With waters rapidly receding at Caples Lake, the El Dorado Irrigation District announced plans to move fish to nearby Silver Lake.
The rescue and relocation effort to be conducted by the state Department of Fish and Game drew praise from area fishermen and a fisheries conservation group.
David Lass of Truckee, Northern California field coordinator for Trout Unlimited, offered the services of his organization to help transfer the fish.
"I hope you all know how important this resource is," Lass said during Monday's district board meeting, describing the lake off Highway 88 in Alpine County as a trophy fishery.
The district began releasing water from Caples Lake on July 27 after an inspection revealed that gates in the lake's main dam were seriously deteriorated. The drawdown was undertaken to allow crews to begin repairing the gates in September.
The lake, with a capacity of about 22,300 acre-feet, was down to 12,790 acre-feet Monday, staff members reported. The district is releasing about 300 acre-feet daily into Caples Creek.
An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover an acre to the depth of one foot.
The releases have produced higher-than-usual summer flows in the creek and the Silver Fork of the American River. But at Caples Lake, the concrete and gravel boat ramps have been closed due to declining water levels, said John Voss, owner of Caples Lake Resort.
Voss thanked the Department of Fish and Game for coming up with the rescue plan. The timing of the relocation is critical, he said.
Dan Corcoran, the district's environmental review manager, said the lake contains four trout species: Mackinaw, rainbow, brown and brook.
The Department of Fish and Game will use nets and boats to capture the fish, then truck them to Silver Lake, off Highway 88 in Amador County. The district owns and operates both lakes as part of its hydroelectric Project 184, a system of lakes, canals and a powerhouse purchased from the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in 1999.
The district expects to spend about $35,000 for the fish rescue and relocation, and an additional $235,000 to restore the fishery at Caples Lake.
Corcoran said Caples Lake will be restocked next spring with trophy-size rainbow, brown and brook trout and fingerling Mackinaw. He said the district will supplement Fish and Game's restocking until the Mackinaw trout grow to trophy size in seven to 10 years.
District directors said they regretted the project's impact on fishing and boating, but board president George Osborne said he was confident the fishery would be restored. PG&E conducted a similar drawdown in 1987, he said.
Osborne said the district also was awaiting response from the state Water Resources Control Board to a request to transfer 4,000 acre-feet of the flow from Caples Lake through the Hazel Creek Tunnel to Jenkinson Lake, in the Sly Park Recreation Area. Jekinson Lake, near Pollock Pines, is the source of about 50 percent of the district's water. The transfer would serve as a hedge against another dry winter, Osborne said.
"We do need to do what we can to keep as much of that water as we possibly can," he said.
Steve Setoodeh, director of facilities management, said staff members were working with consultants and contractors to determine the total cost of the dam repair project. He estimated it would be about $1.5 million.
The goal is to complete the work by the end of October.
Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 608-7451.
