State finishes its cleanup of fish poisoned to rid Lake Davis of pike

PORTOLA, Calif. -- California officials have completed the grim task of collecting fish killed in last month’s poisoning of Lake Davis to exterminate the northern pike.

California Department of Fish and Game crews have gathered nearly 50,000 pounds of fish since Sept. 21, when 16,000 gallons of a toxic chemical were poured into the Sierra Nevada reservoir.

Northern pike first appeared in Lake Davis in 1994, probably dumped by an unwitting angler trying to introduce a new sport fish prized for its fight, state officials have said.

The fish devastated the lake’s famous trophy trout and tourist industry.

Biologists had grown increasingly concerned in recent years that if the pike escaped the lake, they would also ravage California’s weakened salmon and steelhead populations.

The state first poisoned Lake Davis in 1997, but pike reappeared 18 months later, either reintroduced illegally by a rogue angler or having survived the first poisoning attempt.

“This time, we continue to monitor the lake and keep our fingers crossed,” department spokesman Steve Martarano told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “We did everything possible, and we continue to hope that we did enough.

“We’re not claiming victory yet. But we’re hopeful we got rid of the pike this time,” he said.

Last month, wildlife officials used a new formulation of liquid Rotenone, an aquatic insecticide that has successfully killed northern pike in other reservoirs.

Once the poison can no longer be detected, the lake and its tributaries will be restocked with more than 950,000 trout.

Martarano said northern pike accounted for about 6% of the dead fish removed. Eighty-two percent of the dead fish were bullhead, a type of catfish, and less than 0.5% were trout.

“We found mostly big trout,” Martarano said. “We believe the smaller trout were eaten by the pike.”