NOTE: This article originally appeared in MLF Bass Fishing magazine. You can subscribe to MLF Bass Fishing magazine here.
It’s been well documented that several states west of the Rocky Mountains are in a severe drought – now referred to as a “megadrought” in some states – and that lakes and reservoirs in California, Arizona and Utah are suffering from record low water levels. That includes some of the West’s most popular bass fisheries: Lake Mead in Nevada and Lakes Shasta and Oroville in Northern California, for example.
It’s not unprecedented for water levels to fluctuate wildly in these fisheries, as they’re primarily used as water supply sources for nearby municipalities and agriculture. Some western reservoirs can rise and fall up to 100 feet yearly. But the dire situation currently facing West Coast water managers (and bass anglers) comes after scant annual precipitation the past two decades, which has failed to replace the water taken out of reservoirs like Mead, Shasta and Oroville by normal human usage.
The reasons for historically low western water levels are a perfect storm of factors (no pun intended):
This trio of factors has put the western states in uncomfortable new territory as lakes across the region are experiencing record low water levels, with the drought forecasted to continue until 2030.
For western bass anglers, the above translates to dramatically changing ecosystems on their favorite bodies of water and an alarming lack of access. As water levels continue to drop and boat launches are left high and dry, getting a bass boat safely onto well known, popular lakes becomes difficult (bordering on impossible in some cases).
The drought has already taken its toll on fishing participation, with major tournaments being canceled or relocated and entire lakes in danger of being unusable for boaters.
National media covering the drought have focused primarily on Nevada’s Lake Mead, the historical impoundment of the Colorado River located 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas. The May discovery of human remains on the dried-up lake bottom created a flurry of media attention – in addition to the grim discoveries, other relics (multiple sunken boats and jet skis, etc.) have appeared on the desert floor as Mead’s water levels continue to plunge below historical lows.
Mead’s early July water level (1,043.8 feet in elevation) was the lowest recorded at the country’s largest reservoir since it began filling up with the completion of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s. The dam produces hydroelectric power for millions in Nevada, Arizona and California, and although potentially years away, continued water loss could endanger the power supply for the region as Mead creeps toward “inactive pool” status (a minimum of 950 feet is required to generate power through Hoover Dam).
These historically low waters forced the prestigious WON Bass U.S. Open to be moved one lake down on the Colorado River to Lake Mohave. The 2022 U.S. Open – won by Bass Pro Tour pro Josh Bertrand – marked the 40th edition of the biggest bass tournament on the West Coast and the first time it was held somewhere other than Lake Mead.
Bass Pro Tour angler John Murray has won the event twice during high-water years in 1997 and 1999. He’s fished Mead through many stages over a three-decade career and has witnessed the lake at capacity twice.
“I lived through two full water cycles, both in 1983 and then the late ’90s,” Murray said. “The last time it filled up was in 2000 after back-to-back 100-year storms – it’ll never be that full again unless there’s a miracle. With the population of Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Los Angeles taking the water, there’s just too much draw on the water and it’s worth more to sell than to keep the lake full. Looking at the lake now makes me sick; you can look half a mile up the bank and see rock piles you used to fish when there was water in the lake.”
Debora Herndon, Lake Mead Fisheries Biologist at the Nevada Department of Wildlife, says the quickly dropping water will change where the fish live and where anglers must look when fishing to find them.
“With the lake going down, most of the popular areas on the lake will be too shallow or on dry land now,” she said. “This could decrease the largemouth population, as much deeper, rocky areas may replace the shallow waters they prefer in coves. The smallmouth bass population will likely not be affected as much because of their preferred habitat. Smallmouth bass numbers tend to go up and down in our angler studies, but last year we saw a slight decrease in largemouth with a slight increase in the smallmouth bass population, which may continue as the water levels fall.”
One reason largemouth may suffer is the that decreasing water levels will negatively affect shallow grass first.
“The lack of vegetation in the backs of coves will likely affect the largemouth population,” Herndon said. “It’s so important for the young bass to survive.”
