Yep, I posted this up last Friday http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3761820/Zebra_Mussels#Post3761820

I did not know they had made to Lavon I figured they would shortly since so much water in Lavon is from Texoma and the intake is in the area the samples were collected. We just need to hope they do not do well in this climate.

Yeah, I knew you had posted about Texoma, but they wanted guys over here at Hubbard to be aware of it as well as Lavon anglers.

We should know more tomorrow or within a week or so.

I wonder how many of the mussels are inside that 72" waterline that goes from Texoma to sister grove creek?

Man I hope none, but from what I hear they can spread fast.

With all this rain, no telling how many have been pumped down river through Hubbard.

I was on Texoma this morning, so I guess I need to inspect my boat and trailer so I don`t take any to Fork with me Saturday.

What all lakes are down river of Hubbard?

Imagine Lavon one day being as clean as Texoma, drop shotting in 30ft over mussel beds to catch 4 lb smallies. Or, as most invasive species - doing irreputable harm to the ecosystem. Talk about your world travelers, Europe, Great Lakes, Mississippi River and now Texas.

The only mainstem lake downstream of Ray Hubbard is Lake Livingston, however, water is pumped from the Trinity into Richland Chambers wetland area before running into RC. From there, RC water is pumped to Benbrook and up to Eagle Mountain with Lake Worth downstream of Eagle Mountain. There is potential for a wide scale impact!

I think the Trinity goes into Livingston, then maybe the Angelina into Sam Rayburn.

I just cross-posted this on the crappie forum since we had a tourney at Lavon last weekend.

Bad news right here. I dont see LRH pleasure boaters being conscientious about their boats and trailers though...

Thanks great info there.

..or much of anything for that matter.

Dumb question but what is the thing with zebra mussels?

I found an article that said sheepshead or Drum eat Zebra mussels in a study done on Lake Champlian. That is if a sheepshead there is a drum. The best I could tell is they are the same fish. They do not know if they can be used as a form of population control.

Zebra Mussels

Here's some info, hope it helps.

I will find out more tomorrow.

Agreed..

It doesnt look like we are getting torrential rain again for a while, so maybe Hubbard gates will be closed for a while and it can be corralled before it turns into a rodeo.

Better than the drum supposedly round goby were introduced in the Great Lakes to help control the zebra mussel, so if they use them they may as well add about a million smallmouth just to keep everything balanced.

Actually, the goby got into the Great Lakes through ballast water as well. Introduced the exact same way as the zebra mussel.

Question:

Are we still suppose to call TPWD if we spot a Mountian Lion also?

Hey Fishy Man want to borrow my Cowboy Sig?

No thanks Casey...you stole mine and spilled some red ink on it or something

FishyMan,

I have a sig for you ....

This is the only bowl the browns are going to..LOL

[quote=RedRanger]Question:

,,,

Happy B-Day trickster...

OK Guys lets try to get back on topic or this will get the sticky removed.

If the mussels continues to spread it could be pretty bad.

Sorry

Sorry, Casey !!!... I read the link you referred to. I thought mussels would be good for a Lake. I guess I was wrong. I do like the fact that they could clear up the water clarity.. So, If they do take over Hubbard then our fishing will get worse and it will be almost impossible to rid them. Not good at all.

Yeah, they filter the water at a crazy rate and with so many producing so fast, it could be bad.

Yes, according to this year's outdoor annual they put out.

They can send them all down here to Gibbons Creek and it'll still take 50 years to clear that mudhole up

so. . . I'm guessing Zebra Mussels are bad for lakes?? Why is that exactly??

PM Me Please!!!

Cancel last two posts!! I read the article on page one!! So this would be a sorta good thing and a lot of bad huh??

Everybody might as well get ready to see them all over the place because it is just a matter of time....Just like Giant Salvinia, most people dont check their boat well enough, they go by the It doesn't apply to me theory and dont worry about it...I lived an hour away from Lake Erie when they were first found up there and the spread happened pretty quickly.....

is there any current research ongoing, on how to control zebra mussel populations? if there is a method of controlling at all? Im not the most saavy when it comes to marine biology, just curious if there is any possibility of balancing the ecosystem in a positive manner, and maybe having the mussels presence be more beneficial.

