we too are curious saw1 on your trolling technique, we picked up from following your thread over the last year that your go-to lure is a rattletrap at fast speed with long set back, maybe 4mph+ @ 75'?. Thnx for any sage, still getting skunked out there, going to try again soon.

like Saw1 says, and then around the bend there's a hole where the San Antonio Creek comes in, that often works

trolled Lake Sonoma yesterday. Water is 68F and clean. Where are the kids and the jet skis? Very quiet out there, just a few old geezers tooling around in their Trackers. A few with downriggers like us looking for steelies, picked up 3 small ones in the narrows of Warm Springs arm using small silver castmaster slow troll @ 40', C&R very healthy fish. We're too old and lazy to work too hard finesse casting for large mouth, once on a while we'll pick one up on a troll, but not yesterday. Where did all the crappie come from this year? Again, nothing worth bragging about, but picked up 7 between steelies. They were also very healthy, lively off the hook and back down they went. Deer on the shore, ducks in the water, this lake is waking up! Maybe we can keep it a secret.

water is still chocolate, lot of debris, going to get better now with clear skies forecast, give it a couple of weeks and we can go back up Dry Creek and Warm Springs with out jet skis crowding us out. Future is so bright gotta wear shades.

LAKE SONOMA » Marina operators pushing feds to release water due to flooding of fueling, sewage stations, other infrastructure

Boating season at risk

By

KATHRYN REED

FOR NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Water levels at Sonoma County’s largest reservoir and freshwater boating destination are no longer shrinking, but the heavy rains and plentiful runoff that brought the lake to its brim have led to headaches for operators of the lake’s lone marina.

With fueling facilities and sewage pumpout stations likely to be underwater well into the boating season, operators at Lake Sonoma Marina won’t venture a guess as to what the economic impacts could be.

“We found out (the first week of April) their idea is to hold back water after one of the wettest winters ever,” Rick Herbert, operating partner of the Geyserville marina, told the Business Journal. “The Army did this without consulting us and it affects us the most.”

He’s referring to the Army Corps of Engineers that is mostly responsible for reservoir and dam operations.

Sonoma Water, the county agency, partners with the Army Corps and uses the lake storage to feed its drinking water supplies for about 600,000 people in Sonoma and Marin counties.

The reservoir was at its lowest level in history only six months ago. Now it sits at just over 100% of its seasonal capacity.

Herbert, who has had a lease with the Army Corps for 38 years, says his agreement calls for the lake to be at 451 feet on May 1. On April 23 it was at more than 458 feet.

He said with the infrastructure seven feet under water, boat owners have to bring in their own fuel.

Houseboats must keep wastewater from toilets on the vessel until the water level changes. Marina employees are shuttling owners to their boats because that’s the only way to access them. Some day-use areas are inaccessible.

“I will say it will have a significant financial impact (especially over Memorial Day). Once you don’t have the income, you don’t get another opportunity to make the same income,” Herbert said.

By mid-March,Lake Sonoma had risen to 119% of its seasonal capacity, spurring dam managers to conduct their first flood control releases since 2019 from the 40-year-old Warm Springs Dam.

Similar flood releases were made from the smaller, older reservoir at Lake Mendocino in January, which Sonoma Water also operates.

“In this new world of feast or famine for water this is a new strategy to leverage water when we have it,” said Don Seymour, deputy chief engineer with Sonoma Water. “The goal is to keep the reservoir as full as possible for dry periods we know will be reoccurring.”

That means there is no way to tell the marina operator when the lake will be at 451 feet.

Eventually water will be released this season from Lake Sonoma into the Russian River as it is needed downstream. But neither the feds nor the water agency could tell Herbert when his infrastructure might be operational for this boating season.

Herbert said he is asking Rep. Jared Huffman, a San Rafael Democrat, to weigh in, given the dam and reservoir operations fall under federal control.

“They did this (held back water) without any public input; without any input from their recreational partners,” Herbert said. “If we had prior notice before it flooded, we could have made these modifications.”

Those changes would have been costly, he admitted. But he would have preferred that hassle to the predicament he’s now in.

“Our goal is to maintain storage as high as possible at Lake Sonoma,” Seymour said.

Sonoma Water is in the early stages of studying whether it can adopt the same strategy at Lake Sonoma as it does at Lake Mendocino, which uses advanced forecasting of heavy atmospheric river storms to allow dam managers to hold on to more water through the winter and spring months and make flood control releases as needed.

Sonoma Water first asked in the summer of 2021 for what’s called a “minor deviation” in the contract that would allow for 19,000 acre-feet more than usual to be stored in the reservoir. (An acre-foot is enough water to cover an acre of land 1-foot deep.)

With the ongoing drought continuing last year, it was a moot point. The same request came in last August and was again approved by the Army Corps.

