Crazy Weekend

[Goggle-Eyed]

I have been saying for years that LOZ water quality is better "now" than it was in the 70's.... People can complain about LOZ water quality but the reality is, it is getting better... we are bragging about 8' visibility.... really, water is clear!!!! BUT the same people griping about how dirty LOZ is, are the same people that will never be happy... having grown up on this lake from the early 70's until today I can tell you I preach how much better the water is now... I remember the septic tanks draining straight into the lake... NOT CLEAR FILTERED WATER, STRAIGHT UP dung FLOWING INTO THE LAKE.... I don't see that anymore....

[fishinwrench]

I have been saying for years that LOZ water quality is better "now" than it was in the 70's.... People can complain about LOZ water quality but the reality is, it is getting better... we are bragging about 8' visibility.... really, water is clear!!!! BUT the same people griping about how dirty LOZ is, are the same people that will never be happy... having grown up on this lake from the early 70's until today I can tell you I preach how much better the water is now... I remember the septic tanks draining straight into the lake... NOT CLEAR FILTERED WATER, STRAIGHT UP dung FLOWING INTO THE LAKE.... I don't see that anymore....

I remember it being at it's best during the 70's. Stable water levels, healthy beds of milfoil, clear (electric blue) water, and scads of 2-6 lb bass.

I was in Georgia during most of the 80's so there is a window of 6-7 years where I wasn't here, but then I came back in 1989 and it didn't seem that much different.

I noticed a drastic water quality change beginning in 1992. Suddenly (it seemed) the water lakewide took on a brownish stain. Damselfly's, dragonfly's and frogs became noticably scarce and the big mayfly hatches in August-September changed to hatches of big inch long midges instead.

A few years later the water just looked and "felt" downright gross.

It is definitely on a better path now but I'm not gonna crow about it because I want it to continue to improve. If we all start claiming that the water is "fine now" then the improving is likely to stop.

I'm not gonna be satisfied until the frogs come back...and stay. I remember those leopard or pickerel frogs (whichever they were) being thick in thee backs of all the coves even AFTER they stopped spraying the shoreline with diesel fuel. So something in the early 90's decimated them, and they haven't come back since.

Frogs are pretty darn scarce on Truman too.

[Old plug]

Yes I think we are on the way to some improvement. But there needs to be a lot done with septic still. West side is a lot more progressive in this respect than many other parts of the lake. Over on the other side Miller county flat out refuses to vote for sewers. You mist have state of the art treatment plants. I support the idea that has been put forward about a lake wide sewer district. Simply put any kind of affluent that gets into the ground stays in the ground and can travel miles through quaffers.That is how it is that is why there are ground water problems all over the country.

We have several problems so does everyone else. These problems are not limited to LOZ. You people down on table rock have them also. Your lake is just to young to show them much. But from the post earlier this year about moss in the lower end I would say its coming. The lower end has been developed a lot longer. There is your problem not just lawn fertilizer runoff.

[Old plug]

Zebra mussels?

RB

there are still a few around here and there. I picked up a few live ones in about 30 ft of water last summer jigging a spoon. But they were real small and I think in a limited spot. I was told there might always be a few here and there. But the consensus is they are not happy in LOZ. At least not yet.

[fishinwrench]

there are still a few around here and there. I picked up a few live ones in about 30 ft of water last summer jigging a spoon. But they were real small and I think in a limited spot. I was told there might always be a few here and there. But the consensus is they are not happy in LOZ. At least not yet.

4 years ago it seemed that every other boat that came into my shop had zebras on it. But it's been awhile since I've seen a single one now. I think the water level fluctuations did them in. Tons of them were left high, dry, and frozen every Winter.

[WHARFRAT]

I've heard others talk about a lot of zebras in the lake, but I've never encountered any. You would think you'd see them attached to the docks and such. I really don't know much about their habitat.

People that I've talked to said they were closer to the dam area and not by me on the Big Niangua. Don't really know.

[fishinwrench]

Certain seemingly random areas have had pretty substantial hatches of them. The worst I saw was in Laurie Hollow (just above Hurricane deck bridge) 5-6 years ago. And the following year they were almost as thick here in the upper Gravi.

When they pulled the lake down the shoreline was littered with PILES of them.

[WHARFRAT]

Worst I've seen was around Alton on the Might Miss. If you got a fish, you had to make sure you kept him away from the dock structure. Seemed like we were always having to re-tie. A lot of frayed line.

Keep them suckers away!

[Old plug]

I clearly remember the first year they started a mass die off I was that real hot sumer a few years back. I had noticed this stuff floating by the dock that looked like pumpkin seeds. I was more curious where it was coming from than what it was at first. A day or so later I decided to scoop a couple up and look at them. that when I discovered they were Zebra muscle float dead upside down. They cannot stand heat and stagnation we get here in the summer sometimes. But the there is another kind that can. I think they are called something like guava mussels.

WARFRAT------Have you seen any large snails up there where you are. I hope bot but they clain they have been reported up there. They are the mystery snails of the Aquarium trade

[Jerry Rapp]

zebras are one of the reasons mentioned for the great rebound of the Great Lake smallies. Maybe they should be welcomed, not scorned? Heck, we stock non native fishes at our tax payers expense, why not get a freebie that will benefit the fisheries...........