Leech lake zebra muscles

Had a watercraft inspector check out my boat on Saturday. Told me that last fall they discovered larvae of zebra muscles in 2 bays. Going to be interesting to see what happens the next few years up there.

IMO, the next 2 years are gonna be critical in regards to long term management of the lake, and perhaps others.

IF, I say IF, being very presumptuous at this point, but if we start seeing ill effects of the slots with the zeeb populations still relatively low it will not give the scientists of the fish world reason to put any kind of blame on the zeebs themselves. And if that is the case, maybe that knowledge might trickle over into other lakes….

The lady was talking about how they are trying to restrict their spread in leech. I asked her if that has every been successfully done on any lake once they are in and she said no. She talked about how they are excited because they discovered a bacteria in soil that is very effective at killing them. Said they are testing to see what effects it has on the natural species.

Been going to leech for 14 years. Too bad. Hard to have good feelings anymore about the lake. Seems like slots are going to kill the fishery in a few years and now with zeebs I think we are going to see a dead see like we did 10ish years ago.

Zeebs seem to be the AIS du jour, after many others that were supposed to ruin and choke out our lakes (rusty crayfish, spiny waterflea, purple loosestrife, curly leaf pondweed, Eurasian milfoil etc.), yet somehow mother nature finds a way. The fishery and zeebs seem to get along on Erie, where they have been for decades (along with many other examples). The slot is more of a concern imo, but still not something that is permanently devastating just causes a larger than normal fluctuation in certain species biomass. I haven’t fished the lake long enough, nor often enough during that time to form my own opinion. But it sure does seem to be a higher percentage of big fish being caught, and I think we will see the DNR implement limits similar to Red (w/ 1 fish over 20″ allowed) on more lakes in the near future.

BigWerm wrote:

The fishery and zeebs seem to get along on Erie, where they have been for decades (along with many other examples). The slot is more of a concern imo, but still not something that is permanently devastating just causes a larger than normal fluctuation in certain species biomass.

But, but, but, but Leech and Erie are apples and oranges.

I cant remember when they first found larvae in Winnie but last fall when we pulled the dock out was the first year I actually saw one in the lake.

On opener this year we caught many attached to weeds or on our jigs. The water is much clearer then ever before. 12FOW looks like 6.

BigWerm wrote:

Zeebs seem to be the AIS du jour, after many others that were supposed to ruin and choke out our lakes (rusty crayfish, spiny waterflea, purple loosestrife, curly leaf pondweed, Eurasian milfoil etc.), yet somehow mother nature finds a way. The fishery and zeebs seem to get along on Erie, where they have been for decades (along with many other examples). The slot is more of a concern imo, but still not something that is permanently devastating just causes a larger than normal fluctuation in certain species biomass. I haven’t fished the lake long enough, nor often enough during that time to form my own opinion. But it sure does seem to be a higher percentage of big fish being caught, and I think we will see the DNR implement limits similar to Red (w/ 1 fish over 20″ allowed) on more lakes in the near future.

Couldnt agree more Bigworm!

skeeter20 wrote:

I cant remember when they first found larvae in Winnie but last fall when we pulled the dock out was the first year I actually saw one in the lake.

On opener this year we caught many attached to weeds or on our jigs. The water is much clearer then ever before. 12FOW looks like 6.

Seriously last ice trip on Winnie was sight fishing perch in 18′.

I’m looking at it this way now. There is only so much biomass to go around. We see this in lakes in the northern shield of Canada were it has thousands and thousands of acres of water but very few fish per acre, compared to the likes of pool 2, 4, or your shallow pothole lake out west were you get a lot of runoff from farming, residential, etc and water is chock full of fish bc of the added nutrient load. Zeebs simply take some of that out. Instead of “a lot” of the bottom of the food chain stuff floating around being fed on by other bottom of the food chain stuff, there is now millions of mussels sitting on the bottom, providing almost nothing to the system other than cleaner water. In some cases its good bc many of our waters are crapped in from many different sources, so some “filtering” or cleansing is beneficial, other lakes don’t need that and they simply will take away from the biomass allowed. How much, IDK, but it does.

Anyone worried about the water quality on Leech? Does it seem like it would benefit from a good filtering? A “fish crash” seems like it would need to involve a few factors to happen, slots allowing a larger average size fish possibly creating a baitfish shortage, as well as exploding zeeb populations taking a slice from the bottom of the food chain…..that’s getting attacked from above and below, ouch.

Vertical jigging will become much less common as we move forward. Getting away from the boat will be a necessity.

Joe Scegura wrote:

Vertical jigging will become much less common as we move forward. Getting away from the boat will be a necessity.

Bummer my favorite way to fish

Water clarity will skyrocket in the next 5 years. The increased weed growth at depths of 10’+ is also going to force walleye anglers to change tactics. I also think Leech Lake bass will carve out a larger portion of the lake’s biomass over time.

If you add together a growing population of protected 4+lb walleyes, higher bass populations, more angler pressure, a potential shortage of forage and young walleye recruitment, it sounds eerily similar to a story I’ve read about somewhere before……

buckybadger wrote:

Water clarity will skyrocket in the next 5 years. The increased weed growth at depths of 10’+ is also going to force walleye anglers to change tactics. I also think Leech Lake bass will carve out a larger portion of the lake’s biomass over time.

If you add together a growing population of protected 4+lb walleyes, higher <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass populations, more angler pressure, a potential shortage of forage and young <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye recruitment, it sounds eerily similar to a story I’ve read about somewhere before……

Pretty much my concerns.

But I thought pulling the drain plug was supposed to prevent the spread?!?

Then the walleye population will plummet like on Mille Lacs.

So any update on how bad they are getting?