I'm so glad Pete, didn't live to see this!

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fisheye

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After 30 years of enjoying the wonderful experience that is Lake Powell, I have sold the houseboat. The main reason is the infection of the lake by the Quagga Mussel, and the slow death to the lake and its fishery, as we knew it. One of the other owners here at Hall's has just had to replace the outboard engines on his houseboat due to the mussel's clogging up the water jackets on the cooling system, causing the engines to overheat and ultimately fail. And Halls has only been infected for the last year! Since they brought the new store up-lake from
its assembly area.
As this plague takes over in the ensuing years and the multitude soars, the effect on the fishery will become more visible. Maybe and its a big maybe, some viable solution will be discovered to rectify this scourge . That is my hope.
Wayne, and Pete, have spent more time at and on the lake than anyone. Wayne , I can only imagine what it must be like to see this invasion happening, especially after spending your adult working life husbanding this fishery. I'm just glad Pete, didn't live to see this happen.
 
We just got back from the lake last night. It is amazing how quickly the mussels have proliferated. As recently as last September, I still didn't see any in the canyons, now I can spot them from 50 yards away.

I too wish that the powers that be would have taken the threat more seriously, as I think that the infestation could have been prevented. But that is now water under the bridge.

My opinion is more of a wait and see what happens now, as opposed to the doom and gloom of some. Mussels are the new reality. I am not sure what that is going to mean to me as a partner in a small ownership group on a houseboat (other than increased expenses), but I am trying to stay positive. The fishing at the lake is still spectacular. And maybe the future is merely going to be different than what we hoped it would be, but not bad.

I won't argue that the mussels are a good thing. They are not. But they are the reality. And on the bright side, the SMB and walleye fishing may improve as they clear the water. There has to be some sort of bright side here. It can't all be doom and gloom.
 
Mussels are not great but they are there and we will need to adapted to the presents of the mussels. Lake Pleasant has had them scents the new dam opened in 1994 and Colorado river water was pumped into the lake. Fishing at Mead, Mohave, Havasu and Pleasant are still doing good. We need to just hope for the best.
 
I own a couple weeks on a houseboat out of APM that gets used regularly. The manager of the boat says the mussels won't really affect a houseboat that gets moved regularly and pulled over the winter. Is he blowing smoke?
 
I'm not familiar at all with houseboats, but it would seem beneficial for houseboats to have power trim that takes the lower unit well out of the water while not being used?
 
Beside increasing the amount of bluegill and redear sun fish as predators towards the muscles maybe the powers that be should look into using Zequanox.

The great lakes have been dealing with this for years, Powell could get a start on control (eradication may be impossible). It is a smaller body of water to control than the Great Lakes.
 
Ryan said:
We just got back from the lake last night. It is amazing how quickly the mussels have proliferated. As recently as last September, I still didn't see any in the canyons, now I can spot them from 50 yards away.

I too wish that the powers that be would have taken the threat more seriously, as I think that the infestation could have been prevented. But that is now water under the bridge.

My opinion is more of a wait and see what happens now, as opposed to the doom and gloom of some. Mussels are the new reality. I am not sure what that is going to mean to me as a partner in a small ownership group on a houseboat (other than increased expenses), but I am trying to stay positive. The fishing at the lake is still spectacular. And maybe the future is merely going to be different than what we hoped it would be, but not bad.

I won't argue that the mussels are a good thing. They are not. But they are the reality. And on the bright side, the SMB and walleye fishing may improve as they clear the water. There has to be some sort of bright side here. It can't all be doom and gloom.
Click to expand...
Ryan said:
We just got back from the lake last night. It is amazing how quickly the mussels have proliferated. As recently as last September, I still didn't see any in the canyons, now I can spot them from 50 yards away.

I too wish that the powers that be would have taken the threat more seriously, as I think that the infestation could have been prevented. But that is now water under the bridge.

My opinion is more of a wait and see what happens now, as opposed to the doom and gloom of some. Mussels are the new reality. I am not sure what that is going to mean to me as a partner in a small ownership group on a houseboat (other than increased expenses), but I am trying to stay positive. The fishing at the lake is still spectacular. And maybe the future is merely going to be different than what we hoped it would be, but not bad.

I won't argue that the mussels are a good thing. They are not. But they are the reality. And on the bright side, the SMB and walleye fishing may improve as they clear the water. There has to be some sort of bright side here. It can't all be doom and gloom.
Click to expand...
 
Having been a salt water boater with a 32 foot motor sailer in a slip at Marina Del Rey, I can tell you that boaters have been dealing with bugs attaching to their hulls for hundreds of years if not thousands. But, anti-fouling bottom paint works great and having a scuba guy come by 4 times a year to just brush the bugs loose (Barnacles in the case of salt, but just as damaging, left unchecked), kept the hulls and engines and drives clean. A new reality at Powell may be the added expense of hauling every couple of years and bottom painting and having your hull and drives brushed every few months. Yes, you paint the drives and thru hulls too.

