PORTOLA - The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) will inspect anglers at a Lake Davis pike checkpoint Saturday, May 19 between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

DFG often uses checkpoints to help educate the public about laws, regulations, and resource conditions. At this year's checkpoints, anglers will be notified of new regulations that northern pike caught at Lake Davis should be killed immediately and placed back into the water. Anglers are no longer being asked to turn northern pike over to a local DFG official. Lake Davis is the only body of water in California where pike are known to exist. Killing the fish and returning them to the water will help prevent their spread.

In addition checkpoints are also used to prevent, discourage, and allow for the detection of violations, and apprehend violators of fish and game laws. Additionally, checkpoints can serve to facilitate the gathering of biological and statistical data related to fish abundance, health and range, and user group demographics.

Last January, DFG Director Ryan Broddrick approved a project to again eradicate the pike from the Plumas County reservoir, which is on U.S. Forest Service land. Eradication will begin some time after Labor Day weekend using CFT Legumine, a new liquid formulation of rotenone.

Lake Davis was chemically treated for the non-native, predatory northern pike in 1997 However, the pike were rediscovered there in 1999. The pike population has adversely affected the trout fishery and ecology of Lake Davis. Should pike escape or be moved from Lake Davis, they have the potential to do irreversible damage to the aquatic ecosystem and fisheries in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary and its watershed, as well as potentially harm other areas of California.

Anyone witnessing an individual taking a pike out of Lake Davis, or committing any other wildlife crime, should call California's Secret Witness Program to Help Stop Poaching and Polluting, CalTIP, at 1-888-DFG-CALTIP (1-888-334-2258).