I just wish there was a way to keep them only in texoma!! Texas would have it all if we just had one lake that you could go to and catch 15+ pound sacks of smallmouth on a semi regular basis. Shoot I can't catch a largemouth out of texoma over 3 pounds anyways lol. I was there last week I will check my boat and trailer. Shoot down at the damn it was so clear you could see 6 ft down so I hope it's not to late

Mrbass, is it common for TPWD to sample the states lakes, or was there a suspicion of the species in Texoma? Highport marina is in my backyard and I'm on the lake every week, but also travel around to different lakes in Oklahoma once or twice a month, we need to really wash up as a whole.

Zebra Mussels

This is a great site to read up on what they are and do.

Maybe TP&W will find out that the water on Lavon is bad enough to even kill zebra mussels and Lavon will become a household name in lake lore. If the mussels can strain the water from Lake Lavon into clean water, then they will indeed be a force. I read on one website that they are very sensitive to pollutants and can only live in clean, oxygen-saturated water. They may find out that Lavon is not their cup of tea. We'll see I guess.

Seems these little guys are pretty durable. Hopefully you are right. It would be really interesting to see Lavon clear though..

Well if that's the case Lavon will be in pretty good shape, Hubbard for that matter too. I catch a ton of Drum on both those lakes.

Good info guys, I'll keep my eyes out for the little buggers.

According to what I've read and watched on TV they have been on the lookout for them for some time now. They (TPWD) think they got here from one or many of the larger boats that get brought down here from up north. They have had reports from marinas that have found them on boats that have been brought down to Texoma.

I work on a Zebra Mussel research project on the Arkansas River.

I don't think Zebra Mussels will ever be a problem in Texas because they start to dieoff at 86F and will have a complete dieoff at 90F.

I was in colorado a few weeks ago, and zebra mussels have pretty much killed 3 lakes in the Grand Lake area. The water went from crystal clear to tea colored. The fishing is terrible. The biologist I spoke with said in 2 years time there will be very very few fish in the lake. You couldn't walk in the water as you would cut your feet on the zebra mussels.
They had check points when we entered and exited the lake. We had to take out anything that cold hold water and dry it out. They even used towels to dry out the livewells.
We had to lower the motor so that water would run out of the lower unit. Zebra mussels do a bad bad things to your motor.

1 zebra mussel will have 1 million off spring in 1 year.

The Lake Temp in Texoma has been 89 to 91 for surface temp for quite sometime and the living specimans were found from 5 feet to 24 feet deep. In the deeper lakes in Texas where the temp range could be cool enough in the summer months is it possible for the Zebras mussels to have success at the deeper depths and move shallower in the winter months and hopefully have a die off in the shallow water each summer.

Having fished a lot on Lake Erie and most of the inland lakes and rivers up North that are filled with zebra mussels and all I can say is I hope and pray that whatever environmental factors that would kill them down here do just that - kill them !!! Because I just got used to not loosing Carolina rigs and jigs and crankbaits and every other bait you can tie on and drag over and through them dam things…sure they do a great job filtering the water - you’ll be able to see a dime on the bottom in 30 ft of water - BUT - you think it’s hard on mono or braid now when trying to pull a healthy bass out of a mesquite tree just wait !!! zebra mussels adhere to every hard surface they can find - rocks, trees, boat ramps, dock pilings, etc. and we have even seen them cluster together in the weed beds, believe me zebra mussels are bigger fun killers than jet skiers !!! I hate to keep being the party pooper… but think about this too - if the nasty little things get into the power plant lakes they will in short order start clogging the water intake and return lines, so the power companies will have deal with a new high cost of “temporally” removing them…or should I say “WE” get to deal with the new cost.

The two areas of your rig you have to worry about is your livewells and to a lesser degree the trailer if you have fished a lake with the zebra mussels in it, then at the end of the day pour a little bleach down into the live well plumbing so any trapped water gets a dose, and make sure you pull off any weeds or sticks that may get caught on the trailer.

