Photo by Ron Sinfelt

A year ago, anglers in Southern California were beginning to wonder if they should be building arks. Nearly constant rain and snow all winter poured huge amounts of water into drought-stricken reservoirs and streams. There were a lot of problems -- landslides, mudslides, floods and fires -- that ravaged a lot of public and private property, but for the Golden State's bass anglers, the thought of all that water flooding into lakes brought smiles.

Now we are looking at some of the best water conditions we've seen since the mid-1990s. Many reservoirs filled to capacity, some flowing over their spillways for the first time in years. If that wasn't enough, the summer of 2005 saw one of the longest and wettest monsoon seasons in recent memory. Weather conditions brought strong moisture-laden storms up from Mexico and into Southern California.

That's the good news; most of this report is good news. The bad news came last summer when it was suddenly announced in August that Lake Perris would be drawn down 25 feet from the normal level. Engineers from the Department of Water Resources determined that the dam, an earth-filled design built 31 years ago, did not meet the seismic safety requirements. Lake Perris lies close to the San Jacinto fault, and a minor earthquake on this fault, say engineers, could cause slumping of the dam and a dangerous release of water that would flood the rapidly urbanizing area southwest of the lake.

"If you had asked me before this happened, I would have said Lake Perris was just fine," said Region 6 biologist Mike Giusti. "The bass fishing has been very good. The regulations change we put in to move from a two-fish, 15-inch limit to a five-fish, 12-inch limit does not seem to have affected the population at all. We are still seeing something like 20,000 to 35,000 bass over 12 inches there every year. This is only the second year, and we are still seeing good numbers of fish over 10 pounds. Now it will be drawn down 27 feet below spillway crest and probably remain down for at least two years."

According to DWR officials, the agency will cut the amount of water stored in the lake by 42 percent, in turn reducing the lake's surface acreage by about 20 percent. This will create dramatic changes in Lake Perris.

"Basically, you can figure you will lose about 50 percent of the fish in the lake," was the gloomy prediction from Giusti. "Perris doesn't have a lot of structure (in deep water), and a 25 foot drawdown means you've just lost most of it. That basically means that we will lose everything that's presently inside the current 5mph buoy line."

That means the majority of the riprap along the face of the dam, around the marina and boat ramp areas will be out of the water. It also means the brush-choked northeast corner of the lake, where much of the bass spawning habitat is, will also be high and dry. The rocky shoreline that runs from the road on Bernasconi Beach around to the pumping plant will be dry as well. Only the base of Allessandro Island and the artificial reef structure placed in the lake when it was built will be under water.

"We are losing about 20 percent of the surface area of the lake," said Lake Perris State Recreation Area Superintendent Ron Kreuper. "We will move the 5-mph areas out to compensate for the drawdown. Nothing else will change, except we will lose the ability to launch on the personal watercraft boat ramp at the back of the lake. The main boat ramps will be OK."

The back (east) end of the lake will be affected the most. The high-speed travel that is currently allowed behind Allessandro Island will have to be curtailed. It will be shifted out into the main body of the lake between the island and the dam, Kreuper noted. The back side of the island and the east end will still have water in it, and will be in a 5-mph area, which might actually improve the fishing experience there.