hotramen
09-13-2010, 07:15 PM
I was at BBL this past weekend. I fish from shore so I tried northshore, near the dam and boulder bay. For those of you that have not been to boulder bay in a long time, a fishing dock has been built there.
I tried the northshore early Sat morning (9-11) for trout. After about 3 hours I had nothing so I packed it in. Later in the afternoon I decided to try boulder bay. This was my second visit to boulder bay in the past 2 years. The last visit produced plenty of bluegills and an occasional carp.
I was surprised of how devoid of fish the area around the shore was. Very few juvenile fish swimming in the plants and nothing was hitting the simple bobber setups. No one on the dock and the people from shore were catching anything. No nibbles ... nothing ...
After about 2 hours I start packing it in. I reel in my rod with a carolina rig nightcrawler setup and I was surprised I caught a fish. Granted it was a tiny one, maybe 2.5 inches if that. It was a fish I had I had never seen before. I can best describe it as looking like a baby lingcod. I start unhooking it to release it when I see that it is not hooked in the mouth at all. The fish swallowed the nightcrawler whole and refused to let go. I end up releasing it and leave frustrated on how poor the fishing has been so far.
While driving to my cabin it hits me. Was what I caught a snakehead? The invasive species that is known for their voracious aggresive appetite and ability to reproduce. I had read about the threats posed by snakeheads and thoughts ran through my mind on what I had done. Now looking back on it I should have taken a photo of it, preserved it, and reported it to dfg.
Could there be a breeding population of snakeheads in the lake? Are they responsible for possibly devastating the local small fish? The cold will kill them off or so I thought, but there are several types of snakeheads and one type can survive harsh cold winters. Could this type of snakehead be in the lake?
As an avid recreational fisherman this troubles me. I have reported my incident with the inland desert region dfg (serving san bernardino).
Any other readers encounter such a fish at bbl?
I tried the northshore early Sat morning (9-11) for trout. After about 3 hours I had nothing so I packed it in. Later in the afternoon I decided to try boulder bay. This was my second visit to boulder bay in the past 2 years. The last visit produced plenty of bluegills and an occasional carp.
I was surprised of how devoid of fish the area around the shore was. Very few juvenile fish swimming in the plants and nothing was hitting the simple bobber setups. No one on the dock and the people from shore were catching anything. No nibbles ... nothing ...
After about 2 hours I start packing it in. I reel in my rod with a carolina rig nightcrawler setup and I was surprised I caught a fish. Granted it was a tiny one, maybe 2.5 inches if that. It was a fish I had I had never seen before. I can best describe it as looking like a baby lingcod. I start unhooking it to release it when I see that it is not hooked in the mouth at all. The fish swallowed the nightcrawler whole and refused to let go. I end up releasing it and leave frustrated on how poor the fishing has been so far.
While driving to my cabin it hits me. Was what I caught a snakehead? The invasive species that is known for their voracious aggresive appetite and ability to reproduce. I had read about the threats posed by snakeheads and thoughts ran through my mind on what I had done. Now looking back on it I should have taken a photo of it, preserved it, and reported it to dfg.
Could there be a breeding population of snakeheads in the lake? Are they responsible for possibly devastating the local small fish? The cold will kill them off or so I thought, but there are several types of snakeheads and one type can survive harsh cold winters. Could this type of snakehead be in the lake?
As an avid recreational fisherman this troubles me. I have reported my incident with the inland desert region dfg (serving san bernardino).
Any other readers encounter such a fish at bbl?