What improvements can be made to San Diego area lakes?

Lake Perris is doing fine with the water contact it gets and can be and is as clear as SD lakes at times. I personally resent the no water contact policy running through our lakes. Man, jst imagine being able to get a dunk at the otay aquarium! That also makes summers much more fishable.
Maybe just no water sports that way water contact would be limited to the bank.

 

This^^^!!! I hate it when I try to plan a trip to otay only to rule out all three days. Wednesday never works for me, Saturday gets crowded and Sunday-church. A couple more days would help; Tuesday and Friday, haha .

 

Exactly! How absurd is this: $35 for a whole day, 5 dollars less for half a day! They should make the prices proportional. Actually, they should entirely renovate the fee so it's an hourly fee. What's more for dixon is you can't rent a half-day boat until after 12 or 1p.m. So what if your're fishing an early summer morning and the bite dies off after a 2 hours. You just payed more than a hudd for 2 hours. Not acceptable.

 

1. Clean up trash at the lakes. As interested parties in our local lakes, recognizing that local government budgetary priorities do not currently favor increased park staff, organized cleanups by concerned fishermen is the best answer. Clearly, self-policing does not work since fishing-related trash continues to build up.
2. Annually fishing/launch permits for San Diego city lakes.

 

I can expect disagrees with this one. I'll jump straight to it; they should remove permit requirements for all youths under 16 or 18 (until legal employment age). Reason being because the parents are actually the ones paying for that permit in most cases and if the parent(s) want(s) to fish too, that adds up fast. 9 for a parent plus 12 or 18 for 2-3 youths. Total=$21-$27! Maybe more so on santee lakes-$6.00, and dixon-$5.00. There are parents who are not very well off financially and it will hurt them to pay even 5 or 6 bucks for a couple of their kids to have a fun time out. Basically until an individual is old enough to be employed and have a source of income fishing should be free for them.

 

I would like to see volunteers working at the lakes..kind of like they have volunteer marshals on golf courses. Maybe that way the city employees could be spread out over 7 days with the help of volunteers. The volunteers could patrol the lake, take fish counts, keep an eye out for rule breakers, and maybe pick up a little trash. The police have senior volunteers, why can't the city lakes? Instead of paying the volunteers, they earn free fishing time...costs the city nothing!

 

I like to see fish habitats put in when lake levels are low it would give the fish to live and make fishing good when we go out to fish

 

There are so many things that can be done to improve the fishing in San Diego County.
-More structure added to lakes would help the species in the lakes both large and small.
-For lakes that don't allow gas powered boats, lets open up to kayaks. Let's face it, the quagga is already here and not going anywhere. (people clean your boats)
-When San V. does open, how about leaving it undisturbed by recreational boating at least for a period of time. That lake is going to get a lot of pressure as it is. It would be nice to not have to compete with that crowd, jet and water skiers and the droning noise of the boats.
-I know this is a blue sky idea, but there is still a waterway in San Diego that has potential to be a jewel for the community. The San Diego River. The running/walking paths should be extended and the banks cleaned all the way up to and passed Admiral Bakers. Imagine those waters with clean parks for miles giving the many residents something nicer to look at than transients and garbage. We've done a little bit with a few walking paths. Now let's open it up so it's something we can all be proud of where our kids can learn to fish without the threat of being chased off. Possibly an entirely new type of fishing experience for everyone to enjoy. It shouldn't just be a good place to go for volunteers of 'I Love a Clean San Diego'.
Thanks for caring and getting people interested!

 

1. Pick up trash.
2. more night fishing
3. Slot limits on bass

 

Again I will state that we need to stock larger trout in Miramar(again), Murray. Other than bass food I don't know what good the DFG stockings are doing. Miramar was a Gem for the float tuber and kayaker with it's limited shore access when they stocked Chaulk Mound Tailwalkers. I know there was quite a following of tubers from the San Diego Fly Club that focused on Miramar.
Allow float tubing on Dixon, Poway, Jennings, Wohlford. As it's already been stated, you can't use the Quagga issue to hide behind any longer. Most lakes have them already if they don't you can install the wash system.
Install a artificial only, two fish limit on Miramar.
Minimum pool would be awesome at Morena. Just when that place was on the right track they pulled the water out of it.

I fished Dixon for the first time today. I couldn't believe the amount of trash people leave on the bank. Not just a piece here and there, but stacks of beer cans, bait jars, mono, paper, it was really sad to see.

 

What happened to Lake Murray? It used to be a popular fishing lake with lots of people casting from shore. It's like a ghost town now.

What drove everyone away?

Maybe because they charge daily fishing rates in addition to what we already paid for a fishing license?

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Last time I went there I saw a city cop sneaking around in a Hawaiian shirt over his uniform and gun belt, carrying a fishing pole. That was weird. He was trying to bust some guys fishing.

I don't know what he was doing. Maybe it was justified. I didn't see any big crimes being committed unless maybe they didn't pay their fishing fee. He busted some Hispanics who were fishing and who he handcuffed. Maybe he was there for a higher purpose? Don't know. I hope he wasn't there simply to harvest ticket money.

If nobody goes there, maybe it's less trouble for the city water department people who run the place?

 

I would sign up to patrol for free fishing!

