MUSSELS

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Is it my imagination that mussel population has decreased significantly? We are long time Bullfrog lakeside campers - 4+ trips per year for the past 13 years. This year, we observed far fewer water edge shells and much cleaner rock walls. On another mussel issue, as a retired scientist, I have major disagreement with the mussel control programs. I knew that the expensive and difficult invasion control effort would fail and the current containment effort will also fail. I could go into a long list of the reasons but past experience with gypsy moths and salt cedar will suffice. Expensive control efforts failed until natural control methods were found. Imported wasps for the moths and imported beetles for the tamarisk. Nature has evolved control/stabilization regimes in their native habitat. We need to find and deploy the mussels native control functions or effective chemical treatments or find and encourage mussel predators. "finger in the dam" and "tilting at windmill" efforts are tiresome.
 
When were you at the lake last? The reason I ask, is if you were last at the lake when the water level was still rising (or maintaining), you would have a different impression of the mussel population than when lake levels are going down.
 
I was there thru May (caught 300+ stripers) as it fell when I noticed the big decline. My feet crunched solid mussel shells in May 2018 but nothing much this year. The newly exposed walls were much cleaner.
 
I was there thru May (caught 300+ stripers) as it fell when I noticed the big decline. My feet crunched solid mussel shells in May 2018 but nothing much this year. The newly exposed walls were much cleaner.
I just want to make sure I understand what you're saying.

You've noticed that as the water has receded this year after it's high water mark you've noticed that the walls exposed below the high water mark have little or no new mussels attached?
 
I was there thru May (caught 300+ stripers) as it fell when I noticed the big decline. My feet crunched solid mussel shells in May 2018 but nothing much this year. The newly exposed walls were much cleaner.
Water level went up from probably March/April into July this year, then maintained. If you were there in May, water level was still rising, to a level not seen since the infestation.

If you go when the water level starts to fall is when you will see the impact.
 
Water level began to rise at the end of April and I was observing an entire seasonal decline when I first arrived. It was falling in mid Sept when I last visited. The water level was 3571 on April 29 2019 and 3610 Ap 29 2018 and 3604 Ap 29 2017. My observation was BELOW the infestation plus water level does not rise in March and prob rarely until the end of April.
 
I had observed the same thing - there is no new mussel infestation on the rock exposed since the last high water mark. Roughly 10' of water drop. I ask the attendant at the boat inspection station about this and he said that there breeding season was in the winter and that the little veliger's swim around in the summer and do not bind to the rocks until the fall? I was excited to see that there were no new ones, maybe I was a bit too optimistic - time will tell.
 
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