It is certainly is a scary and uncertain future for our beautiful lake.
The Mille Lacs Lake proliferation of the zebra mussels is incredible!
As in NOT GOOD!
Obviously. it is still unknown how the rapid increase in zebra mussels will effect long term walleye habit and growth, but the DNR's speculation is clear water and fish moving to deeper locations. I had no idea that this was already a five year old infestation!
Let's not start yelling the "The sky is falling, the sky is falling"
The environment has a way to adapt to all new environments. The point is that no matter what we might think about how the new species may effect the population and size of the walleye, they (zebra mussels) are not going anywhere. You have to to look at every basic start of what makes a walleye a walleye and perch a perch. The food chain is where to start. Since we pay the marine biologists to figure this out, I am going to request that that the fry and fingerlings need to be looked first and for most. Test the Petrie dish and you might find something. Why oh why do they continue to suck us dry and not provided just a theory or hypothesis on the effects.
Test tank, water temp, microorganisms, crustaceans, fish........end result. Fresh water marine biology.
I think it is horse poo.... 10 years ago, they warned, in a couple years, you would be able to walk across the Great Lakes because of all the Zebra Mussels.... NEW FLASH 10+ years later, the Great lakes are still great !!! They admit themselves, they are in unchartered water, when it comes to this, so why are they then specultaing all the doom & gloom ? Because it makes a better story than .."zebra mussels in Mille Lacs, stay tuned"......
The zebra mussels worked wonders for cleaning up Lake Erie years ago which now has a thriving walleye population in relatively clean waters.
I don't know how true this is but someone out there told me each mussel filters a liter of water a day and the carpets of mussels act as very good places for walleyes to lay their eggs due to the cleaner water and the water movement due to the mussel's filtering action.
Time will tell....
-- Edited by sjborton on Wednesday 24th of August 2011 06:48:54 AM
I agree, I don't think this is doomsday at all, however, I do have a little bit of concern on what kind of effect the zebras will have on the plankton then the baitfish. Only time will tell, but I dont forsee any major issues
What worries me they most is the effect on two major sources of food, crayfish and all of the bugs that make Mille Lacs the walleye factory that it is today. I saw the DNR picture of a crayfish on a carpet of zebs. Doesnt look like he has anywhere to live, let alone hide. Also with all the zebs covering the bottom will this still allow the bugs to proliferate. You cannot compare Mille Lacs to Lake Erie. Number one, ML is a clean lake to begin with. Number two, ML doesnt have all the forage base Erie has, alewife, smelt, etc. and doesnt have the river estuaries that Erie does, Detroit, and Maumee for example. So the comparison doesnt add up. Time will tell.
Walleyebry #993
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"I'd rather have a fancy boat and a old truck, than a fancy truck and a old boat."
I would agree 100% as well- TIME WILL TELL. Mille Lacs is unique and what these zebs will do is unknown. I do not personally think they will do any good. The lake like mentioned- is generally clean already. I for one do not want to learn the whole planer board thing to be able to catch walleyes during the day light hours. IF it comes to that. Who knows. For now the bigger concern to me is Netting -especially during the spawn. Once again, the zebs are here to stay that's for sure. Hopefully they kill themselves off overtime or at least limit their own population.
Here are a couple Pics I "stole"- The DNR took these while doing this recent study.
I would jump in and say that @ this point no reason to worry about something that is obviously out of our control. Nature has a way of balancing and taking care of itself. Lets hope that is the case here.
Now, the netting, I agree, should be a bigger concern and something we CAN do something about. Please consider supporting the CASS effort.
What worries me they most is the effect on two major sources of food, crayfish and all of the bugs that make Mille Lacs the walleye factory that it is today. I saw the DNR picture of a crayfish on a carpet of zebs. Doesnt look like he has anywhere to live, let alone hide. Also with all the zebs covering the bottom will this still allow the bugs to proliferate. You cannot compare Mille Lacs to Lake Erie. Number one, ML is a clean lake to begin with. Number two, ML doesnt have all the forage base Erie has, alewife, smelt, etc. and doesnt have the river estuaries that Erie does, Detroit, and Maumee for example. So the comparison doesnt add up. Time will tell.
Walleyebry #993
Agree with everything you say Walleyebry but I wasn't comparing ML to Lake Erie...simply pointing out a "success" story to help make the point it may not be all gloom and doom.
Anyway, one of the questions I have pertaining to bugs in the mud is do zebra mussells collect in areas like that (soft bottoms) or do they require attaching themselves to hard objects only? If they must find something relatively hard to attach to, the mud may not see the creatures and the bugs will still be there.
That could be true but I have heard of examples where the zebs created reefs or structure where they had none earlier. Im sure that they probably spread vertical, but horizontal as well. In that case they can probably spread technically over any surface. Growing on top of each other as well as on the sides of each other. This spring I hooked quite a few fishing up in the sand. Never snagged any rock in that area, why were they there? God help us all!
Walleyebry
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"I'd rather have a fancy boat and a old truck, than a fancy truck and a old boat."
I'm also not very worried, but anxious to see what happens. I've fished Winnebago in WI and it is very similar to Mille Lacs and has a ton of zebra mussels. The fishing is still very good out there. It will definitely change where and how I fish. Rather than rigging some rock area, we might have to drop bobbers down instead to keep the line up away from the snags. In regards to the crawfish in the picture, isn't the rusty crawfish a non-native species?
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Humana Insurance Representative-Brainerd and Mille Lacs Area
I was not comparing ML to the great lakes, just saying, their predictions on the great lakes were so far off, I would hold off draining Mille Lacs, because of their "projections" or "assumptions".... thats all.
They do live in mud! Was trolling in the mud tuesday, 30+ ft. when I made a sharp turn and my leadcore dragged bottom. Knowing this I reeled in my rig and low and behold, a zeb was attached to one of the trebles. All I can say is wow, they're everywhere!
Walleyebry
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"I'd rather have a fancy boat and a old truck, than a fancy truck and a old boat."
We must end the spring / spawn netting. That is absolutely suicidal for the Lake or any good lake. We must find a way to end the netting above all.
So true! netting will destroy this lake & believe we are witnessing its death... Keep an eye on the SSB (Spawning Stock Biomass) numbers- SSB was 3.2 Million when netting started, down to 1.7 million in 2010... I'm betting the 2011 SSB numbers will be even lower, will soon know once the DNR does their survey next month... Who is taking the SSB walleye from this lake? My mind is made up....
We must end the spring / spawn netting. That is absolutely suicidal for the Lake or any good lake. We must find a way to end the netting above all.
So true! netting will destroy this lake & believe we are witnessing its death... Keep an eye on the SSB (Spawning Stock Biomass) numbers- SSB was 3.2 Million when netting started, down to 1.7 million in 2010... I'm betting the 2011 SSB numbers will be even lower, will soon know once the DNR does their survey next month... Who is taking the SSB walleye from this lake? My mind is made up....
As we have talked behind the scenes wallyhntr1- I have my email sent to the DNR- I will see what they tell me when they do the survey. I will post .
Thanks Russ... I too just emailed the Aitkin boys regarding this years survey- it's doubtful I'll get a response from them & that's my fault, we talked on a daily basis for quite a while....
"The standard gill net assessment will be conducted during Sept. 18-28. That survey provides us with our information on relative abundance, growth, maturity, spawning stock biomass, etc. It also provides information on other species, though it is primarily targeted at walleyes."
I have requested a copy of the findings on this one. It will be intersting to see.
Patrick (from the MN DNR- Aitkin office)- if you are reading- THANKS
