Dry Run Creek

[Kicknbass]

I haven't seen many lamprey in the cold water fisheries, but we see quite a few in the warmer water streams. Not too many on game fish, but I have seen many on Buffalo fish in taken while gigging in the lower stretches of the Meramec river.

Dern things come of the fish in the bottom of the boat and crawl into every crevice in the boat. You won't know thier there for a day or two. Then when the sun come out and warms things up, just follow your nose.

[Guest flyfishBDS]

I have to say my reaction when i saw the reactions ws the same as Cheri and Fj80s

I have found similar attitudes to cormorants back home, where trout were introduced as well. You hear a lot of its going to hurt the trout kill it. As the wise one Fj said lampreys and cormorants were there first.

And besides, unlike humans nature finds a balance, even when man intervenes like stocking a new lake. You will get a few years of phenomenal growth, while there is adundant food available and few fish. Then you will get heaps of breeding etc more number until the numbers outweigh the food resource, then a crash and there cycles will continue in lesser "swings" You probably won't have the monster size fish in the end like you had at the start but the system will become natural.

This is less of a photography thread but for me keep the lamprey they deserve a decent feed too.

Cheers Steve

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Odd.. but I don't get it guys. I would need more information than just - it was here before the trout we stocked - for me to think it doesnt have a negative impact on the fish themselves.

For the record - I have knowingly killed only three things in trout waters, in the order of most to least :

Trout

Sucker

2 Lamprey Eel

So there you have it.. my impact on the whole entire situation.

best fishes - Brian

[Guest flyfishBDS]

Brian, of course you are right _ one individual lamprey will affect one individual fish. But a river is an ecosystem, and everything living in that eco system deserves equal respect. Like the crawdad scuds etc etc and lampreys, some of them even kill trout, like eagles, otters, etc etc etc

But like fleas ticks rattlers etc not everything in the ecosystem is warm fuzzy or even likeable. Take leeches, you have one crawling on your leg in a lake stream you probably kill it right? Well if you think about it your killing trout food, same as if you went out stomping sculpins or scuds.

Im no much of an expert on local lampreys but cetainly i know back home lampreys actually are part of trout diet too and notjust juveniles durign the spawnign run adults are a protein boost not to be missed by big trout

a health eco system needs avariety of species all filling a certain niche throw it out of whack and you have a bunch of problems.

interesting topic

cheers steve

[Packman]

Dont hold me to it, but from what I have read these things belong in the sea, not our trout waters. I would be quite startled to catch a fish with one of those on it. Wow, Brian I beleive I would help one of those things commit suicide also.

[Guest flyfishBDS]

Don't hold me to it, but are trout native here lol

[Andrew Schaefer]

Packman, I beleive you are thinking of sea lampreys, which have infested the great lakes and are partially responsible for a decline in the lake trout fishery there. If you do a little research you can find out a ton of info about that situation.

However there are several species of lamprey that are native to the inland lakes and streams of north america, I know of three species where I live in Iowa. The only one I've ever found was dead in a trout stream, but I've never caught a fish with a lamprey attached. Also, not all species of lamprey are parasitic, some of them are scavengers. They may or may not kill the fish as far as i know, but the ones that do survive will have a scar in their flesh. Over all they probably don't hurt fishing at all. BTW lapreys are primitive fish, not leeches. They have no jaw bone but they use their mouth as a suction cup to attach themselves and then they use their toothy tongue to rip bits of food off their hosts. Kinda gross i know but hey, who said mother nature was clean? people have this image of nature as this clean, well oiled machine, but nature is actually more like a bloody chaos.

PS cool picture

[All_Tangled_Up]

Right, wrong, or indifferent, If I caught a fish with one of those on it, it'd be the last fish it would feed on! If my wife were to catch a fish with one on it, I'd probably be on the look out for a new fishing buddy!

[FRENZEL]

You guys just remember the ethical question when you think a bout killing that nest of Brown recluses under your bed.

[hoover25]

I can't believe that I haven't seen this topic yet. I must be too busy or something.

Since this is an older thread I will try to be brief.

The chestnut lamprey (Ichthyomyzon castaneus) is the most common species and, according to Dr. William Pflieger’s The Fishes of Missouri, any lamprey attached to a fish (except in the Mississippi River) is almost certainly a chestnut lamprey. Pflieger also states that while some host fish may die from secondary infections after a lamprey has attached itself, the parasitic lampreys are not common enough in Missouri to threaten fish stocks. Not all lampreys are parasitic.

The chestnut lamprey is the most abundant and widely distributed of the six species in Missouri. The chestnut lamprey has a larval and adult stage in the life cycle; only adults are parasitic. During the parasitic stage, lampreys are most often seen attached to fish during spring in large reservoirs. Adults reach a length of 10 to 12 inches.

Soapbox time: I simply cannot believe that ethical "sportsman" would want to kill (without eating or trophy apirations) a NATIVE Missouri fish because it was attached to an exotic invasive fish that has only been here for 124 years (trout).

We talk everyday about the "catch and release" ethic....not holding the fish out of the water for too long, barbless hooks, etc. Well, we are hypocrits if we hold foreign fish (trout) up on a pedestal and abuse native fish. We all know that most trout in Missouri are grown by farmers like James Civello at Shepherd.......I am 99.9999% sure that James is not breeding lampreys.....although maybe its not a bad idea.

I am not a trout hater...in fact I am a rather fanatical trout angler during certain most months of the year. I just don't understand why people stomp on "ugly" native fish and covet exotic fish.

End of rant, soapbox, etc.

Tight lines everyone.

(thank the Lord that we finally have some rain)