But the marina operator said no one told him any of this was being talked about, let alone approved.

The Army Corps admits there was a breakdown in communication with Herbert.

“Likely there is some room for improvement on communications,” Christopher Schooley, operations project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers, told the Business Journal.


Andy Finfrock of Santa Rosa was forced to use this pontoon boat provided by marina managers March 15 at Lake Sonoma to check on his boat moored in a slip that is not accessible by foot because of flooding. The partially submerged Lake Sonoma Store stands in the background. PHOTOS BY KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT


The Lake Sonoma Store is partially submerged March 15 due to the heavy winter runoff from the past three months of storms.


Lake Sonoma water is released March 15 into Dry Creek. With Lake Sonoma at just over 100% of its seasonal capacity, the operators of the marina would like authorities to release more water to ease flooding of their infrastructure.

back in '73 the great great grandparents of those coyotes had a hard life. Then came the California State Water Project that decided the southern terminus of aqueducts from NorCal would be a lake in the hills around Moreno Valley. The coyotes use to work hard for a meal and a drink of water out there in the desert, but now their little knoll of rocks is an island, the Alessandro sanctuary that came with the benefit of trash cans and free food. The coyotes and kangaroo rats are all more than good now, but be wary of eating the large mouth you catch, the artificial reef made from old tires may be why some fish have tested high in mercury.

Every day the Corp of Engineer measures the level of California reservoirs and publishes a report. Those last few feet to the crest of the spillway translates into a lot of water and it can be easily underestimated visually. Last week Lake Sonoma reached a historical high and flooded the marina store. The negative -1160 acre-feet they released today to Dry Creek is with the aim to bring down the water level to something everyone can live with, probably at about 2/3 capacity. Officially reported numbers below.

all reservoirs in California have a fill line that is less than full capacity to allow for late rains and snow melt.

the daily reservoir report from our state water department is very good, sometimes too good for the marinas. The gent in this press photo taken last week provides a pontoon taxi service to the boat owners who now can't reach their boat by foot. The piers and slips have risen to a historical high and now someone needs to mop out the store. LS is only at 71% capacity today but they have to let water out to normalize the marina and make room for the next storm on the way. The water is chocolate pudding and full of debris. The fish are huddled down. Are we in spring yet?

AF= one acre-feet is about 325k gallons, so they are letting out a lot of water from McClure today. Like most reservoirs in California, the last 25% or so of storage is regulated by the Corp of Engineers depending on the dam strength, need for electricity generation, flooding of marina facilities, and the needs for water downstream by fish, wildlife and people. You don't need more downstream today with the flooding going on, but there you have it. Lots of water and more coming early next week.

oh, that's why we call trolling motors eggbeaters

yes, especially out here in the West. Back East, no so much, lot's of water everywhere

The rain is still coming today and more coming on the weekend, but it's unlikely the sky will fill of our reservoirs in California this year, even with the mountain snow helping us through the summer. As you know OldBassGuy, Lake Skinner depends mostly on Tucalota Creek to supply it on a regular basis, and that little creek just hasn't been able to deliver during the drought. Lake Skinner also taps into the aqueduct system from the Colorado River and the NorCal delta, but Lake Skinner is way down south and one of the last reservoirs sucking on that straw. And then you have very thirsty farmers all along the way, not to mention Temecula Valley wine country when the water gets there. Bottom line is everyone is thirsty after a long drought and everyone is looking after their own tap. The fish and wild fowl unfortunately have no say in this poor trade-off. The riparian rights of old agriculture are setting the agenda, but we also appreciate the growers of Imperial Valley for the broccoli and lettuce they deliver. Tough choices all around, but it's still raining outside and that's a good reason for good spring fishing on the way. Standby for news from your meteorologist.

in the paper this AM:
LAKE BERRYESSA

Dock fire destroys 23 boats

By

MARTIN ESPINOZA

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Cal Fire investigators are still trying to determine the cause of a dock fire Friday night at Markley Cove Resort on Lake Berryessa in Napa County that destroyed at least 23 marine craft, including houseboats, longboats, Jet Skis and pontoon boats.

Cal Fire spokesman Jason Clay said Saturday morning there are “no known injuries” and the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation. Cal Fire is leading the investigation.

The fire was first reported at 8:55 p.m. and it took a little more than three hours to extinguish. Clay said a section of the dock that was burning became separated and drifted

away into the lake, preventing further damage to the rest of the dock and other tethered boats.

“We were able to stop forward progress on the actual dock fairly quickly once firefighters arrived at the scene,” Clay said. “The burning portion detached from the rest of the dock ... approximately half of the dock.”

good possibility, thanks for the invite. i run with my partner who still works for a living, when we get closer i'll mark the calendar.