Waterfowl season winding down with a whimper

This weekend will mark the final two days of general waterfowl hunting season, with local prospects fair at best, according to local waterfowler Harry Boyle. "A lot of the ducks appear to have been blown out of Butte County by the storms", observed Boyle. "We hunted over in Glenn County this week, and did pretty well. Our local blind here in Butte County is already closed down for the season.

"There are still a lot of birds in the valley; the luxury clubs are still getting them, while others have been flooded out. Overall I would say that our local hunting was about 60-percent off from last season."

Boyle added, "The special youth waterfowl hunts on Feb. 6 and 7 should do well."

Lake Oroville

Good news for anglers on Lake Oroville included pretty good fishing results, along with excellent boat launching conditions. "The boat launching has been great", reported Fil Torres at Oroville Outdoors. "The new ramp at Bidwell is in full operation, including the courtesy dock."

As for the fishing, Torres noted, "The last four tournaments have all been won by Richard Dobyns and James Avalos of Yuba City, using reaction baits. They have been weighing in 13 to 14 pounds [for five bass], with a big fish of around four pounds.

"The bass are near the bank, and have been hitting on ripbaits, spinnerbaits and Senkos. Best tactic is to run-and-gun the points, and colors will vary with the conditions. Expect some big weights for the tournaments coming up in February.

"Some large coho salmon in the six and seven pound range were caught during the bass tournaments on jigs and small swimbaits. Smaller cohos in the 12 to 13-inch size were super-abundant before the storms at the mouth of the middle fork and up in the north fork."

Torres cautioned, "There is going to be a lot of floating debris on the lake, so be careful. Also be sure to dress warmly; and there's no reason to get up early!"

Smith River

Despite the recent storms, the Smith River is kicking out some excellent steelhead action, reported local guide Kevin Brock. "We landed three nice steelhead out of five bites on Wednesday, and almost everybody on the river caught fish", said Brock. "The water has been just perfect. All of our fish are biting on the Pro-Cure Roe/pink puff ball combination, fished side-drift style with 10-pound main line and an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader and size 4 Owner SSW hook."

Brock added, "The biggest fish on Wednesday was about nine pounds, and jumped clear of the water at least six times. Our largest of the season so far was just over 17 pounds."

BCFGC meeting

The Butte County Fish and Game Commission will hold a meeting at 7:00 PM on Monday [Feb.1] in conference Room 2 at the Chico Municipal Center, announcing the awards for 2011-12 financial grant requests. Other agenda items include a warden's report, biologists report and 2010 budget review. The public is invited.

Chico Bass Club

The Chico Bass Club will hold its monthly meeting at 7:30 PM on Wednesday [Feb. 3] at Logan's Roadhouse in Chico. The club has monthly team tournaments on local lakes, conducts the annual "Oroville Open" fundraising tournament on Lake Oroville, assists with children's fishing events in Chico, Gridley, and Oroville, collects fishing line for recycling at Horseshoe Lake and Paradise Lake, and runs the Florida-strain bass stocking project on Lake Oroville. New members are welcome. Contact club president Jim Carr at 877-0912 for more information.


Department of Fish and Game Q and A, by DFG biologist Carrie Wilson

Q- Are duck decoys with flashing LED lights legal?

A- Unfortunately, these decoys may not be used at any time during the waterfowl season, because it is unlawful to use any artificial light to assist in the taking of game birds, game mammals, or game fish, except in ocean waters or other waters where night fishing is permitted.

Q- Why does managed hunting benefit deer herds?

A- Managed hunting of deer is designed to smooth out the highly dynamic population cycles of deer. They are a classic boom or bust species, in that when habitat conditions are good, deer populations can rise very quickly, but when they are bad [or over-utilized by too many deer], they can crash just as quickly. These crashes usually occur through starvation and/or disease issues. Managing the population through regulated sport hunting can minimize these types of events.

Another way that managed hunting constituters herd protection is through payment of fees for tags and licenses. According to Deer Program Manager Craig Stowers, these funds are used for collection of population, habitat use, and movement data, information to monitor and research disease issues, and enforcement of the laws and regulations that are the basis of managed sport hunting. Tag monies are used for habitat projects to benefit deer herds in the state as well.

Although deer are a resource owned by all citizens of California, deer management in this state is not supported by general taxes. The license and tag fees are basically user fees that are paid for by deer hunters, and int urn used to manage the deer resource. Hunter dollars fund deer research and habitat work, and hunter harvest helps benefit California's deer herds by regulating their population cycles.