True that we might as well learn how to live with them, but I am not one to pretend that this is a good thing. My guess is Shad have quite a bit more nutrition value than zebra mussels. The whitefish population in the Great Lakes has also learned how to take advantage of this new food source as their forage choices have changed. It has affected the size of whitefish in a negative way. On the contrary, bass habitat has expanded with clearer water and now a larger photic zone. Add gobies, another invasive species, to the mix, and those bass are fat and happy. Expect the food chain to scramble. There will be winners and losers.

Shad are pretty easy to catch at Lewisville at present. With clearer water coming, expect that to change in the new future. Could change the way we fish Lake Lewisville for sure.

They are coming to every lake

they are in stillhouse now

They just said tonight on the 5 pm news that they are in Stillhouse, they have been in Belton for a while now

sorry for the repost LOL

It was inevitable... to close to Belton. A morning fishing trip in one and in less than 10 minutes later be able to launch into another.

Edit reason - Added below.

And no, no one can put any one blame on the transport cause of it getting into Stillhouse. I know drain-plugs are supposed to be open leaving Belton (ticket-able offense). But, how many kayaks, pull tubes, canoes etc that could possibly be a carrier. Just sayin'

Not to mention Floods.. Texoma was Massive a few years back, under every rock, and items were floating with them attached. last few years you barely see any (Not that they are not there) but not under every rock. I Noodle and have not had any Cuts like a few years ago.. (In the same hole..) The Lake dropped and I think that killed many that were in the shallows, and there were many..

From firsthand experience here in Oklahoma, all of our Arkansas water shed lakes have now had zebra mussels for 12 years. Sooner where I fish the most (power plant lake) the Zebras have contributed to an explosion in the drum population, this in turn has provided another source of forage (small drum) they were scarce before Zebra Mussels, secchi disk tests, have not confirmed much change in turbidity, threadfin shad and silversides(ghost minnows) seem to be thriving better, when zebra veligers are present, and these populations are on the rise. Sooner is a fairly sterile clear lake in the first place , no real inflow, except for a pump in from the Arkansas river.

We also have white perch now too as a result of Arkansas river from Kansas. The sunfish population CRASHED, anecdotally it appears to be holding steady, but no net samples to prove this. All Striper, Hybrids, Sandbass, white perch seem to be thriving, while Largemouth are getting bigger with new available forage, their recruitment is now poor, ODWC is considering supplemental stocking of all sunfish. Saugeye and catfish are also doing well -- the Zebra population seems to be lower now than when we first started seeing them, rocks are not as encrusted as they were five years ago -- I think what you CAN say is that Zebra mussels will reach a stable population, controlled by drum catfish, and threadfin shad eating veligers, you can also say that former fishing patterns will DEFINITELY change, we find most all of our fish 15-30' deeper than we did ten years ago -so now we fish 70' deep as opposed to 30' deep --its not all doom and gloom, nature adjusts - Tony Hughes, Lateral Line Guide Services Stillwater OK.