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Posts: 1916
Location: Greenfield, WI | The last two weekends I have been finding, in a couple areas of the lake, strands of weeds with 8" to 12" sections of the stems covered with 1/8" mussel shells. I don't think that they are zebra Mussels as they are uniformly one color.
Is any one else finding this?.....not good......
Anyone dropping their boat into mutiple lakes and rivers really need to check and clean their boat to limit invasive species from being spread further. Other than stopping their accidental introduction, once they have a foothold the DNR says that there is nothing that they can do.
Edited by Steve Van Lieshout 7/12/2009 7:27 PM
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Steve, I've noticed it as well this year where last year I can't say that I did. I caught a Lil' Ernie someone must have snagged trolling with no leader using what looked like 17lb mono - it was black with the mussels. I also caught a Quantum Rod/Reel combo this season that was covered from rod butt to tip. . . The water does/did look a lot clearer this year than ever before. |
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Posts: 1916
Location: Greenfield, WI | I definitely hadn't seen this in past years.
It seems to me that we usually have a bit more of an algae bloom by thus time of the summer.
The west end of the lake, prior to the insane amount of weekend boat traffic, has been incredibly clear in the morning as well.
I wonder how long before the reduction of the food chain from the bottom up will start noticably affecting the growth rate and chunkiness of the muskies? |
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Posts: 203
Location: Germantown, WI | Steve,
I too have noticed that the water on the west end has been noticeably clearer this year. I have also pulled up plenty of mussels on strands of weeds, but really didn't pay any attention to the color. One thing is for certain, the lake is changing and will probably continue to change. That doesn't necessarily mean it will be a bad thing. The lake we fish in the Kawarthas each Summer is part of the Trent-Severn waterway which means that the lakes/rivers on the waterway are linked at one end to Lake Huron and on the other end to Lake Ontario. We started noticing Zebra Mussels about 15-20 years ago. The water has cleared up quite a bit over that time. It has not been a bad thing for the muskies as far as I can tell.
The major thing we have noticed is the explosion of weed growth in places where previously there were few or no weeds. The Largemouth bass population has seen tremendous expansion and panfish stocks seem to be stronger than ever. We have also noticed more minnows and fish busting bait on the surface than we did 10-15 years. It does seem that walleye stocks have been affected negatively, but the jury is still out on the causal factors. The musky population seems to be as strong as ever, but there may be more of an open water bite than before. We also seem to catch fewer skinny muskies than we previously did. Our fishing style has changed somewhat over the years also. We probably fish a lot more on the weed edge or even off the weed edge whereas previously we would mainly drift over the tops of the weed flats.
Only time will tell if changes on Pewaukee will be positive or negative. Musky anglers will need to adapt their tactics to changing conditions. If landowners are concerned about too much weed growth just wait till the water clears up even more. I can almost hear the public outcry for more weed control. |
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Posts: 412
Location: Waukesha, WI | I've noticed it more on the wads and wads of floaters than on shrapnel when working through weedbeds. I don't recall it being this bad the last couple years I've been on P. You can almost see too well. At least until the boat traffic kicks into high gear. Figured they were zebra mussels as I know folks have talked about them coating piers and boat stations something awful. |
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