+Stillhouse & L Georgetown

Saw local report from a catfisherman that the catfish in his livewell coughed up empty zebra mussel shells on Travis

Fear of Zebra Mussels is what closed Wheeler Branch to power boats a few years ago now. The authority for that lake was concerned about possible costs related to controlling them since it is the key water supply for Glen Rose, etc.

But water is pumped into WB from the Paluxy; so, if they are in the Paluxy River above WB (I have no idea if any upstream lakes are infected), they'll end up, eventually, in WB.

Here on Lake Athens, we don't have a river system feeding into it, nothing more than a few small localized creeks draining into the lake, then Athens Fish & Game lake sitting above it. So, it'll be a good "test lake" to see if boats actually are good transfer agents. They won't be brought in by flood waters, natural flows I don't think.

But, most of the spreading has occurred by these mussels moving downstream in their immature stage. They "go with the flow."

Brad

And Canyon.

I think the focus is on the wrong group, I think the wakeboats are the real culprits.

I'm not too sure how often a boat comes out of a lake and goes straight to another lake in the same day other than the times "some people I know" would load up on big Gizzard shad on lake mexia and take em to Richland chambers to catch big blues. I would think for them to be a potential transfer boat it would have to be a boat that is stored in infected lake and moved to another lake one day

False... unless the boat has had every nook and cranny completely dry Zebra Muscle larvae can survive. The bait bucket, livewell, bilge area... doesnt have to be in an infected lake for an extended period of time to get them and doesnt have to be moved form one lake to another in the same day. These suckers are resilient. Theres a "Drying Time" calculator at the bottom of the page from the link below.. good info but they recommend a 30 day drying period before going to a different water body.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/boat/protect_water/

No big deal. Nature will balance them out and everything will be fine. They are in EVERY lake around here but only confirmed in a handful. JMO

Best smallmouth fisheries in the states have had them for decades.

Eagle mountain has them too. Only thing they hurt are the people with pumps on the lakes and plumbing g on the lake

As mentioned Mother Nature will balance it out , as long as Humans do not try to help her out .

There are some species of fish that already exist in most of our lakes that will eat zebra mussels. Hopefully no one gets too creative trying to control them and creates a worse situation than what it is now.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/panfish/world-record-sunfish/

Agreed! Don't know if the greatly improved fishing is attributed to zebra mussels or the rise in the water level after being low or....pretty sure it's a combination of many factors and certainly zebra mussels are the "new mix to the equation" and they are getting thick when the water stabilized at full pool for a while. Didn't realize how thick they were until the water dropped a couple feet. Like barnacles in the ocean on all the rocks. But like anything the positive does come with a price. Despite fishermen(ME) wanting anything that potentially benefits fishing the zebra mussels are a problem to deal with. A fireman co-worker of mine is on the city council up in Bridgeport and the water department is having big problems with clogged intakes screens, pumps... I have a friend is head of the Somervell County Water District(Glen Rose) and they own/manage Wheeler Branch Reservoir for our water storage. They are so afraid of zebra mussels that they no longer allow any boat that has any bilge area(my Ranger) into the lake. Canoes, kayaks, paddleboards...only. I do not believe this will keep them out but in their defense: the sole purpose of the SCWD is to provide water to the entire Somervell County. Not maintain a lake/park for my fishing pleasure. The point is these things do come at a cost to someone. The fishermen saying they are no problem what so ever and all good are uneducated or selfish in their thinking. Good news is they have been up north for many, many years and the they have learned to deal with it. The world will continue to spin and the water quality and fishing will improve.

Didn't take long on Lake Austin.

What lake doesn�t have them? I guess I don�t really see it as a big deal

They'll be bad for a couple years then the lake will start to balance out. It take everything a couple years to start utilizing them effectively. Id prefer to not have them but they aren't the end of the world.

We don't have them in Lake Graham/Eddelman but instead we have their 2nd cousin Asian Clams. They were in the Lake when I went to work at the power plant in 1978. It seems they gather where the water is always flowing hence the power plant intake. I live on the Lake and as far as I know they don't seem to be bothering any home owners lake pumps. Probably don't flow enough water.