So, we all know they are out there, but how many of you know how bad it is?
I was going through some of my pictures, and I found these I took in October out at the islands outside of Hemminway.
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Ugly, huh....
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Might aswell call them the "quagga" islands[cool] they look like harmless little shells jus filter feeders put they really put a hurting on fisheries across the states.
Bad thing is they are prolific breeders in turn are hard to get rid of em. Wonder what the colorado river,lake mead n mohave would be without those pesky mussels?
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I beach on those islands several months ago and was just in shock. Its insane and the pictures show it. I was like hotdayum thats alot a clam.
What happened to that sunfish or whatever that eats them.
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We don't have [url "http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/datastore/datastoreview/showpage.cfm?usernumber=74&surveynumber=241"]redears[/url] in Mead.
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would introducing them be something detrimental to mead? seems like they would be great table fair and would help with the mussles wouldent they?
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I thought I read an article that they were contemplating stocking mead with them.
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[url "http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/nov/18/popular-sport-fish-could-solve-lake-meads-clam-inf/"]The Article[/url]
I like that the reporter calls 'em clams.
I would love to see a population of redears in Mead. I don't think it would solve our problem, but hey, I like catching sunfish that reach 5+ lbs....
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Do you realy want to pay for a sunfish stamp?
#1 fish cost money
#2 The Red Ear Sun Fish is very aggressive and very territorial.
The DOW was at our Striper Club meeting and explaind that this won't work.
The same is for the Gizzard Shad..cause and effect.
Is it worth the money and what will happen when an unknown is introduced when you don't know what to do with what you have.
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I'd rather pay a stamp for a fish that might survive in mead, rather than a fish that is merely a quick snack for hordes of hungry stripers. I still dont understand why they stock mead with trout. Expensive hatcheries, expensive transport, man hours, pure poundage of food, national land usage, fossil fuels used.....
And there is no true measureable population of trout in Lake Mead. Sounds to me like a program that is unsuccessful.
My view on the "Lets Have a Stocking Program" debate is:
1) Stock a Beneficial Species. We know that threadfin shad are beneficial to Lake Mead. They stocked the lake with threadfin before, they can do it again.
2) Create Artificial Cover / Spawning Habitat, and lots of it, near stocking sites and sutrrounding areas.
If NDOW redirects their fundage from trout-stocking Mead to those two ideas, I think we'd be ok.
AND, if they do a mass shad stock when they give Mead Powells water, we would have a solid spawn.
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When I first moved here I never understood why mead was stocked with bows just assumed it was forage for other predatory species. From my understanding this is the last year mead will be stocked. Who knows what the effect will be?
Same thing goes for redear's who knows what the effect will be? I honestly think they will just become another meal bet the kitties would love em. If any of them survived they might put a small dent in the huge mussel pop. Don't get me wrong would love to catch and don't mind paying for the stamp.
But its already too late for this. We should of acted years ago. Later down the line if mead has not dried up we will dish out $$$$ to get ahold of the mussel problem.
I like the idea of stocking beneficial species into mead and creating some cover n habitat that would be the right road to go down. But it doesn't fix the mussel problem or more importantly the low water problem.
Just my 2 cents[cool]
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