invasives

Status
Not open for further replies.
bobco

bobco

Well-Known Member
couple of pictures of how bad it is up north
 

Attachments

  • 20170312_090109.jpg
    20170312_090109.jpg
    37.2 KB · Views: 197
  • 20170312_090119.jpg
    20170312_090119.jpg
    48.2 KB · Views: 191
Yes Lake Powell is fully infested from north to south. We lost a couple of lures while trolling last week. Apparently the line hit a shallow ridge with mussels in abundance. There was no snag just a quick jerk like a sharp knife hit the line. The lures were gone when the line was cut by sharp mussel shells When using Lucky Craft lures a sharp knife cut requires a moment of silence before digging in the box and finding a replacement lure.

Inspect your line often. If the line hit a sharp shell there may be a thread of line hanging out. If so retie immediately. Unfortunately, we will hear more about this as the fishing season gets in full swing.
 
Unfortunately this is what we have been experiencing on Lake Mead for quite a while now. One thing I will say is that Lake Mead has considerably more since it has been infested longer. I hope they can find a solution for this.
 
I think mother time is the only thing that will change things. Wayne we were catching rocks off bottom you will now snag a muscle with rocks latched on and reel it in. Amazing how fast they exploded up north.
 
camped in Bullfrog over the weekend. Was looking at the boats in the boat yard next to the campground. They all had 2017 stickers on them. They also all had mussels on them. Here's a nice scary set of pictures for all of us boat owners to look at:

IMG_1408_zpsofnrdo2t.jpg


IMG_1409_zpsednwvsnb.jpg


Scariest one of all -- look at the water intake:
IMG_1410_zpsbzntxejb.jpg
 
yes. The foxes came out to visit. The coyotes were playing on the boat ramp in the morning too.
 
Wow, that's a really good argument to NOT let your boat sit in the water - that water intake looks 80% blocked. It looks like a rental boat? Is it?
 
Gem Morris said:
Wow, that's a really good argument to NOT let your boat sit in the water - that water intake looks 80% blocked. It looks like a rental boat? Is it?
Click to expand...
I'm sure rental fleet, or really piss poor boat owner to let boat get in that condition.
 
yes -- those boats were rental fleet boats.


Think about what those houseboats sitting in the water look like.
How many fires will we have this summer?
 
Gem Morris said:
Wow, that's a really good argument to NOT let your boat sit in the water - that water intake looks 80% blocked. It looks like a rental boat? Is it?
Click to expand...

This brings up a question I had while there this weekend... What is the best way to store your motor while beached at night camping? I was contemplating lifting it completely out of the water but then thought it could still get below freezing at night. Am I overthinking it? Im assuming theyd need longer than a night to cling and start growing? Or can adults drift from placement to placement? Man these things suck.
 
Dungee Fishing said:
Im assuming theyd need longer than a night to cling and start growing? Or can adults drift from placement to placement? Man these things suck.
Click to expand...

It's not the adults that you have to worry about (relatively speaking). It's the veligers. Once a female mussels eggs are fertilized veligers develop within a few days. These veligers free swim, or float, for 3-4 weeks while trying to find suitable substrate to attach to. Once attached, they then grow into an adult. You could have veligers attach to your boat in a matter of minutes after putting it on the water. Your engine can "suck" up a population of veligers immediately. Parking your boat overnight, whether you lift the motor out of the water or not, is certainly a risk. Once that water is in your engine, you risk mussels inside your engine. What's that old saying? "Don't judge a book by it's cover". Those pics I posted of the engine with mussels -- I wonder what's under that gear housing and inside the engine?!

Obviously, having a boat sitting in the water for extended periods of time will increase the chances of infestation.

This is why it is so frustrating to see the decon stations not working. I would really have liked to have had my boat cleaned. Running that scalding water through my engine, and in my live-well would sure make me feel better....
 
Last edited:
So, a follow up question to what Dungee asked, how long would a boat have to be in the water for the veligers to grow into visible mussels?

And, if the inspection after boat retrieval reveals mussels, what happens then? Impoundment? Decon?

Maybe these should be in the other thread, but it sounds like @PBH is pretty knowledgeable on the subject.
 
"These veligers free swim, or float, for 3-4 weeks while trying to find suitable substrate to attach to."

No new info but for me my main concern now is giving my boat its greatest chance while it now sits in my driveway after a Powell trip and not being deconed. The above sentence gives credence to the concern of standing water and dry times (I know, duh), but if I can make sure there isn't standing water in the engine or anywhere else in the boat I can find my sanity again. I was honestly contemplating boiling a huge pot of water and pouring it into the intake and overflow hoses of our livewell, but then what if that somehow left standing water?

The whole situation sucks, but I think I can sleep at night if my boat is dry. I guess actually seeing them in person now brings a whole new reality to it.
 
Dungee Fishing said:
"These veligers free swim, or float, for 3-4 weeks while trying to find suitable substrate to attach to."

No new info but for me my main concern now is giving my boat its greatest chance while it now sits in my driveway after a Powell trip and not being deconed. The above sentence gives credence to the concern of standing water and dry times (I know, duh), but if I can make sure there isn't standing water in the engine or anywhere else in the boat I can find my sanity again. I was honestly contemplating boiling a huge pot of water and pouring it into the intake and overflow hoses of our livewell, but then what if that somehow left standing water?

The whole situation sucks, but I think I can sleep at night if my boat is dry. I guess actually seeing them in person now brings a whole new reality to it.
Click to expand...
Well said, echoes my concerns exactly.
 
Dungee Fishing said:
I guess actually seeing them in person now brings a whole new reality to it.
Click to expand...

There's going to be a lot of people going to Powell this year that will have their eyes opened to a problem the State has been warning about for a long time. In my opinion, anglers have been the only boating group that understood the impact that these invasives introduce. I wonder if water levels rise like expected, if the recreational crowd will get 1 more year of naive ignorance before they'll see what mussels really are?

I suspect that the pendulum has swung -- for a long time people were feeling really inconvenienced with having their boats decontaminated. Now we (ME!) are upset when they don't decon the boat!
 
So I was at Offshore taking measurements on our houseboat. I was very surprised at the lack of quaggas on our boat. The houseboat right next to us looked pretty bad. I am sure our boat has not been out for 3 years. Our props and motors were essentially quagga free. We did have a lot of much on the boat from the waterline down The other boat looked worse than the pic posted previously of the "rental" boat. Any rhyme or reason anyone can offer? In addition we have a boat at the south end as well. It was pretty clean as well. I did however find 2 muscles on the outdrive skag but that was all. I know that seems lucky just want to know how to keep that luck.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top