What Happened to the all the original trout planted as fingerlings when DVL created?

[AllaboutTrout]

Eight years ago my family moved to Seattle.For two years before we moved a buddy and I were catching many large native rainbows trolling with leadcore and downriggers. Once we located fish we would vertically jig with spoons,jigs,and plastics.Live Crawlers fished vertically also caught us some huge trout,including a fish a few ticks below 9lbs.

Recently we moved back to San Diego and after making a bunch of phone calls to anglers "in the know" it would seem the trophy trout fishery of DVL is history. According to friends the native fish were all eaten up by LMB and Stripers. No one seems to catch healthy holdover trout anymore.Stocked trout are available but the lake is now a striper haven.

If anyone "in the know" can tell us what has happened over the last half a decade at DVL it would be appreciated. Did DVL simply follow the same pattern as Castaic and Pyramid?Once upon a time there were many large trout in Castaic and Pyramid but very few anglers truly knew this. Are the Stripers ruining the LMB fishery at DVL as well? WE used to catch large LMB just by trolling for trout.Friends tell me that all those giant lmb are now competing unsuccessfully with the stripers. Were stripers part of the plan for DVL? How can a trophy trout fishery maintain itself with Stripers present.

Has anyone recently caught trout that resemble those beauties we caught back in 2005 and 2006? This is very sad to me.

Mike

[DEVOREFLYER]

No one catches hold over Trout in any lake that a Striper is in. Silverwood Lake was the premier Native Brown Trout fishery with many DD's caught, the Striper ended that also. Sad but true.

[DarkShadow]

All the stripers ate them.

But don't worry, the stripers are a good thing in our reservoirs, just ask DFG. Just don't ask the DFG about it.

Too bad Kwin's no longer around. I loved the rope-a-dope strategy he had.

[AllaboutTrout]

Doesn't Mike Giusti,the guy who created the DVL fishery, work for the DFG? I cannot imagine it was his plan to allow stripers into DVL.Didn't he create small ponds at the bottom of DVL just to raise the trout and other gamefish that were supposed to be the basis of DVL's fishery? I'm guessing the aquaduct system is the real problem here. Did the DFG allow for the stripers or did it just happen by accident?

[KidTrout]

Doesn't Mike Giusti,the guy who created the DVL fishery, work for the DFG? I cannot imagine it was his plan to allow stripers into DVL.Didn't he create small ponds at the bottom of DVL just to raise the trout and other gamefish that were supposed to be the basis of DVL's fishery? I'm guessing the aquaduct system is the real problem here. Did the DFG allow for the stripers or did it just happen by accident?

Just like most lakes it happened by accident. They come through the water in the aqueduct.

[DarkShadow]

Doesn't Mike Giusti,the guy who created the DVL fishery, work for the DFG? I cannot imagine it was his plan to allow stripers into DVL.Didn't he create small ponds at the bottom of DVL just to raise the trout and other gamefish that were supposed to be the basis of DVL's fishery? I'm guessing the aquaduct system is the real problem here. Did the DFG allow for the stripers or did it just happen by accident?

It looks like Guisti jumped off the Titanic once DFG realized the true nature of the striper. Jumping ship, from an employment standpoint, was the best thing he could've done. There were a few interviews made with Guisti who mentioned that stripers entering the fishery would go against their, and anglers' plans, and could possibly ruin the fishery. What did they do to mitigate that from happening? Absolutely nothing. DFG made no effort to minimize the stripers coming through the aqueduct, and of course, the reasons where always fiscally related. Then again, we all know that our reservoirs here are all giant Sparklett's bottles and that fishing is the last thing any public official is concerned about.

Now they're left with an invasive species that they're trying to turn into a bonafide sport fish that all California anglers should covet. They made sure their lack of planning became a win-win situation for anglers when it came to introducing a salt water species into landlocked reservoirs in California. Castaic? Ruined. Pyramid? Ruined. Silverwood? Ruined. DVL? Getting there rather quickly.

But don't ask a DFG biologist or employee, as they will let you know fishing is as better as ever regardless of the striper introduction, and will throw charts and graphs and 'year of young' numbers to substantiate the fact they overlooked a huge variable when it came to the fishery.

Talk to anglers who put in more work than DFG biologists on our bodies of water, and they'll let you know what the striper has done to our fisheries. It's your choice to choose who to believe.

[AllaboutTrout]

Appreciation for all the replies. What a great website and forum. Stripers fight well and taste great.BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Catching them in the salt and surf is where I want to,not a great trout or lmb lake that has no chance of maintaining its true nature.

Castaic and Pyramid back in the 70's and 80's were great fisheries.When was the last time an angler caught a 15lb bass from Castaic or Casitas? Silverwood had the remarkable brown trout population that was previously mentioned.Has Casitas been ruined yet? I don't read too much about it anymore.

Why would we expect any honest answers from the DFG? Have our license fees ever been used for the dedicated areas they were meant for? No-the DFG became a policital syphon to suck dry. I should not get started.lol.

How are the lmb and smb populations doing at DVL? Can they compete with the stripers?

[DEVOREFLYER]

Just wait a few years and with Lake Crowley only being stocked with triploid trout that fishery will be another one in decline. Brilliant I tell ya just brilliant, thanks DFW for all you do to destroy our waters.

[P.A.W.]

Of course, I won't (can't) speak to the trout problem, but Skinner, a well known striper fishery, is doing very well as far as LMB and bluegill are concerned. I should note that it used to be known for crappie, but no more.

[chompot]

I caught a 4 lb trout last summer at DVL while drop shotting for bass. I then hooked into a 6-8 lber on the next cast, but lost it at the boat. I know this doesn't mean anything but at that same spot we were picking up a ton of trout on the graph. Also a 8-10+ lb LMB tried to eat the 6-8 lb trout I hooked. All of this in 100+ feet of water. Not sure where the hell the bass came from.