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| Just pulled my steel lift up on the shore after a season in the water... not a single Zebra Mussel on the lift. Last year, I scraped about a gallon of thoses buggers off my lift after the same amount of time in the water. Are they dead and gone for good? I noticed the water on my lake never got as clear as last year. Dominic
Edited by Purple Skeeter 9/29/2011 6:13 PM
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Dominic.
Did you happen to paint your lift last fall, over the winter or before putting it into the water this spring? I painted my twin lower unit drives on my big boat using the same anti-fouling paint I used to bottom paint my boat and the zebras were reduced a good 75% from the year before. Certain paints have that effect on them.
Edited by walleye express 9/29/2011 6:50 PM
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| here in NY, I've seem them have good and bad years. walking the shoreline after drawdown, you notice. |
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Location: Lincoln Park, Mi | Probably not gone, but just at a level they can survive at after cleaning the water up so good. That's what happened over here in MI waters of Erie. They exploded years back, but as they cleaned the water, they removed their own souce of food and the population crashed a couple of years ago. Not to mention that the native fish eventually started eating them. I'd catch perch with bellys just stuffed with zebra mussel shells. |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Jim is right.
Our catfish and Sheepshead (and everything else) are really finding them very tasty. I'm thinking our Goby's (when big enough) are also reducing their numbers big time. They give new meaning to the word "RUFFAGE"  |
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| Becareful with that type of paint on your lower units bud.
They can not dispate the heat as well when painted. checked to see if your gear oil as a burnt smell to it.
Schmitty 1 |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Maybe lower unit was the wrong word. These are outdrives that take water in from their bottom and circulate it up through the outdrives and into the water jacket cooling manifolds of the engines. Plus they are in the cooler water full time. But I do not claim to be an expert by any means in this area. I'm a change the plugs and oil man, but that's about it.  |
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Location: Berlin | That might be my fault. I started eating them this year. It is a lot of work for the meat but they taste pretty good cooked right. |
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| Lake Winnebago had a large die-off of zebras this year. Some shorelines where twelve feet wide and over four feet deep with dead mussels and residents had to hire front end loaders to remove the shells from their beach front. |
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Location: Appleton wi | Lake Winnebago had a large die-off of zebras this year. Some shorelines where twelve feet wide and over four feet deep with dead mussels and residents had to hire front end loaders to remove the shells from their beach front
Sounds like they found rich's lunch area or atleast where he cleaned his mussels! |
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| I painted my lift 3 years ago, so the paint was not an issue. I've had a fantastic year fishing off the dock this year... I hope it was not a fluke. Hey... Can I get a dump truck load for my back yard? Maybe that would keep the deer from eating everything they can touch... and no I can't shoot them! Dominic
Edited by Purple Skeeter 10/1/2011 10:01 AM
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Zebra Mussels gone ?