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The first ramp in the Spalding Marina is fine for launching at this time. The shoal straight out registered 3 feet deep but was probably a little deeper. I left my big outboard all the way down and didn’t stir up any silt. However, I would definitely keep an I/O outdrive up about half way. The second was being used for installing some of the private docks but looked pretty shallow at the shoal leading out to the lake. Eagle Lake Marina: Larger boats stay to the west side (left looking down the ramp). The east side still has a lot of silt built up and is really only suitable for smaller or shallow launching boats. Stones Landing: Should be okay early in the season .... But we will be checking that out next week.
2008 Season Outlook and Considerations
To all tourists. Expect gas prices at the lake to be very high this season. Depending on the gas prices I expect you will be paying close to $6.00 a gallon at the Eagle Lake Marina which is generally up to $1.30 to $1.50 a gallon more than in Spalding. Stones Landing has been around $1.00 higher than in Spalding. Diesel will be much higher.
Expect some cabin rentals to increase.
There will be no restaurants in Spalding this year. Too many constrictions for profitability caused this problem. The General Store has removed the kitchen but is still planning on having their homemade cold sandwiches (the will have them packaged and ready to go), a soda fountain, coffee and cappuccino and other various snacks. Similar to snack bars in convenience stores. So you will still be able to have lunch.
Also, if you dock or launch in Spalding expect all dock rentals and rental boats to cost more than last year. There will still be a $5.00 parking/launching fee at Spalding.
At this time all other boat ramps on the lake will remain free to use and all other ramps will begin to have problems early in the season. We believe that it would be a good year for all ramps to be extended so there wouldn’t be problems in the future. However, if we don’t get any water next year, we will lose over 20% of the lake and at that point, the repaired ramps would not do much good. And, if that happens, this may be the last year that anyone can launch a larger fishing boat. We hope Mother Nature does not do that to us, but she hasn’t been real happy and giving lately.
Lake Outlook: She was absolutely beautiful this morning showing her typical blue/green colors but it didn’t take long before the wind had her a little stirred up.
Low water levels are going to cause problems launching large boats later in the season. Un-marked rock piles several hundred yards from shore will also be appearing. Despite a late ice out, water quality will be poor and the Catch and Release Recommendation will probably be posted early in the season. It may be a good year to give the lake a needed break. The high points on the Miners Point ledges (Frank Morgan Summit) are going to be shallow enough by August to take out a lower unit on a large fishing boat.
5-10-08
Lassen County Fish and Game Commission Meeting in Spalding set for May 15 at 7:30 PM at the SCSD/Fire Hall on Mahogany Way. This may be the last meeting that LCFGC will hold in Spalding. The commission voluntarily holds meeting in Spalding to benefit the residents. The commissioners do this at their own personal expense and gas to serve the public. The SCSD requires the Commission to pay rent on the public building for a public meeting. The fees were deemed to be a worthwhile expense for PELT funds and the check is on its way to Merle Lay. Please show up, as this may be the last meeting held in Spalding. For the money, we are all hoping that the door is unlocked this year.
We have blue skies today but the haze from the prescribed burn toward the northwest obscured them early. By afternoon the wind helped clear things up a little and are currently maintaining a 12 mph average speed. Our high temp hit 68 today and our low temp was 28.
The pond was flat calm this morning which made it much easier for the folks installing their docks and fortunately it lasted until about noon which gave folks a few hours not having to fight it. There are still a few more to go in but everything will be in by opening weekend.
The SCSD lost a breakwater section. It is stuck in the sand on the beach on Little Troxel Point. Due to the fact that this is a very shallow area it will take a few hundred feet of cable for a boat to try to dislodge it from the sand. Even a jet boat....and they don’t like to suck sand either.
The lake looked good. Clarity looking down was at about 12 feet. 10 feet deep one could see the bottom clearly. (CDFG uses a white reflective disc which can be seen much deeper).
There are still fish in both the middle and north basins but if the water temperatures rise above 65 F before opening weekend count on the masses of fish to be heading to 12 to 20 feet of water. We did seem to see more foraging along the gravel bars in the south basin than we did anywhere else but, we did see fish just about every where we went which means that they are pretty scattered. Unfortunately, we did NOT see any along the tules along the airstrip (we were there in the late morning so time could have had a lot to do with that), but did start seeing a few out a couple hundred yards. There was a little color to the middle basin making it harder to see anything scooting along the bottom, but that is normal.
There is still about 5-6 feet of water along the edge of the tules along the airstrip in Spalding but the holes inside are 2 to 4 feet deep. The point running out from the RV park will be very dangerous this season....swing it wide this year.
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The new map is up. I suggest downloading the 8 ½ X 11 Adobe for printing. Printing JPG....you may have to change your printing options to “reduce to printer margins” to get the full page. My HP printer/fax has a setting for “full page fax print” which doesn’t auto crop to fit in printer margins. If you have problems please feel free to let me know. I want my viewers to be able to get it right!
The new map will be for the private use of our viewers only. Businesses that plan on photocopying it for their customers will need our permission to do so. It will not be for sale, except by us. We will be happy to issue a black and white copy with approval for those interested in photo copying it for free for their own customers. All you have to do is ask. If copies without our visible approval are discovered we will take action to protect our copyright. Just ask.
We will have a special edition laminated map available for sale this summer.
All commercial copies must be made by, authorized and stamped by eaglelakefishing.info / localnews1.net LLC.
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