Yeah that is what will probably happen. I did a sample during July at 16 sites around Lake Dardanelle which is on the Arkansas River. For our sample we place 4 1/4 meter square grids along a transect. During our sample we only found 6 zebra mussels and all of those were at one site.

Tim, how does Texoma water get into Lavon? Texoma drains into Red River...doesn't it?

I believe there is a pipeline that pumps Texoma water into Lavon.

+1

It sounds like the migration from Texoma to Lavon is directly related to the pipeline.

Im from the Midwest and I remember my local lake use to be very stained when I was a kid. Now on a clear calm day it is a swimming pool. I have seen bass come up at the long end of a cast in 12-15 feet of water to hit a lures. That is something to see.

I'm from detroit and the they use to want us to kill the sheephead and than they said that they were the ones keeping the zebra mussels down . so leave them in the water , and also the zebra's would clogg up water filters . but my only bad about zebra's is that they will slice your foot open when you step on one.

I forgot time to turn some roach fish loose..

Effects of zebra mussels

Zebra mussel infestation on the walls of Arthur V. Ormond Lock on the Arkansas River
Zebra mussel-encrusted Vector Averaging Current Meter from Lake MichiganZebra mussels are filter feeders. When in the water, they open their shells to admit detritus.

Zebra mussels are a great nuisance to people. Since colonizing the Great Lakes, they have covered the undersides of docks, boats, and anchors. They have also spread into streams and rivers nationwide. In some areas they completely cover the substrate, sometimes covering other freshwater mussels. They can grow so densely that they block pipelines, clogging water intakes of municipal water supplies and hydroelectric companies.

Also, as their shells are very sharp, they are known for cutting people's feet, resulting in the need to wear water shoes.

Zebra mussels are also believed to be the source of deadly avian botulism poisoning that has killed tens of thousands of birds in the Great Lakes since the late 1990s. [2]

However, zebra mussels and other non-native species are credited with the increased population and size of smallmouth bass in Lake Erie [3] and yellow perch in Lake St. Claire. [4]. They cleanse the waters of inland lakes, resulting in increased sunlight penetration and growth of native algae at greater depths. This proves beneficial for fish most of the time, helping the fish live in better conditions. This cleansing also increases water visibility and filters out pollutants. Each quagga and zebra mussel filters about a quart of water a day.[14]

Recent research has found that zebra mussels don't attach to copper-nickel alloys, which can be used to coat intake and discharge grates, navigational buoys, boats, motors, etc., where the pests tend to congregate.[

I think the zebra mussels will impact the shad population in a negative way. This would hurt the striper population on Texoma.

However, it looks like bluecatfish will eat zebra mussels in the summer for an easy meal, i.e.
http://www.in-fisherman.com/content/blue-cats-baitfish-and-mussels/2

I didn't pay much attention to this post at first, but I recently just got back from fishing the Fox River in Barrington, Il w some inlaws. After having a decent day fishing the first day and breaking off 10 or more fish I thought I had a bad batch of 17lb big game line. Next day I put new line on and same thing. It didn't click to me until I looked closer at the rocks we were fishing - Zebra Mussels, millions of them. Little dudes are like razors and simply suck to fish around. They cling to everything. I remembered this post and sure am glad I didn't decide to wade in later and fish like we planned. I'll guarantee you i would have been cut up!

I had thought cleaning up Lavon's water might be a good thing, but after this trip, I sure hope we can get a handle on this before it's too late.

what effect do zebra musscles have on our lakes,and how important is it to prevent infestation?

It is my understanding that even though you inspect your boat and trailer for visable zebras, the real threat are the equivalent to larvae. Not using the correct term but it's basically the same. One could collect these in a livewell or bilge, particularly during colder temps and transfer them to another lake.

Now we can promote to fishermen, be sure to clean everything well and use a bleach solution, etc... But then just think of all the pleasure boaters.

The zebras are here. I guess we will see what happens.

thanks for the info.

Carp also feed on them big time....they will cutt 100lb braid like butter

That was my first thought , the summer heat in TX pretty much kills everything.lol

I was looking where the zebra mussells have taken hold, looks like a big problem around the mississippi delta region which is warmer and muddier than N. Texas.

would they also filter out the salinity in texoma waters? if so it could hurt the striper population.

