Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Lake Davis - Plumas County, California


Visited on 8/17/2018, Jeff, along with our water-loving chocolate Labradors Summer and Skye and I loaded up the truck camper and the boat and headed up to Lake Davis to camp and boat for the weekend.  We camped at a campground on the northeast end of the Lake called Lightning Tree Campground at a double space #17.  Lake Davis is a large lake at 4,026 acres and is well known for excellent trophy trout fishing and camping, hiking, and for viewing wildlife and spring wildflowers. Situated at 5,775 feet, Lake Davis has approximately 32 miles of shoreline. Lake Davis is open to all types of boating but water skiing and jet skiing are not permitted.  Lake Davis is located 7 miles north of Portola, California. This lake was created in 1967 for recreational opportunities.  Lake Davis is an artificial lake in Plumas County, California near the Sierra Nevada community of Portola. Its waters are impounded by Grizzly Valley Dam, which was completed in 1966. The lake is named for Lester T. Davis (1906-1952).  Grizzly Valley Dam is an earth-and-rock dam 800 feet long and 115 feet high, with 10 feet of freeboard. The California Department of Water Resources owns the dam. 
During 1996-97 Lake Davis was in the national spotlight due to controversy over northern pike and the possibility of poisoning the lake. Following an explosion of the pike population, and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) decided to treat the reservoir with rotenone, a naturally occurring poison deadly to the gilled creatures.

In September 2007, the DFG again attempted to eradicate northern pike by lowering the water level and treating the remaining water with rotenone.  DFG feared that pike might escape the lake and enter the Sacramento River system, potentially harming native anadromous fish species such as steelhead and salmon. The effort was controversial because pike are popular gamefish and considerable effort had already been spent on unsuccessful attempts to rid the lake of pike using explosives, nets, shocking, and poison.
Late in 2009, pike began showing up again in angler catches.



Jeff driving the boat across Lake Davis with Skye resting on the back.
 
Jeff and our dogs, Summer and Skye on our boat getting ready for a ride around Lake Davis.
 
Summer and Skye retrieving a stick from Lake Davis. This is their fun job!!!
 
Our girls resting on their rug at the camping site for the weekend at Lake Davis - Lightning Tree Campground #17
 
 

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