Zebra Muscles - Bull Shoals, Taneycomo And Table Rock

[Quillback]

Just speculating, but aren't zebra mussels plankton feeders thus the clear lake you see as a result? Seems that would be bad for shad with the mussels eating their food source. It might be good for smallmouth, but I can't see anything else benefitting from a zebra mussel infestation.

[Ham]

in theory, you don't want any invasive species. When an invasive species hits, reports showing the worst case scenario are released. Sometimes those come true. I actually think another invasive species in the Great Lakes, the Goby, has offset some of the negatives from the Zebra mussel. I also think that the Zebra mussel unexpectedly helped with the organic and phosphate overload that the great lakes had at the time. I think I read that some people want more organic materials and phosphates released ionto the Great Lakes to stimulate MORE algae growth to support the food chain because they're worried about the Zebrqa mussels filtering too much of it out.

I'd rather not have Zebra mussels in Bull Shoals or Norfork or Taneycomo, or Table Rock, but they are established in Bull Shoals and lower Taneycomo and I think that it is impossible to be rid of them.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I'm not so sure you can compare the Great Lakes with our local waters. There's a lot more room in them for some diversity than in Taney for instances. Every creature has to consume something to survive and when a new one is introduced the balance goes out of the ecosystem. I would hate to find that one of our important links in the chain is gone and can't be replaced.

On the good side it seems to me that the native mussel population is miniscule to what it once was and maybe what ever has depleted them will ward off the zebras.

[fishinwrench]

Zebra mussels don't hurt a dang thing, and I think the propaganda is all done just to support funding for a bunch of phoney-baloney "jobs".

Sure they'll clog up water intakes that are left submerged for a long-LONG time.....as they SHOULD, since "water intakes" are not a natural thing themselves.

If a certain organism thrives to the point over over-population in a certain body of water then there is usually a good reason. Nature is gonna run its course regardless. You wanna STOP the spread of Zebra mussels? Then use the funds set aside for all the propaganda and "further study" and apply it towards cleaning up the water.

[kirbydog]

We've had them in lakes/reservoirs I fish here in CO for years-I've yet to see any difference in the

fishing. And we have them in some lakes I fish down in Texas with the same result.

Here in CO we have boat inspections before launching at most of our bigger lakes. About the only

thing it accomplishes is to create some more gov't jobs.

[Quillback]

Hmmm, we have guys who know absolutely nothing about zebra mussels proclaiming they ain't gonna hurt a thing. I love this forum!

[Al Agnew]

Most people believe they have made fishing for bass and some other species better in the Great Lakes simply because they've made the water clearer and given the fish more visibility so that they can feed more effectively. And they also believe that the gobies, which came along at the same time, replaced a lot of the baitfish that were plankton eaters and lost ground with zebra mussels. But the question is whether things will last the way they are. ANYTIME you introduce a new species, it throws things out of balance, and there are winners and losers while things are getting back into some kind of balance. Introduce as many new species as you have in the Great Lakes, and things are constantly in a state of flux. Nobody can predict what the final results will be. That's why it's never a good thing to introduce a new species, because you can't predict what will happen.

As for the Ozark lakes, you can envision lots of scenarios. Will zebra mussels thrive in the really clear lakes where there really isn't all that much for them to filter feed upon? Will they thrive well enough to remove enough plankton and such that the shad and other baitfish--and game fish fry--that depend upon plankton will decline? Will they clear up lakes like LOZ and Truman to the point where the fishing changes, and if so, for better or worse?

It's seldom as simple as whether or not they make fishing better or worse.

[Jerry Rapp]

zebra mussles are native somewhere. As are gobies, and flying carp. Largemouth bass have been introduced into South Africa, Italy and Spain, are they bitching?, and probably a lot more countries. The billions spent on "invasive" species are a waste. It is what it is. None of them have caused any significant impact to anything. But the Researches want more money to study them more intensively, i.e., more taxpayer dollars. Doesn't make sense.

[kirbydog]

The guys that argue that zebra mussels are gonna hurt the balance of things have yet to put up any

science or factual data to support it. They just do the sky is falling deal and tell us we aren't smart

enough to see the what they see. Get over it Quillback, its gonna be OK.

[fishinwrench]

Hmmm, we have guys who know absolutely nothing about zebra mussels proclaiming they ain't gonna hurt a thing. I love this forum!

Well in my defense I may not be a "paid biologist/invasive species specialist" but I do live and work on a lake that has them. I was here before they showed up, was here when hatches of them were borderline crazy in certain areas, and I'm still here .....on the lake.....every day.....and haven't seen but few THIS year.

I studied up on them enough that when a "biologist" was quoted in a MDC article I read claiming that he believed that drum had a real appetite for them and could "save the lake" I laughed out loud. That dude should be furloughed just for being openly ignorant and getting paid for it.

Believe what suits you, and support slinging tons of copper sulfate wherever ya want, but as I said....I DON'T THINK zebras have/or will harm our waterways if ignored, and MAY actually benefit them considering their current state of purity.

Personally I'm considerably more concerned with critters that are disappearing than I am ones that are showing up. Specifically Dragon and damsel flies, and frogs.