Now, the said, I have no direct experience with fresh water quagas being protected against with anti-fouling bottom paint. Bottom paints keep the bugs from attaching generally and the ones that do attach are brushed off easily.

Anyone with direct knowledge of the fresh water quaga and bottom paint should speak up here.
 
WaterMan said:
Mussels are not great but they are there and we will need to adapted to the presents of the mussels. Lake Pleasant has had them scents the new dam opened in 1994 and Colorado river water was pumped into the lake. Fishing at Mead, Mohave, Havasu and Pleasant are still doing good. We need to just hope for the best.
Click to expand...

94??? That would have been before Mead infected the rest of the lower lakes.... How did they get into Pleasant so early?
 
Desert Mountain Angler said:
Beside increasing the amount of bluegill and redear sun fish as predators towards the muscles maybe the powers that be should look into using Zequanox.

The great lakes have been dealing with this for years, Powell could get a start on control (eradication may be impossible). It is a smaller body of water to control than the Great Lakes.
Click to expand...

The size of the lake is the problem for treating with anything like Zequanox... They are planning to test it limited areas of Lake Michigan this summer, but as you see in the attached article, the experts said the boat has sailed as far as any hope of completely eradicating them from our larger lakes. It has worked in smaller lakes.....

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ainst-invasive-zebra-quagga-mussels/88481078/
 
Waterbaby said:
The size of the lake is the problem for treating with anything like Zequanox... They are planning to test it limited areas of Lake Michigan this summer, but as you see in the attached article, the experts said the boat has sailed as far as any hope of completely eradicating them from our larger lakes. It has worked in smaller lakes.....

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ainst-invasive-zebra-quagga-mussels/88481078/
Click to expand...
Water-

That was exactly my point reading the same article. The use of Zequanox around the dam and marina could prove to be useful tool in control. Lake Powell can't be compared to any of the great lakes by size. LP is a smaller lake when you are talking about those bodies of water. More research needs to be done if the funding can be found. A grant should be written to the Dept of Interior citing the economic impact of the problem. Creating a budget to see if we can genetically engineer a muscle to breed with the ANS to produce a sterile offspring.

Of course then they will probably mutate and grow to the size of football.

If the muscle is throughout the CO Rivershed (Havasu, Mead, etc) and the Salt River lakes I never hear about it being destructive. Most of those are 'smaller' lakes. One would think something would be done to try and control the spread.
 
I'm a Long Time lurker who used to post occasionally, but have been following the site for years. Thought I'd finally sign up again to post some info on how our boat handled the mussels.
37 foot Inboard cruiser that we had bottom painted and resplashed in April 2004. Kept in the slip at Wahweap with only sporadic use since then.
Had it pulled in October, so it sat in the water from before the quagga, and not moved under it's own power until pulled post mussel infestation, since I couldn't get time enough off to actually take it out of the slip. Needless to say I was very concerned about the condition of the bottom
Mixed bag of conditions:
Where the bottom paint was only had moss type organic buildup, and basic dirt from what washed through the Marina. Pleasantly surprised by that.
Unfortunately any metal surfaces such as props, prop shafts, rudders, and Trim tabs were very infested by mussels, particularly on the underside. The top side trim tabs that were basically exposed to sunlight had only a couple of mussels on them.
So: the bottom painted fiberglass portion had no mussels, while the unprotected metal was an attractive home for them.
 
potter water said:
Having been a salt water boater with a 32 foot motor sailer in a slip at Marina Del Rey, I can tell you that boaters have been dealing with bugs attaching to their hulls for hundreds of years if not thousands. But, anti-fouling bottom paint works great and having a scuba guy come by 4 times a year to just brush the bugs loose (Barnacles in the case of salt, but just as damaging, left unchecked), kept the hulls and engines and drives clean. A new reality at Powell may be the added expense of hauling every couple of years and bottom painting and having your hull and drives brushed every few months. Yes, you paint the drives and thru hulls too.

Now, the said, I have no direct experience with fresh water quagas being protected against with anti-fouling bottom paint. Bottom paints keep the bugs from attaching generally and the ones that do attach are brushed off easily.

Anyone with direct knowledge of the fresh water quaga and bottom paint should speak up here.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't see any reason that an anti-fouling bottom paint wouldn't be effective on controlling Quagga mussels, but I was under the impression that use of anti-fouling bottom paint was prohibited on Lake Powell since they leach toxic substances into the water. Anyone know if that is the case?
 
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