I put in at the Twin Points ramp at eagle mtn the other day and they have a sign up there that says they have found zebra mussels in the lake??? Did they find them in there or is it just a precaution? I don't doubt they will spread to the lake in the near future, but I was just hoping it wouldn't be so soon..

These stupid things have got to be the most annoying things in the world, I fished Fort Gibson last year and it seemed like I had to retie every 5 casts because of them..

They have found them in Bport they are in EM then, next is Worthless

Dangit man... sucks for sure

I'm on the fence about the zebra mussels, they have done alot of good on some lakes depending on what you are viewing the effects from.

Water gets clearer and fishing gets better on alot of the reports.

some say they do more good than bad from a fishermans stand point im still undecided as iv not fished many lakes with them

hell maybe they will clog the outlet and the lake will come up to full pool

We hear alot of negative facts about these little suckers. So I did a little research. Hope this helps: Guess we'll see what happens in the future.

Positive Effects
Zebra mussels are extremely efficient filter feeders. They often clear up the water to such an extent that sunlight penetrates to a greater depth, so that underwater plants flourish and, subsequently, the entire ecosystem flourishes. Zebra mussels are also an excellent source of protein that will become the almost exclusive diet of some predators, such as crayfish and bass.

Negative Effects
Zebra mussels will completely colonize any submerged surface. This includes fresh water intake screens, irrigation pipes, boat cooling systems and the surface of pier pilings. In England, where they have been working around zebra mussels for more than 200 years, factories with underwater pipes build two of each kind of pipe. One set of pipe is used until it becomes clogged with zebra mussels, then operation switches to the other set of pipes while the mussels are removed from the encrusted set of pipes.

Benefits
Zebra mussels are great at cleaning up the environment. Unfortunately, they have the subsequent effect of filling the world with zebra mussels. Recently, it was discovered that zebra mussels will not attach to pipes made of a copper-nickle alloy. With this discovery, zebra mussels might become a valuable ally in the fight to clean up the environment. That is, if there are no attachable surfaces in a lake, the zebra mussels will migrate to the deep water and attach to each other. There, safely out of way, they will reach a sustainable level that keeps the lake clear.

Has anyone ever studied (funded) the effects of migrating birds, and other animals spreading them like that guy, Charles Darwin described in his writings while traveling on the HMS Beagle back in the 1800's? Or is it just easier to blame boaters for everything and raise taxes on registration fees?

No because they can't tax the birds.... This is what I have been saying for years but no one listens to that. Lake Kiowa has put a quarantine on all boat that exit the property for 2 weeks after they return so even though I have a lot there I can't fish my normal tournament and fish there too. They say its to keep zebra muscles out, which is impossible do to the fact that the lake is roughly 15 miles as a bird flies from texoma. In my opinion texoma fishing has gotten better the last several years. I do understand that they clog the pipes and are not good for boats left in slips but I honestly do understand how raising boat taxes is just.

More than anything to me, they're extremely aggravating to fish around..all a fish has to do is brush your line up against one that has attatched to something and opened up and pop goes your line

So we will have to fish jigs the size of a dime motionless along bridge pilings for hours at a time...

I agree, I think Texoma is getting better every year.

ill take that any day to get some clear water and some under water vegitation but thats just me

There is another post going on about Zebra mussels. Wrestlefish seems to be well studied on the matter. He made an interesting point about zebras being bad for food fish in lakes with pollution under sediment. The zebras filter out the pollutants and then get eaten by the fish we catch for food resulting in fish with bad meat.

Cross Post from another part of the forum

Zebra muscles are in more north Texas lakes than the TP&W will admit, including Kiowa.

Me and my two sons a month ago, were at Old Park Ramp at Fayette, saw the LCRA truck come in, took video and pics of of a Red Pickup parked at the ramp with about 20 Buzzards all over it. Then as we were at the dock they came out one guy carrying a white sort of onion sack looking thing. Talked to the sort of boss guy,..standing there with his hands in his pockets,..said they were testing for Zebra Mussels. At first he gave me the story about us fishermen taking them from lake to lake. How they could attach to anything under the boat. I brought up that they also clear up the water too.(Read from here) He was lost on that part, he would have to check into that part. Told my boys later jokingly, they arent worried about anything except the money they pump out of those steam stacks.,,,we are bottom priority!!!