Mead’s receding water forced the closures of several marinas on the lake. Marina stores, motels, gas stations, campgrounds and large parking lots now look out of place in the Nevada desert, far away from the lake’s shoreline. Callville Bay, the largest marina on the lake and host of all major bass tournaments, is down to just one boat launch lane, while several other marinas are entirely unusable.
As boat ramp availability dwindles, fewer anglers will be fishing, which could affect the bass population, according to Herndon.
“Bass anglers on Lake Mead typically catch and release their catch 90% of the time, but we expect to see a decrease in harvest simply because there will be fewer anglers fishing the lake now,” she said.
California lakes Shasta and Oroville are the two largest reservoirs in the state and fluctuate yearly. But lacking adequate snowpack to replace water taken out of these two popular fisheries, both Shasta and Oroville have continued to drop. During the spring of this year – when the lakes are typically at their highest points – they sat at more than 100 feet below full pool, with Shasta at 40% and Oroville at 55% of capacity.
Kent Brown, a longtime tournament angler and host of Ultimate Bass Radio in Sacramento, confirms that water is low, but that it could have been much worse if not for some winter storms.
“All boat ramps were inaccessible until around the first of the year on Lake Oroville,” Brown said. “The thing that saved us was record rains in the fall and big snowstorm right after Christmas. The problem is that we started so low that the winter precipitation only helped for a little while. There’s a great deal of draw for the water for farming in the state.”
California is the nation’s leading agricultural producer, including water-thirsty crops like almonds and pistachios. This has increased the draw on resources and, in turn, added to the low water levels in the reservoirs.
According to Brown, even though Shasta and Oroville’s water woes are well known, popular fisheries like New Melones Lake, Don Pedro Reservoir, Clear Lake – and even the tidal California Delta – have been noticeably affected by the drought.
“New Melones and Don Pedro have been hit hard,” Brown said. “That impacts everyone because they’re losing tourism dollars in the Mother Lode area, and nobody wants to go camping and have to hike way down to the water.
“Clear Lake, California’s largest natural lake, is the one the bass anglers are talking about most. It doesn’t have any major rivers feeding it, just smaller creeks, and the water levels are entirely based on rain and what rolls downhill into it.”
While it hasn’t seen the extreme depth changes as other lakes in the West, Clear Lake has been down far enough to make a difference to anglers who experienced diminished access by late summer. In late September, the California Department of Fish & Game cancelled all permits for all October tournaments due to low water.
“The fishing is still good, but it’s changed, and the shallow water has pushed grass further away from the shoreline than I’ve ever seen,” Brown said.
The California Delta is a legendary bass fishery and fed by the Pacific Ocean, but all the lakes that pour into the Delta system impact its water, even though the tide keeps the levels regulated.
“(Multiple creeks and rivers) flow into the Delta, and it affects the fishery when there isn’t enough water,” Brown said. “It affects the salinity of the Delta when there isn’t enough (fresh water) inflow. It also encourages weed growth, which in turn creates more grass control with spraying. It’s a trickle-down effect.”
While low water levels throughout the West are understandably troubling to residents of the area and anglers alike, Murray and Brown both remain hopeful that Mead, Shasta, Oroville and the rest can and will rebound quickly given an influx of water. Weed growth around the lakes during low water can quickly become excellent bass habitat when the water eventually rises.
“It doesn’t take much of a rise to give the bass a good spawn and create better fishing,” Murray said. “The lakes in the desert that drop and stay down for a year or so and come up can give the fish a ‘new lake effect’ because of all the shoreline cover that grows. The cottonwoods, willows, and salt cedars grow very quickly. Water doesn’t have to come up much and you can have a boom. That’s what we’re all hoping for.”
Brown points to the winter influx of water to Lake Oroville that boosted the water level enough for boats to launch. That gave way to excellent fishing for anglers targeting bass that had been unpressured for months.
“Guys caught some phenomenal numbers when they first got back on it,” Brown said. “The lake has been fishing good all year long.”