Pool 4 lamprey report

  • jhalfen
    Posts: 4179
    #1315034

    I spent most of the day Monday sorting through a handful of spots between Everts and the dam. One of the more unusual “things” to come to the boat that day was this 12+” lamprey…a silver lamprey I think, definitely not a sea lamprey and too big to be a brook lamprey. I ran into him in the lock channel. As you can see, he came to the boat attached to a firecracker/chart tail BFT ringie on a 3/32 oz plain head! How’s that for a winning pattern for ya!?!?!?!

    jhalfen
    Posts: 4179
    #432039

    Check out the business end of this guy!

    And yes, the lamprey was released unharmed after a quick photo.

    derek_johnston
    On the water- Minnesota
    Posts: 5022
    #432042

    mmmmm. Whats the limit on them babies? Shore Lunch or batter?

    You mean something uglier than a mudpuppy lives in those waters?

    Glad to see you practice CPR. Cut,Pound and Rip

    sumofrog
    Sparta, Wi
    Posts: 32
    #432057

    Thanks, I just showed my wife that thread and she doesn’t want to go swimming in the ‘Ol Miss any more, which means more fishing time for me Thank you! You just made my summer.

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    #432059

    Brookie!

    Last time I’m showing you MY secret spots!

    …and on top of that..MY secret bait!

    For crying out loud you might as well post the gps cooridiates!

    Was the glove for the worm or the cold?

    PS I hear they make great bait…and your from WI so I’m guessing it’s legal!

    david_scott
    Twin Cities
    Posts: 2946
    #432062

    Yuck… that thing looks like a leech strait from creepshow. I have the honor of saying I have never caught one of them.. that looks worse than an eel.

    I get the willies just looking at that thing.

    If I ever catch one of those.. its going strait into Brians minnow bucket.. with a free lure attatched!

    jhalfen
    Posts: 4179
    #432068

    Quote:


    Was the glove for the worm or the cold?


    I picked that thing up without a glove, and it wrapped around my hand faster than an eelpout in February. I admit to shrieking like a little girl…I then quickly found a glove before posing for that 2nd shot.

    3way
    eastern iowa.
    Posts: 185
    #432073

    i’m as to why u decided to return it to the waters. unless u were joking and i missed that. i understand they attach themselves to sporting fish and suck the life out of them. first one i’ve seen in this river. hope some bird dropped it here by mistake. wouldn’t that feel nice latched on to a swimmer adults or youngsters.

    chris-tuckner
    Hastings/Isle MN
    Posts: 12318
    #432075

    I am assuming they spawn this time of year. I caught two last year on saugers. If you accidently snag a paddlefish, you will most likely find them, or scars from them. I had them ID’d by the DNR as Silver Lampreys. Chuckles here on the site seems to know quite a bit about the critters. We talked some last year about them.

    eronningen
    Rochester, MN
    Posts: 1885
    #432077

    I cught a northren a pool 5a last summer or fall that had 2 on it. They died.

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    #432080

    Quote:


    * Adults parasitic upon other fishes, attaching to host with suction-cup mouth. Sharp teeth cut through skin and scales and the blood is extracted.
    * Remains attached to host over a long period of time unless brushed off by the distressed fish. Fishes almost colorless from the loss of blood have been observed with several lampreys attached, but they seldom kill the host since that would deprive them of their food source.
    * Adults attack a variety of fish including trout, Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis), Smelt (Osmerus mordax), Pike (Esox lucius), White Sucker (Catostomus commersoni), Brown Bullhead (Ictalurus nebulosus), Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris), Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum), and even the armored Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens).
    * Ammocoetes (larval young) feed on drifting plankton and detritus.

    History:

    * The earliest known lampreys, Mayomyzon, are from the Pennsylvanian Period, about 300 million years ago. They are thought to be related to an extinct group of jawless fishes, the ostracoderms, which flourished earlier.
    * Populations of native lamprey are generally in decline throughout their range.

    Uses:

    * Parasitic feeding habits limit their appeal to anglers.
    * May have some value as forage for predatory game fish.

