Poor Lake Skinner

What has happened to the place? I've been fishing this lake for over a decade on a regular basis and this is the longest slow spell I've ever seen. Last year at this time I caught a bunch of 4-8 pound Largemouth bass, and stripers were a bit slow, but catchable. This last couple months have been not only slow, but odd. The usual dawn bite in white water at the inlet is no more. Reaction baits for largemouth aren't doing their usual magic. Yes, there are a few exceptions here and there, but as I said I've been a student of the place for quite a while. Talking with other regulars they agree it's spooky. It all started with the absence of the shad spawn and accompanying striper blitz last October. Every day a dozen boats would line up in the east end waiting with their topwaters and swimbaits. Even the Pelicans and gulls would line the shores. Nada. Yes we could catch some fish, but nothing like years past. After a week or so even the birds went to DVL or someplace else.

Maybe I'm just bored by staying home instead of grinding it out on the no man's land, but thought I'd share my frustration.

How are the bait and wait guys doing??

I totally agree with you Pat. I would think that the fish would be chasing baitfish and be more aggressive right now. Skinner had a few moments back in April / May, but June and July were really slow. Usually this time of year, the fish were eay to catch trolling and hitting the tullies. It is like they are not there anymore and were taken out of the lake.

I thought I was imagining the lack of action. Glad to read that others are experiencing the same weird behavior of the lake. Hopefully, someone will chime in with a reasonable explanation.

Yah. We can't blame the water level since it's been consistent for months, there's no real algae bloom. The only thing I can think of is the big increase in largemouth tournaments this year, but that shouldn't affect the striper bite.

Just wondering if any possibility the introduction of the larger shad variety of Gizzard Shad could be having a negative impact and we are starting to see the results? Not suggesting this is the case, just inquiring. Kwin, if you are following this thread, any input on what's going on with Skinner ?
Thanks in advance!

DFW will point to electro shocking and people reporting catches to say, "It's all good, nothing to see here." It seems anecdotal evidence from anglers who spend more time on the water than their biologists doesn't really hold any water.

(It's like the example of Castaic Lake being a trophy largemouth fishery through the early 90s, being reduced to what it is now. They claim the lake really hasn't changed, and the mass influx of stripers had nothing to do with the downturn. They will say low water years may be to blame, even tho Castaic fluctuated heavily during the same time period those big catches were coming.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fish Seeker

Just wondering if any possibility the introduction of the larger shad variety of Gizzard Shad could be having a negative impact and we are starting to see the results? Not suggesting this is the case, just inquiring. Kwin, if you are following this thread, any input on what's going on with Skinner ?
Thanks in advance!

---

IMO, from what I have seen, the lake appears to be forage limited and recruitment limited due to the effects of quagga mussels, gizzard shad and severe long term drawdowns. My last few electrofishing surveys have resulted in very little in the way of forage (bluegill, small bass, shad or silverside) or evidence of recruitment. It's been nearly all adult fish or forage too big to eaten (14-18" Gizzards). 2021 creel surveys show catch rates are about middle of the road for the lake but that's just "catchables". That said, the fishery isn't what I would call "healthy" at the moment.

Kwin, Thank you for the info and your assessment of the situation there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kwin

IMO, from what I have seen, the lake appears to be forage limited and recruitment limited due to the effects of quagga mussels, gizzard shad and severe long term drawdowns. My last few electrofishing surveys have resulted in very little in the way of forage (bluegill, small bass, shad or silverside) or evidence of recruitment. It's been nearly all adult fish or forage too big to eaten (14-18" Gizzards). 2021 creel surveys show catch rates are about middle of the road for the lake but that's just "catchables". That said, the fishery isn't what I would call "healthy" at the moment.

---

DFW have any measures to turn this around, or is this one of the 'stages' that lakes go through where we wish for a better fishery in the future, without nothing being done to get it there?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkShadow

DFW have any measures to turn this around, or is this one of the 'stages' that lakes go through where we wish for a better fishery in the future, without nothing being done to get it there?

---

I changed the LMB regulations to 5 @12" a couple years back to encourage more harvest of bass and reduce the pressure on increasingly limited forage. No one seems to be doing that, so here we are...

Kwin, I have to believe the large population of Stripers are hurting the forage population. Would it help if you raised the Striper limit to 25 and made it a requirement that you keep all Stripers you catch up to 25 until the lake gets back to normal levels? We know they're still there. We can see them by the hundreds puddling along the service eating small midges.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NFCD I

Kwin, I have to believe the large population of Stripers are hurting the forage population. Would it help if you raised the Striper limit to 25 and made it a requirement that you keep all Stripers you catch up to 25 until the lake gets back to normal levels? We know they're still there. We can see them by the hundreds puddling along the service eating small midges.

---

The short answer to raising the limit is no. The stats below collected from anglers surveys since 2014 show anglers average not even 1/3 of the current possession limit with 75% average harvest rate over that time period. Raising the limit would not reduce the population significantly more than it already is being reduced. Sorry about the data being crunched up.


Lake Skinner Striped Bass Stats From Angler Surveys

Year--# SB Anglers--#SB Caught--#caught per angler--Harvest Rate
2014-- 214-- 398-- 1.86-- 90%
2015-- 266-- 483-- 1.82-- 73%
2016-- 352-- 590-- 1.68-- 57%
2017-- 523-- 2504-- 4.79-- 73%
2018-- 502-- 1456-- 2.90-- 85%
2019-- 222-- 442-- 1.99-- 75%
2020-- 546-- 2321-- 4.25-- 61%
2021-- 513-- 1967-- 3.83-- 85%

Total # SB Anglers 3138
Total # SB Caught 10161
Average caught per angler 3.24
Average Harvest Rate 75%

So, if I understand correctly Kwin, judging by your survey of forage fish, we can expect an uneventful fall bite due to lack of forage for the gamefish, correct? Also , looking at your harvest data, it seems like the percentage of harvesting is higher in percentage with less anglers and fish caught last year compared to 2 years ago. Do you have a theory to why very little stripers were caught in 2019?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sweetfish

So, if I understand correctly Kwin, judging by your survey of forage fish, we can expect an uneventful fall bite due to lack of forage for the gamefish, correct? Also , looking at your harvest data, it seems like the percentage of harvesting is higher in percentage with less anglers and fish caught last year compared to 2 years ago. Do you have a theory to why very little stripers were caught in 2019?

---

I've not seen any evidence of adequate "pelagic" forage species, that anything in the lake could eat, in any of the last 3-4 electrofishing surveys. This biggest absence is I've only collected 22 bluegill over the last 2 spring surveys. Bluegill are typically very productive spawners, so their absence is concerning. They appear to be wiped out and not carrying over into the following year and/or the numbers of juveniles is reduced because recently established quagga mussels/gizzard shad are competing for planktonic resources. There has been an 80% reduction in the number of bluegill and small LMB since 2007 with the establishment of quagga mussels. Areas that should be loaded with bluegill/small bass (the dam rip rap) are pretty much empty. The lake is top heavy with predators eating anything and everything they can, which are far, far less than they were. Years of 98-99% C&R of LMB and the intermittent abundance of striped bass also isn't helping, creating an out of balance fishery.