# Quagga mussel babies found at Deer Creek Reservoir



## troller (Jun 27, 2013)

Quagga mussel babies found at Deer Creek Reservoir
Deseret News
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...ies-found-at-Deer-Creek-Reservoir.html?pg=all


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

troller said:


> Quagga mussel babies found at Deer Creek Reservoir
> Deseret News
> http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?forum=58&do=post_write


Bad news!


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

Definitely bad news. And it will likely impact the other reservoirs in the area because a lot of boaters will just go elsewhere. Think a day's coming when you'll need a reservation to launch at Jordanelle, Rockport, Strawberry?


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

What about stocking red ear sunfish to help control the clams? (No amateur wildlife management please.)


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

massmanute said:


> What about stocking red ear sunfish to help control the clams? (No amateur wildlife management please.)


It wouldn't help. You're not going to get rid of them, and you're not going to effectively reduce their numbers. If they are in the body of water they're going to reproduce.

⫸<{{{{{⦇°>


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

Fishrmn said:


> It wouldn't help. You're not going to get rid of them, and you're not going to effectively reduce their numbers. If they are in the body of water they're going to reproduce.
> 
> ⫸<{{{{{⦇°>


It actually might help. Redear sunfish (a.k.a. shell crackers) will not eliminate the mussels, but they might help control mussels. They have been shown to significantly reduce mussel populations in some studies.


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## fishreaper (Jan 2, 2014)

Red-ear's are also good eating. Save the big ones for yourself and the small ones for catfish bait.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

And where there are red eared sunfish are there still mussels? Yes. Therefore there is no real reason to add them to the mix. They aren't going to control the mussels. They'll only be another specie to give some bucket biologist something to experiment with.

⫸<{{{{{⦇°>


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

Fishrmn said:


> And where there are red eared sunfish are there still mussels? Yes. Therefore there is no real reason to add them to the mix. They aren't going to control the mussels. They'll only be another specie to give some bucket biologist something to experiment with.
> 
> ⫸<{{{{{⦇°>


So, if I can paraphrase your line of thought, you think that a 0% solution (doing nothing) would be better than a 60% solution (doing something that is partially effective)?


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Guarantee these things came from Powell on the bottom of one of those fancy wake board boats. Too bad mussels don't ruin water skiing, maybe people would be more careful.------SS


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

It wouldn't be a 60% solution. It would be a 0% solution. There would still be mussels. There would still be a mandatory decontamination. There would still be yet another chance for some dolt to transport Quagga mussels to every other water in the state. There would still be mussels on every surface that would support them in Deer Creek. The ONLY difference would be that the mussels on every surface would be a food source for another stunted panfish in Deer Creek.

⫸<{{{{{⦇°>


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

Not gonna lie, I'm gonna be happy to be able to fish from the shore without having 5 different idiots come flying by 6 times each at full speed and send my bait back to me on their wake, along with the sweet sounds of Def Leppard and Kid Rock blasting through the air.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

Jedidiah said:


> Not gonna lie, I'm gonna be happy to be able to fish from the shore without having 5 different idiots come flying by 6 times each at full speed and send my bait back to me on their wake, along with the sweet sounds of Def Leppard and Kid Rock blasting through the air.


That's the silver lining. The problem comes when the idiots who won't decontaminate their daddy's boat contaminate every other body of water in the state. I'd rather they let every wakeboard boat on Deer Creek and restrict them from every other body of water north of Lake Powell.

⫸<{{{{{⦇°>


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## MuscleWhitefish (Jan 13, 2015)

Jedidiah said:


> Not gonna lie, I'm gonna be happy to be able to fish from the shore without having 5 different idiots come flying by 6 times each at full speed and send my bait back to me on their wake, along with the sweet sounds of Def Leppard and Kid Rock blasting through the air.


I will never understand why boaters with a wide open lake choose to ride next to the shoreline.

One of the reasons, I stopped float tubing big lakes, because of these jokers.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Jedidiah said:


> Not gonna lie, I'm gonna be happy to be able to fish from the shore without having 5 different idiots come flying by 6 times each at full speed and send my bait back to me on their wake, along with the sweet sounds of Def Leppard and Kid Rock blasting through the air.


The real question is: what will you be fishing for??

Quagga's are bad news. The fear, in my eyes, is what happens when these water impoundment owners get smart? What happens when they say: "The risk is too great. We're closing our reservoir to the public". That's what scares me.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

PBH said:


> Quagga's are bad news. The fear, in my eyes, is what happens when these water impoundment owners get smart? What happens when they say: "The risk is too great. We're closing our reservoir to the public". That's what scares me.


How do they plan to stop waterfowl? They are just as capable to move larvae as a boat.

-DallanC


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## MuscleWhitefish (Jan 13, 2015)

DallanC said:


> How do they plan to stop waterfowl? They are just as capable to move larvae as a boat.
> 
> -DallanC


Me + a 12 gauge + A dog


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

DallanC said:


> How do they plan to stop waterfowl? They are just as capable to move larvae as a boat.
> 
> -DallanC


They can't control waterfowl. But they CAN control boat access!

(how many lakes have been contaminated by waterfowl??)


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

PBH said:


> They can't control waterfowl. But they CAN control boat access!
> 
> (how many lakes have been contaminated by waterfowl??)


We dont know, but I doubt the number is 0.

-DallanC


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

DallanC said:


> We dont know, but I doubt the number is 0.
> 
> -DallanC


How many lakes have been contaminated by boats? We don't know for sure, but we KNOW the number isn't 0.

If I were a water owner, I'd be concerned about boats, not birds. Birds didn't carry quagga to Powell. They didn't carry quagga to Mead, the lower Colorado, or the rest of the west. They didn't carry quagga and zebra across the Atlantic to the Great Lakes. Boats did. We know this. So, what will (should?) we attempt to restrict? Boats. Not birds.

this will affect us.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

PBH said:


> How many lakes have been contaminated by boats? We don't know for sure, but we KNOW the number isn't 0.


We know the first instance of mussels accidentally introduced to a lake in Utah (Electric) probably didn't come from a boat.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4865765



> For the last couple of years, the state has focused prevention efforts on boaters. But now experts think it's unlikely boats had anything to do with the contamination at Electric Lake. Turns out, the mussels may have sneaked into Utah because of drilling activity.


YES its important for boaters to be vigilant but there are so many other sources of potential contamination we need to be concerned with. Larvae can get a ride from a fishermans bubble to grime on duck hunters waders

/shrug

-DallanC


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