Zebra Mussels are a REAL threat, steps to help prevent spreading them

[willy]

dupage county forest preserves closed deep quarry lake in west branch forest preserve to boat traffic because of the highly invasive zebra mussels. there are more lakes in danger also. everyone has been warning angelers about them but aparentely they haven`t been doing what they should. baby mussels are invisabe to the eye and full grown ones are about the size of your fingernail. they stick to bait buckets, fishing line and lures and you never see them. they say to use disposable bait containers, powerwash your boat bottom , and clean tackle afterwards. how many of us do that. i know i am guilty of it out here but i am having second thoughts. contamination spreads . like going to the hospital and not washing afterwards. never know what the heck you will come up with. i don`t want them out here. for the story go to dupageforest.com look up news releases. this the first lake to close to boats since they told us a couple years ago they were in lake michigan. we don`t want them taking the illinois, rock, mississippi rivers next. like i said they have warned us for quite a while but it is up to us as individuals.

[stripper]

I have seen the warning. I wipe my boat down as soon as I take it out of the water and wash my trailer every couple times out. They say that this is very important if you are going to a lot of differant lakes. Know lakes to have them is even more important to clean all of your stuff. It takes all of us doing our part to keep our lakes and rivers clean. Thanks for the report. This is very important and is a good thing to talk able heading into fishing and boating season.

[rymndsanders]

there already in the rock river and mississippi and is all they do is filter the water not hurting nothing at all

[Rainman4u2]

They suck up plankton, clog pipes, and are a general headache for the DNR.

Ray

[dipper69_2000]

there already in the rock river and mississippi and is all they do is filter the water not hurting nothing at all
cuz you better read up on this one they on top of what the rest of what these guys have said are the reason we can no longer dig clams for bait in illinios. the zebra muscles choke out the native muscle beds killing them. they also filter out the river system as you had said but to the point that it starves out the bait fish. not to mention they also frey line quickly causeing break offs... they are bad news all the way around

[Dave]

I'm sill not convinced that it was an accident that the zebra mussel showed up in the Great Lakes due to draining of the bailest water of a ship from across the big pond. It sure is funny that the most polluted lake (Lake Erie) in North America in a matter of years, is now the premier walleye destination of many anglers due to how clean the lake is now.

I live on the Mississippi River and they are a real problem. Nobody can wade in the river in front of our place without watershoes on. Their shells are so sharp that they cut your feet up.

[Rainman4u2]

No doubt they do a great job of filtering. They snuff out native aquatic life, and overrun an ecosystem causing changes that may never be repaired.

Ray

[rymndsanders]

Zebra mussels do have a positive impact on some native species. Many native fish, birds, and other animals eat young and adult zebra mussels. Migratory ducks have changed their flight patterns in response to zebra mussel colonies. Lake sturgeon feed heavily on zebra mussels, as do yellow perch, freshwater drum, catfish, and sunfish. The increase in aquatic plants due to increased water clarity provides excellent nursery areas for young fish and other animals, leading to increases in smallmouth bass populations in Lake St. Clair

[rymndsanders]

i also can c the the negitive side of these mussels killing off r clam beds but there is more than zebra mussels killing r clams they drop the river every year bone dry and kill millions at a time they dont think about stuff like that its more man that does damage than mother nature.

[jason454ci]

The thing that really gets me about this whole subject is they want to blame it on the boaters spreading them from one water way to another. I'm not saying that they don't. But I would be willing to bet that them mussels hitch plenty of rides on the millions of water fowl that move from water way to water way. So how exactly is shutting down bodies of water to boats gonna stop the spread of these mussels. :confused0024:

[dipper69_2000]

ok jasson you and my cuz raymond got me thinking i need ta read more about it..... i like the waterfaowl idea i never thought about...... again another reason ta be part of this great family of outdoorsmen and women

[Rainman4u2]

Wait, did I get adopted with me knowing???

The problem is, you can't blame everything on the zebra mussel. What about snake heads? Carp (name any of them)? Alewife? Believe it or not, Flathead catfish are also on the list.

From the USDA: http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/main.shtml

This one is better, it shows the pictures next to it, and is for the state of Illinois: http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/SpeciesList.asp?Group=&State=IL&Sortby=common_name&submit2=Submit

Ray

[stripper]

It seems that when man tries to make things beter it just dosn't always work out the way they want it to. We should let mother nature do her job

[rymndsanders]

like i said man is the dominant predator we control everything around us we decide whats going to happen today and the next day look it only took 1 man to screw they economy up just picture having a thousand of him in what it could do

[Rainman4u2]

Invasive striped bass ! To me they're in the same class as the Asian Carp... Bait !

See, someone is already working out a valid response to the problem.

Ray