Invasive species

[onthewater102]

Mussels are destructive and limit the use of the lake for recreation and as a utility and I agree on avoiding them - but milfoil in a non-natural water body when it persists everywhere around? Not the worst way of colonizing it quickly with aquatic plant material and raising the trophic state to support a diverse fishery sooner.

Same goes for round gobies (in bodies where the zebra mussels are established), rusty crayfish and alewives. They build an under-story for a large food web quickly.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

The blue catfish is our invasive species here Virginia. I hate them with a passion. Freshwater rats is what they are.

 

[LDUBS]

"Just don't let the damned slimmers in, that's all I ask. Lure stealing fiends belong up north where Canadians can deal with them."

"The blue catfish is our invasive species here Virginia. I hate them with a passion. Freshwater rats is what they are."

"Slimmers" and "freshwater rats". I'll have to add that to "ditch pickles" for slang fish names. :LOL2: :LOL2: :LOL2:

I remember my Dad saying it was a "river trout" and to throw it on the bank. I think he was talking about a pike minnow but it I was so young and it was so long ago I'm not sure.

 

[onthewater102]

I don't kill them if I don't eat them - but I advocate against their introduction.

 

[LDUBS]

I don't kill them if I don't eat them - but I advocate against their introduction.

In the old days, 50 or more years ago, folks tossed trash fish up on the bank. Not legal to do these days. Might not have been legal back then either, but that was the practice of the times.

 

[KMixson]

My grandmother would keep any fish no matter how bad of a reputation it had. She would take it home and cook it up and you could put it up against the finest fish served for miles around. One of her favorite fish was the Mudfish, aka Bowfin. In her world there were no trash fish. If we killed it, caught it or harvested it she could cook it and you would be amazed.

 

[bcbouy]

funny.we're battling the idiots that keep trying to introduce the bass into our systems.keep them down south where they belong.bass are the true rats with fins.not to mention ugly as hell and more destructive to an ecosystem as you can get.

 

[LDUBS]

funny.we're battling the idiots that keep trying to introduce the bass into our systems.keep them down south where they belong.bass are the true rats with fins.not to mention ugly as hell and more destructive to an ecosystem as you can get.

Interesting. Why would they want to do that -- for sport fishing?

If they are not there now, I don't blame you for wanting to keep the ditch pickles, er I mean bass, from being introduced.

 

[bcbouy]

yes.sport fishing. when the dept.of fisheries finds invasive species they carpet bomb the infected waters and kill every fin fish in the system and restock it with native species.it's costly but effective.

 

[New River Rat]

The blue catfish is our invasive species here Virginia. I hate them with a passion. Freshwater rats is what they are.

The biologists in Blacksburg (Joe Williams-muskie and John Copeland-smallmouth) both say the flatheads are the real reason the smallie population is declining. I suppose flatties are a convenient scapegoat.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

The blue catfish is our invasive species here Virginia. I hate them with a passion. Freshwater rats is what they are.

The biologists in Blacksburg (Joe Williams-muskie and John Copeland-smallmouth) both say the flatheads are the real reason the smallie population is declining. I suppose flatties are a convenient scapegoat.

It is my suspicion that the blue cat is what is keeping the flathead population in check here, although we have a substantial population of flatheads. We have a very unique case study here on the Dan river. From the last dam down to Kerr Lake smallies are a rarity and never mature. From that same dam up, very good smallie fishing. Literally, hop over the dam and start catching them. The dam acts as a barrier for catfish (blues and flats) and stops them making the run up from the lake in the Spring.

 

[onthewater102]

Cats are better suited to the warm water riverine conditions during the heat of summer. Smallies, as much as I love them, are just as invasive as the cats in those waters.

https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=396

I bet the blues are able to target the largest smallmouth that stay to the deeper/slow moving sections moreso than the juveniles. Flats and smallies coexist in enough locations I think you're probably right that the blues are the tipping point. Other than the mid section of the Mississippi/main tributaries I can't find anywhere else their range really overlaps significantly. Those Mississippi drainage basins are all afflicted with asian carp, probably relieving any resident smallies of some predation pressure while their young provide a huge food supply for smallmouth.

Left to nature everything eventually will get overrun by catfish and/or bull sharks...have you ever seen one of those destination fishing shows? They encounter bull sharks in just about every estuary in the world and some form of resident apex predator catfish in nearly every river system around the world unless they've been fished out.

 

[New River Rat]

In the old days, 50 or more years ago, folks tossed trash fish up on the bank. Not legal to do these days. Might not have been legal back then either, but that was the practice of the times.

Ldubs, legal or not, I know for a fact it is a practice that continues to this day. Don't ask how I know..... :- however, it is akin to moving a beach one grain of sand at a time.

 

[Mack in N.C.]

How do you know for sure you didn't hook a smallie and this fish ate your smallie?

According to my friend that is the muskie biologist at the V.D.G.I.F. for our region, that doesn't happen....yeah, piss on my leg and tell me it's raining, Joe Williams. Samples have been collected with their stomachs pumped, and according to his P.R. spiel, only something like 3 smallies in 200 muskies were found. B.S.!!!!!


The V.D.G.I.F. introduced these slime rockets around '70 or '72, and below Claytor Lake, they are naturalized. Supposedly, the stocking program there hasn't been used in 6 or 7 years. Yeah, now we are over loaded with stunted muskies and trophy (20"+) smallmouth are rather scarce.

3 out of 200 maybe a good number maybe not . depends alot on the river forage. I personally have had a Musky take a 10 inch smallie and lure from me as I was reaching to lip smallie. it does happen.

 

[New River Rat]

I personally have had a Musky take a 10 inch smallie and lure from me as I was reaching to lip smallie. it does happen.

Yes it does. This cast started with a 10" smallie on the line. BTW, 4# test-47"

 

[LDUBS]

I personally have had a Musky take a 10 inch smallie and lure from me as I was reaching to lip smallie. it does happen.

Yes it does. This cast started with a 10" smallie on the line. BTW, 4# test-47"

So, at this point are you guys happy that fish & game introduced the Musky or would you prefer they were gone? I sure wouldn't want them competing in my lakes.

 

[New River Rat]

So, at this point are you guys happy that fish & game introduced the Musky or would you prefer they were gone? I sure wouldn't want them competing in my lakes.

Personally, I'm pissed. I figure honestly, since 2000 or so I have managed about 100 of these stinking beasts.

 

[onthewater102]

At the expense of how many smallie targeting $6+ jerkbaits/chatterbaits/spinnerbaits over that time frame?

Slimey *******s

 

[handyandy]

I'd be fishing for muskie if they were so prolific you can't catch a smallie over them. I love some smallies, but also really love some pike/muskie. If you hate them then keep your limit of them to eat, they're decent table fair.

Andy, to me that is akin to going to a restaurant, ordering a rare porterhouse and being served fried Spam. Ain't what I'm after.

haha man I like spam nothing like some slices of spam fried up in the old cast iron pan over the old white gas coleman on an english muffin with a fried egg on a cold morning duck hunting. Even so you outta try a musky or pike sometime pretty darn good eating, I love catching them wish I actually lived closer to pike waters. Our gen sets at work are primarily tested in Minnesota, and occasionally we have a guy from up there. He calls pike the minnesota salmon, he has brought some smoked and canned pike in before never would have thought to do it up like that. But was darn good on some crackers.

 

[onthewater102]

Harvesting them would be an option if the water weren't contaminated by GE dating back to the 70's. Thank you corporate America.