With good populations of Carp, Buffalo and Drum here in Texas they might be able to find a balance. But as fast as they reproduce I'm not sure that alone could control them. Lets hope so.

ZEBRA MUSSELS BELIEVED TO BE ENTERING TRINITY RIVER SYSTEM Invasive zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) have been confirmed to have spread from Lake Texoma into the head waters of Lake Lavon, and experts fear they could eventually spread throughout the Red River and Trinity River watersheds. Zebra mussels multiply rapidly and can block water treatment plant intakes and pipes as well as attach themselves to boats, ropes or anything else left in the water. They can cause declines in fish populations, native mussels, and birds. They can also restrict water flow in pipes, foul swimming beaches, damage boat engine cooling systems and cause navigation buoys to sink. Live specimens of zebra mussels have been reported in Lake Texoma and are now believed to be well established there. On Aug. 3 live zebra mussels were found in West Prong Sister Grove Creek approximately 300 yards downstream of the Lake Texoma water transfer pipe. This creek flows into Lake Lavon. “Lake Lavon is in the headwaters of the vast Trinity River Basin, which extends southward to the Gulf of Mexico, so the potential impacts to water quality, fisheries resources, water distribution systems and recreation are huge,” said Inland Fisheries Biologist Bruce Hysmith in a TPWD news release. “Zebra mussels have the potential to be an even greater threat to Texas freshwater resources than invasive aquatic plants such as giant salvinia and toxic organisms such as golden alga,” said Phil Durocher, Inland Fisheries Division director. TPWD will be working with local, state and federal agencies, reservoir controlling authorities and water districts to develop a plan for dealing with zebra mussels. Boaters and anglers are being encouraged to help slow the spread of zebra mussels from one water body to another by cleaning boats, livewells and trailers when leaving any water suspected of having zebra mussels. Boaters and anglers are also being asked to report sightings of suspected zebra mussels to the Operation Game Thief Hotline at (800) 792-4263. More information, including links to photos and detailed information, is on the TPWD Web site (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/protectourwaters).

Just got my boat registration in the mail and it had a brochure/flyer from this organization with a Zap the Zebra initiative.

http://www.100thmeridian.org/

More on Zebra Mussels

rrhyne56,

Since that link is from Wisconsin, the affects will be much different there then here. The Zebra Mussels will not affect the fishing or make the water clearer. The densities will never get high enough to have the same problems like they do up north.

GASPERGOU. AKA: DRUM (Found in Lake Lavon)


Freshwater Drum (Aplodinotus grunniens)

Illustration © TPWD
Other Names
Drum Fish, Gaspergou, Gou, Sheepshead
Description
Aplodinotus is Greek for "single back", and grunniens is Latin for "grunting", referring to the fact that the species may be observed (or felt) making "grunting" sounds. Except for color, freshwater drum resembles its marine relative the red drum. The fish is deep-bodied and equipped with a long dorsal fin divided into two sections. The dorsal fin usually has 10 spines and 29-32 rays. Freshwater drum are silvery in color and lack the distinctive tail fin spot of red drum.
Life History
In Texas freshwater drum may spawn in April or May. Spawning seems to occur in open water. The eggs float until they hatch. Freshwater drum appear to be basically benthic, spending most of their time at or near the bottom. They feed primarily on fish, crayfish, and immature insects, often by rooting around in the substrate or moving rocks to dislodge their prey. The presence of heavy throat-teeth also allows them to consume mollusks to a certain extent. In Lake Erie, they have been found feeding on zebra mussels (although not nearly enough to control the

Found and killed my first Zebra Mussels on Texoma last Sunday. If was in less than a foot of water.

Where did you find it at? I looked around last weekend and haven't seen one yet.

That's funny, The TPWD says the Zebra's have the potential be worse for our fisheries than Giant salvinia or Golden algae. If you have ever seen a lake that has been affected by Golden algae it should scare the heck out of you.

That's not good. What are the surface temps. right now.

