead the fight to keep our state
parks open."
As many of you may have already heard, Governor Schwarzenegger is threatening to close down 48 California State Parks as part of his budget cuts. The list includes Clear Lake State Park, which has over 100,000 annual visitors. The budget cuts may go as far as closing over 200 parks in total over 2 years.
According to the Contra Costa Times:
"If there were a huge reduction in state spending, perhaps extensive park closures would make sense. But that is not the case.
In
fact, the savings from closing the parks would be only one-quarter of 1
percent of the state's budget deficit, according to Goldstein. That is
hardly enough to justify such a drastic action."
It is important for all of us who love having access to these places to show our support and send letters and sign petitions to get this removed. Not only are there great fishing spots included, but these are beautiful (and affordable) places that people take their families to hike and go camping.
The California State Parks Foundation has created a web page with a list of the proposed park closures, their annual attendence, and the amount of revenue they bring in. It seems stupid to close these places, not only because we like to visit them, but also because of the revenue loss and the job losses that the closures would mean. Not to mention the risks of vandalism and garbage, etc, that would come from leaving these places unpatrolled.
Here's the link to the list of proposed closures of California State Parks
Further Reading
Article in the Contra Costa Times
The
California Department of Fish & Game have launched a Q&A
series. You can see the backlog in the online archives, or subscibe via
RSS or email. You can also send in your own questions to be answered by
Carrie Wilson, a marine biologist working with the Department. From the archives:
Q: When is night fishing legal? (A: Depends on the lake)
Q: Should you report illegal fishing activity? (A: Short answer: probably/maybe)
Q: Why can't I keep trout in my livewell? (A: Bass are the only fish allowed, and only in tournaments)
Q: Can you legally fish waters in private property? (A: Sometimes: only when it is "navagable' by water)
Send your questions here: CalOutdoors@dfg.ca.gov.
So a friend of mine just started this new auction based website called MyOldTackle.com
It will take a bit to get it going, I will be putting some custom baits up for sale soon as well as Jeremy Anderson from Black Dog.
Matt from Matt lures listed some new baits up already as well (too bad there gone already)
If you have any old tackle or fishing related items you have not been using, why not put them up for sale?
You can then turn around and get some of 100's of new things coming out.
Here is the link
Over the last few years we have witnessed some pretty drastic water level drops here in northern Ca. It has been pretty eye opening, to say the least. Most of us have probably been aware of the drastic lake level drops on Lake Mead in Nevada over the last few years as well.
I just came across this article over at GOOD Magazine that shows the reality of the situation and it is pretty grim to say the least.
Link
"The biggest bass thus far out of Japan is a reported 17-pounder. In South Africa, there have been a handful of fish that weighed in the midteens. And in the 1980s, the conventional wisdom in the bass fishing world was that the next record was going to come from one of the clear, underfished reservoirs in northern Mexico, lakes like Guerrero, Huites and especially Baccarac, where locals claim to have a found a 26-pound bass floating dead with a 3-pound tilapia stuck in its throat."
I came across this article from Forbes magazine, of all places, talking about how bass fishing has taken off around the world in unlikely places like Japan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Cuba (among other places). Pretty interesting.
Check it out:
A little bass education for you. Here's some of what I learned:
Here are the most imformative links I found on the subject:
Bass biology PDF – A 2 page PDF from Southern Regional Aquaculture Center (Note – this is a PDF download)
SRAC Bass Biology PDF
ESPN's article on bass diet from 2007
"What Bass Eat"
A short introduction to "Suction feeding" in bass from the Journal of Experimental Biology
"How Fish Hook Fish"
-Or you can read this one: Use of Sociomicrometry demonstrates the link between prey capture kinematics and suction pressure in largemouth bass, which is, uh, longer.
An article on bass biology from a site out of Birmingham, Arizona by Ed Majors
"Understanding the Predator"
Short largemouth & smallmouth bass biology briefs from Venture North, a Canadian outdoors website
Largemouth Bass
Smallmouth Bass
Underwater photos showing smallmouth bass bedding and spawning behavior by Robert Michelson of Massachusetts
Spawn Photos
Here's a roundup of various bass biology articles, gathered and/or written by Dan Kimmel, a non-biologist bass enthusiast in Michigan
Bass Biology
Seasonal habits of the largemouth bass by Ultimate Bass Resource
The 4 Seasons of Bass
And finally, here's a video from Bill Dance
Bass Anatomy
Please let me know if I've missed a resource – put it in the comments or fire me off an email
After some collaboration, Black Dog Bait Co. and Vagabond Bait Co.(makers of extremely high end Japanese lures from Japan) have joined forces.
Finkbuilt asked:
"What would happen if you shipped 20 unassembled old-timey wooden fishing lure kits off to be finished by a bunch of artists?"
The answer has turned out to be a collection of pretty distinctive lures, including a tiki theme and my personal favorite, the VW bus. The lures were also featured in Outdoor Life Magazine. Finkbuilt is a blog written by one of Disney's UI designers, and actually has a lot of interesting posts, like this one on how to repair a vintage BMW dashboard, or this one about building a coffee table from plans out of a 1953 Mechanix Illustrated Magazine.
The masthead also features a pretty nice retro outboard motor.
Here's the Crankbait gallery – click through to see details from the artists. Here's a link to the Finkbuilt blog.