    Reproduction:

    * Spawns in May and June when the water temperature reaches 50ยบ F. Adults ascend small tributary streams to spawn among rocks in sand and gravel bottom riffles.
    * Nests are built in shallow gravelly riffles. The adults constantly work on the nests with short interruptions for spawning. The female attaches to a rock and the male attaches to her head, wrapping his tail around hers to bring the genital openings close together. The pair vibrates as the eggs and sperm are released; then they separate and return to nest building.
    * The adults die when spawning is completed.
    * Eggs are approximately 1mm in diameter; the average female produces 10,800 eggs. Larvae (known as ammocetes) resemble their parents except that they are blind and the mouth hooded, toothless, and provided with a fine-mesh tissue sieve.
    * After hatching, the ammocoetes drift downstream to quiet waters where they live in small burrows in the bottom ooze for 4-7 years. At this stage they are not parasitic, feeding largely on algae and microscopic animals.
    * Ammocetes metamorphose in the fall when they are about 3″ long. They remain in the streams over winter, then move downstream to rivers and lakes in search of hosts.
    * After one, or possibly two, years as parasites, the adults return upstream to spawn and die.


    Crankbait
    Posts: 365
    #418491

    Quote:


    I cught a northren a pool 5a last summer or fall that had 2 on it. They died.



    That post reminded me of the 20+lb northern the girlfriend caught in the BWCA a few years ago. Had 3 of them suckers hanging on to it. I yanked them off and let them squirm around in the bottom of the canoe until we got back to shore(that was a fun paddle )
    Once on shore they had an accident and were then whipped back out in the lake. Not more than a few minutes later the 20″+ smallies that inhabit the lake devoured them one by one in 3 giant topwater explosions !!

    chuckles
    Manchester, Iowa
    Posts: 427
    #432108

    Alright guys simmer down – they aren’t aliens taking over the world – have been here since long before us and like other parasitic feeders are not a real threat to our fish populations with these native species. They are actually very facinating creatures… and I am reminded of a quote by Aldo Leopold – the father of modern day conservation – who said…

    “The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism.

    Only those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it. The last word in ignorance is a man who says of an animal or plant: ‘What good is it?’ If the land mechanism as a whole is good then every part is good whether we understand it or not.”

    > Aldo Leopold Round River – “Conservation” – journal entry…

    They belong here guys – look here… http://www.in-depthangling.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=ftlgeneral&Number=193648&Forum=,,&Words=lamprey&Searchpage=1&Limit=25&Main=193495&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=&daterange=1&newerval=1&newertype=y&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post193648

    for that post Chris Tuckner had on here last year – we exchanged some interesting and valuable information about one of the parts of the waters around us. Enjoy, Chuckles (Of course that doesn’t mean I want one latched onto my leg – an extremely unlikely occurance since my legs are so hairy )

    tom_gursky
    Michigan's Upper Peninsula(Iron Mountain)
    Posts: 4751
    #432111

    Heck BrianK…Flatheads will eat them babies like pretzels!

    VikeFan
    Posts: 525
    #432164

    The silver and brook lampreys are native to fresh water in the Midwest, and are no threat to humans, or to native fish, which have evolved to co-exist with them. The brook lamprey is common in the trout streams of SE Minnesota, and seeing one is a good sign, as they do not tolerate poor water conditions.

    Don’t confuse these two harmless native species of lamprey with the invasive sea lamprey, which is a much larger species native to salt water that entered the Great Lakes and devastated the lake trout population. So far as I know, the sea lamprey has not found its way in to the Mississippi watershed, although I could be wrong on that.

    Crankbait
    Posts: 365
    #432292

    Chuckles,
    I hear ya, having myself pondered the writings of Sig Olson many times. I’ll admit to a primal reaction when encountering these critters stuck to a trophy fish and when considering the havoc wreaked by the sea lamprey in Superior(along with overfishing). Pretty sure it’s the silver lamprey in the B-dub.

    I gotta admit though it was pretty cool when those giant smallmouth started busting them on the surface! They sure are nasty lookin suckers…you sure they aren’t aliens!
    Chris

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