The temp at the time was 89degrees. The lake is hovering around 84 last night in the dark. I found this ZM on the big point on the left leaving highport outside the breakwaters. I killed it. I also called the local fisheries department to make sure it was a ZM. Right now in Texoma ZM should be the only clam or mussel style in the lake that will sit on its back side without falling over and should be the only one that attaches itself to objects with the back of it shell.

Wanted to add those suckers really stick to whatever they attach to. They do not just pull off easy. You have to get a good grip to pull one of or atleast this one did not come of easy.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but the larvae are probably in every lake in Texas by now. I know here in this area there are numerous guys that fish these two lakes and then go to Fork, Ray Roberts, Cedar Creek, etc. Haven't heard of anyone taking precautions. One of the things I've learned from living in Michigan is they're spread primarily from their larvae being in the water of pumps, live-wells, impellers of jet-skis, engine blocks; not the adults that occasionally stick to the hulls, that's rare. And the few posts I've chimned in on, most just laugh at ya for taking this so serious. Sad thing is they won't laugh in five years when they see what these things do after getting a hold in a lake. One of the main guys on the forum that sets up many of the tourney's in this area jokes about this subject constantly. Sad.

FWIW, my buddy has a boat slip in Catfish Bay at Texoma. Last year we were catching bluegill and sunfish as fast as we could bait a hook as well as an occasional catfish and crappie in the vacant boat slips. We've been up there twice in the last month and haven't caught a fish there and have talked to several people who dock their boats there and they aren't catching any fish either.

I've only seen a few dead fish(mostly catfish) floating in the lake. There does still seem to be an abundance of gar in the marina area as I constantly see them surfacing.

Would/could the zebra mussels have had this quick and significant of an impact on the fishing in this part of Texoma?

Grapevinekid,

No, for a lake the size of Texoma it will take about three to five years for the mussels to cover the bottom and everything connected to the bottom, and then another three to five years to impact the fishery.

This is a ploy to generate revenue in some way...i can smell it. Watch, they will have some sort of zebra muscle water fishin permit you'll hafta buy to launch a boat. Get caught on the water without it...$$$fine$$$ Get caught on uninfested water with it...$$$$fine$$$ My soloution...let lavon get way below pool, water temp will rise and kill em all. Nope..the publicity is for a reason, and that reason is to make $$.

It is inevitable with today's modern transportation system and with the global shipping economy that all species will either become homogeneous, adapt, or lose out through the domination of others.

Nothing much we can do to stop it. Slow it down maybe, assist species in decline maybe, but we cannot stop it.

Dang - another non native species invades our non native lakes !

any updates?

I'm from missouri and they have just been found in our lake on Pomme De Terre, will soon be in Truman Lake as Pomme river drains into Truman.

Hopefully, the Dallas sewer department can finally do something helpful and put a stop to zebra mussels entering downstream of Dallas with their unlawful discharges. It's even hard for gar, turtles and carp to live in that section of the Trinity.

The gates are open on Lavon so water is going downstream into Hubbard. I guess Hubbard gets a warning now.

The gates are open on Lavon so water is going downstream into Hubbard. The gates are open on Hubbard too so water is going downstream. I guess Hubbard gets a warning now...and next.

The Science Channel had a story about zebra mussels in Lake Michigan. Said the whitefish used grow to maturity in less than a year, now take 3-4 years to reach maturity. The ZM's have almost eliminitated the microscopic shrimp that whitefish feed on. Commercial whitefish licenses went from 3500 down to 20 as a result of the reduced catch. The US now spends half billion dollars a year to combat ZM infestations.

Here is an example of what they can do in just under a year. It aint pretty.
http://californiafishingforums.com/download/file.php?id=108

http://californiafishingforums.com/download/file.php?id=107

9 Gates open from Lavon today at 12 inches each. Can you say welcome Zebra Mussels!

can we eat the zebra mussels?

any updates?

Here in PA we have Zebra's in every lake and river. They will clear up the water, they will fray your line and probably will cost commercial water authorities a little money. But they have not ruined any fisheries. In fact from a fishermans point of view Zebra's may improve the fishing. The scientist here have been claiming doom for 15 years now and our lakes may be different but are not worse off. Remember acid rain?

Well....I remember acid.

How do Zebra Mussels taste?