 

Very good post Kellen. It's amazing what we have to go through as SD anglers. After recently traveling to AZ for a week to fish, I was amazed at how little regulation there seemed to be, but how well kept the lakes were. I could come and go as I pleased, day or night. Didn't have to pay for additional permits when I arrived at the lake. And overall they were just better kept when it came to the launch ramp, docks, campsites and restrooms. Not to mention that there were no rules where you could and couldn't fish once on the water... This experience was all covered by purchasing a $24 non resident AZ fishing license. Pretty amazing right? AZ is not alone as I have had close to the same experience in Northern California. If someone could please explain why we live in the same state but have to play by a completely different set of rules down here in SoCal I'd really appreciate it? Is it because our lakes are privatized? At any rate, here is my list of what I think would help the overall fishing experience for many users in San Diego.


1. Annual fishing permits for all SD lakes or individual lakes. The annual permit pays for the maintenance of all facilities, docks and includes funding for a private winter trout stocking program. Day user pay a fishing permit fee of $5.

2. Unlimited fishing access. All lakes open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I believe this would dramatically decrease weekend boat traffic while increase overall fishing and their success. The way its setup now can't be a safety issue because currently no one patrols the lake often enough to prevent dangerous. I can't understand it being a security issue because the dam keepers should already be their 24hours a day. Just seems as if they just don't want to do it.

3. Fish Habit added to lakes. There currently is man-made cover in some lakes, but it was placed so long ago that its all but rotted out or silted in. Putting in some fresh, well thought out and placed cover would increase fish populations for generations to come.

4. Removal of most tulles at heavily riddled lakes. Allows for better shore fishing, Pushes fish out to deeper more accessible water and increases our chances for better DFW stocks.

5. Educated lake staff that enjoys the outdoors, fishing and cares about the about the water they are working. There are a few good lake staffers out there that really do that I know, but for the most part many lack the knowledge or care to be educated on the matter. I'd like to see the lakes and their staff actively participating and engaging with the anglers to help users have a better overall experience.

6. Maintenance of docks and restrooms. A daily cleaning would be nice for both. Furthermore, can we please get those SS Reliefs back out on the water in working condition? Locked doors doesn't really do anyone any good.

7. Lake Wohlford. Fix the aging dam, raise the water and allow private boats. Simple enough 10 year plan right? Such an awesome lake that has been choked out by horrible funding and management.

8. Open up all closed Reservoirs to public hiking and fishing access. Unless there is a health issue, I can't wrap my mind around why some lakes are off limits while others aren't. Don't most of the lakes share water? Maybe we even make roads to some of them or build upon the existing roads leading to their dams?


Just a couple additional thoughts here that aren't huge concerns of mine but feel they should be mentioned. I noticed a lot of comments mentioning a slot limit or strictly catch and release. I guess I'm one of the few that thinks there is to much C&R happening these days. I 100% agree that there should be a size limit but for the most part I believe the amount of C&R that takes place these days has a devastating impact on the ability of our fish to grow to giant sizes. So if an angler wants to go out, catch his 5 fish limit of 3lbers and keep them all, be my guest. As a community, we have pretty much pushed those practices to the fringes.

Day use fees. In a sense that is what we are paying when we buy a fish or launch permit. Why do other day users like hikers, joggers, picnickers or birdwatchers not have to pay a day use fee as well. We as the fisherman use far less resources at the lake then the droves of joggers and picnickers. Just hangout at any SD lake on a sunny day and you'll know exactly what i'm talking about. The amount of non water users of the park is 10 times the amount of water users. Those are the same users throwing trash in the bin that needs to be collected, using the restrooms and feeding the ducks that crap on the docks. I'm not advocating for an entry gate that charges each user as they drive into the park, quite the opposite. They should get rid of the day use fees all together since only one small part is footing the bill.

SoCal is probably one of the most anti-user of the outdoor places I have ever lived. The amount of hurdles we have to jump through in order to get out for a day on the water is next to near ridiculous. The only thing that keeps me here at this point is the responsibility of having to provide for my family and a SoCal based job. Without that, I'd be elsewhere in a second. There are plenty of better fisheries with just as big of fish without all the regulation...

 

What he said^^^^

I've done quite a bit of fishing in other states just due to the facts stated here and your comments are spot on. I have to believe that CA has these regulations due to the poaching and just the plain fact that people will go out and get hurt then turn it into a law suit against the City, County or State. Compared to CA, AZ or NV, UT, OR don't have near the population. Which is another point, if we have such money from Lic. sales where is it. CA is a struggle to fish in to say the least. But I'm getting off the point.

 

So True.

 

Add habitat to lakes such as El Cap.

 

I haven't fished many freshwater lakes since moving back to Poway in 2012. Why not? Mainly because the lakes closest to me have restricted days and are closed on too many weekdays. That's when I like to fish. Being retired I try my best to avoid the weekend crowds. Another reason I don't fish the lakes is that the ones I would like to fish (Lake Poway, Wohlford and Dixon) don't allow float tubes. That's my preferred way to fish. Until some rules change, I'll sticking with fishing SD Bay, Mission Bay and the beach. These areas have free parking, no additional cost to fish and are open every day of the week.

Here's what I would like to see:

1) Open the lakes to full weekday fishing

2) Allow float tubes in all lakes

3) Allow catch & release trout fishing (Lake Poway especially)

 

Start a big fish program like they have in Texas for LMB.
Toyota Texas ShareLunker Program

 

Availability to an annual pass for all city lakes.
Open every day for annual pass holders.
Night fishing should be available at all lakes. Weekends at a minimum.
Fish management (stock depleted species if need be)

I would fish a lot more at our lakes if I didn't have to pay so much money just to fish and hour or so in the evening. With an annual pass that would take care of it. Not to mention lines for permits would be all but gone for the early anglers ( the ones who be purchasing annual passes) I live two blocks from a lake yet I launch my boat twice a week in the bay.