If You Could Interject Any Species

[Trav]

Just a little something to debate about fellas.

My first attempt at making a poll...hope this works...Haha

[JobyKSU]

Hrm... where's the button for "Leave 'em alone"?

My brother-in-law worked at a dude ranch in Wyoming and was paid a bounty on any lake trout that he could harvest. They were the result of a failed experiment to introduce fish for anglers - but they started eating all of the cutthroat. Woops.

I say Taney fishes just fine now... and I'd be afraid to let loose new species that might shake up the balance.

[Greg]

Interesting poll. But I'm with JobyKSU - Taney fishes very well and I would not be in favor of anything new. Especially fish that could/would reproduce.

Something I would be in favor of is introducing cutthroat and/or brook trout in limited numbers as is done in Arkansas. But that's a whole different ball game. If that had any adverse effects then the MDC could just stop stocking them as they should not be able to reproduce in Taney.

Greg

[Amish Bill]

My 2 cents...leave it the way it is, I havn't exactly got to fish Taneycomo yet but I have seen what introducing muskie to pomme de terre has done, fewer crappie

[Danoinark]

Brooks especially and cutts.

Dano

[SteveP]

I voted for the tourist eating squid!!!

Steve

[Trav]

And the debate begins, notice that it is only the trout fisherman against the idea of adding new species when the mass majority of the trout in the lake are stocked by the hundreds of thousands a year and a new species wouldn't effect the future of trout fishing at all.

And then there are suggestions for cutthroats and brookies. A definate stock management situation.

In reality, wouldnt the only risk to any population already in the lake be Stripers for thier insatiable appetites and possibly northern pike for thier prolific breeding habits? Both could be resolved with a healthy dose of threadfins.

And as far as Pomme and the Muskie vs crappie scenario, I fish Muskies at Pomme several times a year. My father lives in Urbana and he states that most of the problem with the crappie populations there has everything to do with rotting habitat not so much to do with the Muskie.

[JobyKSU]

And the debate begins, notice that it is only the trout fisherman against the idea of adding new species when the mass majority of the trout in the lake are stocked by the hundreds of thousands a year and a new species wouldn't effect the future of trout fishing at all.

Stripers and Pike would definitely chow down on fish, as would muskies. Sturgeon will eat whatever they can get into their mouth.

Otherwise you are looking at introducing a species that would compete for scuds and aquatic insects (whether it is one of your target species or the threadfin). The abundance of these are one of the keys to Taneycomo as a fishery. Further, many of the species would be able to reproduce in Taney. Those are the ones that I worry about. Once you put them in, if they do out-compete any of the existing species, there isn't much you can do about it.

So, I may be wrong, but the choice is to introduce an apex predator or fish that can reproduce in Taney? Either way, it will change the way that Taneycomo fishes. It may seem like the "trout guys" are against it, but thats because we like the way that Taney fishes right now. We've seen a number of fisheries drastically changed because of introduction of a new species. Sometimes trying to increase variety doesn't work out like you think it will.

[Phil Lilley]

I'd vote for hybrid blue gill, hybrid white bass. Yellow perch would top my list.

Cutts and brooks - I'd love to see them but MDC has said no way so I'm not gonna bother.

[Amish Bill]

Everyone has there opinion.