I think very similar to Bald Eagle. Maybe a little more chewy, but still with that almost creamy taste that eagle meat has.

Aw carp thats no bueno

these were found on a jonboat at granpappy i do believe...they're here

Hopefully our friendly freshwater water GASPERGOU. AKA: Freshwater DRUM, Perch, Channel & Blue cats will be able to control them. Every time I've cleaned Gaspergou I've found small clams in their stomach and I've also found small clams in the stomach contents of smaller Blues/Channels.

If they filter so much water to make it clear, it will decimate the Shad population that most All Bass & Catfish species rely upon to sustain.

To the recreational boat guys I've lived on a houseboat and it's already a maintenance nightmare dealing with a boat that stays in the water all the time, the Hull damage, water intake & engine damage will be astronomical.

We also have the invasive Talapia that were introduced to us in the 80's as a hardy "bait" before they discovered that they flourished in our beautiful texas climate.

I need a $1B grant from the government to do a lifelong study on the investigation to see if Tilapia will eat a Zebra Mussel... and I get to call it "Work research"

[quote=Nophears]
I need a $1B grant from the government to do a lifelong study on the investigation to see if Tilapia will eat a Zebra Mussel... and I get to call it "Work research"
[quote]
LOL

Just an observation, but I think the concern is a bit overblown. I observed two things in my home lake in OK. First, the lake has pretty major seasonal water level fluctuations. When the lake is down, you see them left high and dry. They don't seem to be able to move fast enough to keep up with the water dropping when the Corps is letting out water. Secondly, I only noticed them (live ones) on the underneath sides of rocks, which tells me something must be eating them if they have to hide.

Yep, Drum love anything with a shell lol. Carp eat a lot of freshwater mussels too. I've caught them and had the carp practically dumping shell fragments on the ground, lol. Can't be too comfortable!

We have loads of fish here in TX that like shell fish. I have a couple of aquariums with native fish. I can't keep a shellfish (and I've tried) in with my pumpkinseeds, longear or Texas Cichlids. The TX Cichlids especially will make short work of any shell fish it can fit in it's mouth. Our native drum destroy small shellfish with ease. If it's clear water you're worried about, take a look at Amistad. I can see beds in 20 ft. of water in some places. This clear water allows sunlight to penetrate deep into the water allowing for non-emergent aqautic plants to flourish. I have no doubt that these things will be detrimental in some shape or form but I don't worry as much about these as I do salvinia. There are lots of non-native fish that eat nothing but muscles but I think our current natives will balance things a bit. Anyone ready for a great drum fishery? I bet we will have some monster drum coming out of this. The bass at Falcon and Amistad benefited from the Talapia buffet greatly, not to mention they're good to eat.

Well I first saw the Zebra muscles last year on texoma in the spring. Saw one attached to a rock. Durring the summer, I saw a beer can floating in the water, you could tell it was old and had been disturbed from the bottum and risen up. It had probable 10 zebra muscles floating on it. I pulled up a stick 3 weeks ago fishing in some brush I had set out had about 5 zebra muscles on it. So I'm not sure but it seems they are doing ok. I know cat fish love to eat muscles as well. If you scuba along the rock ledges of texoma you will see thousands of pearl whits shells of open muscles. I know the cat fish eat them and drum I'm sure do to. But I think time will tell on how the zebras do on texoma. But I will say this one year just DNA, next year we have found them on every end of the lake.

I'm hoping that like whirling disease was going to wipe out rainbow trout in the Rockies (it didn't); and like chronic wasting disease was going to wipe out elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer (it hasn't); and like bird flu was going to get duck hunters (it didn't); that all of the fuss over Zebras will eventually prove to be much to do about nothing.

But only time will tell.

The big lake has avoided a devastating golden algae kill so far, so maybe it can dodge the worst effects of this environmental bullet as well.

I've seen how they multiply by the millions back home in Lake Ontario.The little sh@#t's take over fast.They I'm sorry to say might just win.I hope they don't but time will tell.We can all do our part by cleaning our boats,and doing what TPW say.

Screw those guys!

