Sat June 27 + a serious question

[SBBJJ]

Hopped on a boat with three other friends. Went to pine. Shocked at how low the water is compared to April. Top water was fast and furious from 5-6:15 then dead stop.

Tried many things after that including swim baits, jigs, crank baits etc. Ultimately we had to resort to the dreaded senko.

Main lake fish seemed healthier overall. There are still fish everywhere in both arms, but more of a grind.

About 100 fish for the boat. Started at 5. Ended at 3:44

Now for the serious question.

Why does the water keep dropping

https://www.sdcwa.org/water-transfers/

If the city is selling water to other states then why aren’t all the SD reservoirs topped off first? Why is Otay shut down?

And I don’t mean this as rage bait. I seriously want to know what
Are the issues and considerations leading to draining all the lakes to sell to other areas

Thanks.

[Gotfish?]

The city's 1st priority is to have enough water, second priority is to keep costs down. Keeping the reservoirs as full as possible results in more water loss due to evaporation. The big game changer has been desalination and recycling water, with that the city doesn't need to keep the lakes as full to ensure enough water for dry periods.

When other areas are low on water and San Diego has reserves to spare, the city can make money selling water or by buying less water from Colorado River or other sources.

Maintaining water levels for fishing is not a high priority for the city.

[JWall]

Hopped on a boat with three other friends. Went to pine. Shocked at how low the water is compared to April. Top water was fast and furious from 5-6:15 then dead stop.

Tried many things after that including swim baits, jigs, crank baits etc. Ultimately we had to resort to the dreaded senko.

Main lake fish seemed healthier overall. There are still fish everywhere in both arms, but more of a grind.

About 100 fish for the boat. Started at 5. Ended at 3:44

Now for the serious question.

Why does the water keep dropping

https://www.sdcwa.org/water-transfers/

If the city is selling water to other states then why aren’t all the SD reservoirs topped off first? Why is Otay shut down?

And I don’t mean this as rage bait. I seriously want to know what
Are the issues and considerations leading to draining all the lakes to sell to other areas

Thanks.

There are vastly different water management decisions being made by the city than decades ago. Full lakes are passé. It’s about the money and closing gaps in the budget. I will let others debate those issues but I know what I see. Throw in the lack of dam maintenance and unsafe conditions there and it’s a perfect storm for our growing lack of recreational use of our lakes. Extremely frustrating as a boat owner and fisherman.

More directly to your question, Barrett has been drawn down regularly this year and is currently being drawn down an inch a day per the staff. Where it’s going is a mystery as it sure doesn’t seem to be going to downstream Otay.

And thanks for the report. We found Saturday to be similar.

[Gotfish?]

The AI estimate due to evaporation alone is .5-.7" per day in July.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+muc ... e&ie=UTF-8

[SBBJJ]

Thanks for the explanation. I was having seriously difficult time understanding why they were just letting the lakes go down. That makes more sense.

[TommyP]

I could spend an hour on this subject....but one reason for the draw down is they are going to do some maintenance on the dam and the water level cannot be as high as it is. A large part of the water flowing to Otay evaporates before reaching there. Add many stupid decisions from the City over the years and this is where we are. I saw Joe LaCava at a FSC meeting in Del Mar Saturday and expressed my frustrations about the article Joe Little did from Ch 7. Ever since the Lakes/Golf decision was made to put it under the PUD there has been a steady decline of our once World Class fisheries. Off to Cedros Island for some World Class calico fishing. Have patience @ Barrett and you will catch them.

TommyP