Only time will tell. I can see a few positives and a lot of negatives. It seems they are here to stay. Lets just hope something ,be it the weather or predation, keeps them in check.

Very nice photos

Toni Rudolf Vlaic

let me ask this, if they filter the water do they remove the threat from golden algae

If anybody is wondering what zebra mussels can do here is an example.This is NOT from Lake Texoma but the lake I work on up in Arkansas. This anchor got caught on my anchor.

I KNOW HOW TO GET RID OF THE ZEBRA MUSSELS: JUST TELL A Cajun THAT THEY TASTE GOOD AND IT'S ILLEGAL TO CATCH EM. THEY WILL BE GONE BEFORE YOU EVEN KNOW THEIR HERE

This could not be more false.

Dont let them tell you animals cant spread them...

Really a nice photo!

[url

Here's a few photos from a guide on Texoma, blue cats love em! This was only a 2 lb blue, imagine how many a big one can eat. . .

How can they digest them? I think it would eventually kill the cat.

They really break or crush easy. You can crush small ones between your fingers. Once the muscle dies the shell break down pretty fast. I have a buddy who took out clam covered with zebra's and the zebras break much easier than the clam's.

Which part was false? I don't care one way or another, that is what the Biologist told us while he checked every compartment in our boat for water. It seemed like the truth judging by all the flyers and articles posted by the locals around town talking about the devestation to thier lake and looking for solutions to the problem.

That whole pine beetle thing is probably a farce too. Those trees looked healthy and brown to me.



That iw

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/biology/a_zm.html

A female Zebra Mussle can produce about 30,000 and 1 million eggs per year

Wonder how many shellcrackers you'd have to stock to keep the zebras at bay?

They have only found a few baby(veliger) mussels in Colorado. And I believe they were alreay dead.

Ill look up some more info and post it.

http://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/newsrelease/detail.cfm?RecordID=20901

Common Carp, Freshwater Drum, and I believe Smallmouth buffalo will all eat them as well.

In reality, common carp predation on zebra mussels may be a two-edged sword. Even if common carp can significantly affect zebra mussel density, reduced zebra mussel density may be accompanied by an increase in the number of common carp. Any increase in numbers of common carp would be an unwelcome turn of events to most fisheries managers in North America. Common carp have been blamed for reductions in numbers of other species deemed desirable by humans. Common carp prey on eggs of preferred species and alter habitats through their effect on substrates and submersed aquatic vegetation. A worst case scenario of increasing common carp numbers but little change in zebra mussel density is also possible given the tremendous fecundity of zebra mussels (e.g., Garton and Haag 1993).

Here's a link to the documentation: http://www.sgnis.org/publicat/papers/tucker3.pdf

testing

I just spent 9 years in Ohio, where the zebra mussels are pervasive throughout Lake Erie and have infested many of the inland lakes. From what I saw up there, though the mussels were a PITA, they also had some benefits. I was told that Lake Erie was a murky mess for many years, but the mussels cleared the water up significantly, allowing plant life to florish and providing new breeding habitat for many fish. I don't recall hearing of carp eating the mussels, but gaspergou (they call them sheepshead), do eat some of them. As far as the shad population crashing, that did not seem to be the case. They have threadfin & gizzard shad as a primary forage base in their lakes and the fisheries seemed rather healthy. I mainly fished for muskie and steelhead trout while stuck up there and both had plenty of forage to maintain their respective fisheries.

Who wants crystal clear lakes anyways?
I prefer to fish in a stained/muddy lake over a clear one any day of the week.

For cats, with the possible exception of shovelheads, I can't say I blame you. I think an angler's preference for clarity depends somewhat on the target species.

Tight lines!!

wow..hard to believe !

Is that link a virus or just spam?

how do mussels make the water clear?

They filter the water which removes phytoplankton. Phytoplankton is what makes the water green.

thanks!

Zebra mussels change a lakes whole eco-system -- they filter HUGE amounts water REMOVING small phytoplankton that juvenile fish fry also rely on.

In already sterile lakes (like found in Austin/Belton area) they even further sterilize them, in turbid lakes like on the Red, Trinity,Sulphur watersheds, they won't make quite as much of an impact. A current study being done right now is the affect that catfish have on distributing Zebra mussels -- its been found that channel cat and blue cat ingest Zebra mussels and do NOT digest them - thereby spreading them throghout a lake system.

I fish a power plant lake heavily infested with Zebra mussels -- it seems that the drum population has exploded, but that the inland silverside population has crashed (commonly called ghost minnows) Its still too early to tell yet how that lake will rebalance -- Zebra veligers do provide SOME benefit to juevenile fish as they become part of the food chain till they drop to the bottom.

Zebra mussels were carried from the Great Lakes PRIMARILY by MIGRATING double breasted comorants as the PRIMARY cause of spread, other waterbirds to a lesser extent --

Zebra mussels are here to stay -- only the spread can be slowed.

You can't be serious. If that was true they would be in almost every lake in the country. When in fact they are in rivers where barge traffic is present.

http://www.macalester.edu/environmentals...ibution2005.jpg

Hmmm haven't seen any barge traffic on Texas rivers or lakes YET - In Oklahoma the spread follows migration patterns along the Arkansas basin- from there hopping OVER dams to off stem lakes -- just about every lake in Oklahoma is now infested --

Those veligers are good at crossing dry land -

Texoma first reported, then Lavon, and I would expect all Texas lakes to follow in the next five years as those barges run up the bar ditches.

There are a number of vectors -- that much is agreed.

The reason they are in Texas is because of being attached to trailers or in the water that gets left in the boat. To say Cormorants are the primary reason, or one of the major causes for their spread is crazy.

This is the most up to date map. Yep looks like they are in every lake in Oklahoma. They may be in one lake off of the Arkansas River but other than that they are only in the River.

http://www.aquaticnuisance.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/current_zm_qm_map_plain1.jpg

It is only a matter of time before they go all the way to the Gulf. Another problem will be them pumping water into Richland Chambers from the Trinity and back up to Eagle Mountain.

Just to update your info -- they are now found in the Neosho watershed, Arkansas watershed, Canadian watershed - this includes just about every inland lake in the state and downstream -- just check ODWC's website for accurate info.

The ORIGINAL source of spread from Great Lakes skipping over a major portion in between is up for scientific debate, its a traveling public to some extent -- as said (and that includes trailering boats) there are a number of vectors.

And yes they will be in every lake downstream to the gulf sooner rather than later.

Europe has been dealing with Zebra infestations for over eighty years now -- they have some good research about what changes happened in their waters.

why would u not want the water to clear up some?

The clearer the water the less food you have available for fish that are near the bottom of the food chain like your young fish and shad.

A little clearer is ok(depending on the situation) but if it clears a lot you will see a drop in the amount of fish.

learn something new everyday!

Lake Amistad is usually crystal clear. It seems to have PLENTY of forage as evidenced by the healthy catches it yields. What gives?

Well, I was up on Texoma for a while today got out of the boat and walked the shoreline in a few places. The lake is down quite a bit of course. There were thousands upon thousands of zebra muscle shells attached to every rock/branch/whatever you kicked over in one spot.At another they were not quite so numerous. But geez...we got a problem brewing .

You know I never thought about this before but you can be sure that in the future I'll be move carefull.

Fished texoma this week throw a jig or anyting on the bottom and hook a limb you will find zebra muscles on it attached. They are there already bad.

I wouldn't be surprised in 10 years that zebra muscles actually improve texoma by allowing more plants to grow. I'm not a biologist, but I know that hydrilla is not a native species either and yet bass fishermen love the hell out of the green monster. Lake tyler's fishing seems to only be getting better as the water gets clearer by the hydrilla. I think as new plants grow in number the a natural offset in the level of nutrients in the water therefor plankton will compete with plants and larger volumes of plankton will be able to grow because of the greater light penetration. It might 10-30 years, but when you start to see numbers of plants around increase you'll see the sight based fish, a.k.a. bass and striper population boom. More little fish will be able to survive longer, not just the shiners, crayfish and bugs too.

Tonight at 10:00 p.m.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/With-zebra-mussels-posing-a-threat-to-lakes-where-is--122273789.html


It looks like they are going to be talking about this very thing.