|
|
Member
Posts: 157
Location: YouTube.com/LyubakaVideo Instagram @LyubakaVideo | When it comes to illegal aliens (hot topic, isn’t it!?) probably the right direction our thoughts should shoot would aim Ruffe, Gobies, White Perch and Asian Thick-Headed Carps. Being born and raised in Europe on the Majestic Danube river I kind-a-sort-a know a little bit about these tricky gangsters. Being an angler has brought me face to face with what they can actually cause.
Firstly, my fatherland Bulgaria is on the crossroads of the Balkan Peninsula having the Black Sea (17 pro mil salinity – same as blood) to its east and the Mediterranean to its South criss-crossed with all sorts of natural mountain springs, watering channels, natural and manmade lakes and huge communist age Reservoirs – obviously fishing is a wide spread way of life.
A major difference between European and US angling practices is the favoured species targeted. Back home fishing clubs compete over stocking ponds and rivers with Carp, Chubs, Bream and a normal daily bag would consist mainly of Roaches, Grass Carp, Lake Shiners – that is when we speak a fishing tournament, high precision vertical match floats, supreme carbon 40ft-long telescopic section cane poles, braided lines with diameters under 0.004” and testing at 5-7lbs #14 Mustad hooks and sling slots for chumming with maggots and seeds in a targeted area. 5-6yds long live-mesh-nets to keep the catch for after-weigh release – the equipment for a match fishing of that sort would cost as much as a well-equipped Bass Boat! And then you would have your trophy hunters going after European Catfish (Silurus Glanis) these guys can get up to 500-600lbs easy, using multiratio baitcasting tackle! Zander(Stizostedion Lucioperca) cousin of the Walleye is a popular species, reaching 45-50lbs in Reservoirs. Local Perch (Perca Fluviatilis) Gets quite big at 10-12lbs and generally cannibalistic when it comes to choice of baits. Traditional fly-fishing also has a lot of followers targeting introduced Rainbows and Local Balkan Trout. Pike is also pretty common in the Northern parts, being traditional in all Russian Territories, and reaching Record size in Ireland.
Here, on the other hand, it is predators and predators only! Making all other species bait, and obsolete when it comes to a fishing target.
Fishing limits back home are quite differently put… You are either allowed 5lbs mixed bag a day or one fish over that size daily! Than trouts are only allowed weekends and national holidays and the limit is 5count or one over 5lbs. Weird – huh!? Guess how surprised I was once I saw that limits here are exclusive of each other and when I saw the piles of shot carp on the lake shores and river banks, or the leftover suckers after seining minnows or whitefish – that sure looked like a massacre to me.
Enough intro. All of the above species were indigenous to the continent and had their niche in the food pyramid until man started intervening. Ship ballast water brought the highly aggressive and adaptable Goby – feeding exclusively on other species eggs and fry, reproducing and highly protective of their own – no wonder that no fish stood a chance – by the time local DNR realized what is happening the invader got our rivers’ best. No spawn for the local fish. In the process of urbanization European culture did not accept the existence of backwaters and sloughs – they are sick tanks breeding grounds of mosquitoes and other menaces, but truly these are the breeding grounds of fish in the spring too, when the meltdown occurs and river levels rise the brush and fallen trees become the nesting areas for all river fish, having these grounds leveled and destroyed – diminished the chances of fish to reproduce excessively and effectively, giving in turn way of the non-pretentious highly resistant newcomers. Commercial fisheries declined in catches tenfold and more and more often the nets were full of heparin punch-spiked Ruffe. Continued exposure to Ruffe toxins can easily lead to blood loss(it does not saturate) and temporary paralysis. I used to handcraft casting nets back home and did quite a bit of casting myself the usual mixed bag would generally be Zander, Carps, Bream and Shiners, not until 10 yrs ago when it started to shift to Ruffe(60%), Goby(30%), Crawfish(10%)! The ones who have collected bait this way in FL or even up here in the Mississippi know how thoroughly the butterfly net embraces the bottom and scrapes everything that cannot leave through its eyes. Well, all we got was parasites. And there are leaps and dives in their size too. Seems like about every 4 years there is a leap and 1lb Gobies will roam the waters in March-April and October-November and then every 2nd year after a Goby boom it is the reign of the Ruffe coming strong with a density of probably 3-4males every square foot! The biggest mistake our local DNR made throughout this aggression is keeping strict ban on fishing in a fixed period April 15th till June 1st shifting it 2 weeks ahead or back in time according to the ice-out that respective year. There are no open species, so the “protected species” get eaten in the egg by the invaders.
Perch and Zander got pushed aside by the Ruffe and being slimy and spiky there aren’t a lot of predators that want it on the menu – on the other hand that exotic Asian guest has a high quality white meat! Lean and boneless(once you manage filleting it). Gobies are sweet and taste like sea bass – lots of people pickle both species to overcome the bones.
Another grand scale mistake we made was introducing the Asian Grass Mirror Carp, having a common name “Thickhead” back home these guys were brought to manage overgrowth of vegetation and for commercial production of fresh fish and fishmeal. With the fry and stocking material along were introduced tiny 2-3inch sturdy minnows (Pseudorasbora) close in outer appearance to Fatheads. These took over lakes and no bait can be introduced without being stripped by them – they in turn are a pretty abundant resource of baitfish.
Though hard to believe, with the introduction of Rainbow Trout, sunfish were brought along. Soon enough these were a menace of unseen proportion, devastating fisheries and naturally spreading via water going birds like ducks and geese, the sticky eggs were simply moved over from body of water to another getting stunted lakes with 1-2” sunfish roaming the shallows and surprising the Perch(also considered a menace! initially). The Rainbow itself took over the Indigenous Balkan Trout and the latter is now an endangered species.
Needless to say everything is going well until man comes along and tries to “improve” things. I am not sure how the Fisheries Biologists are planning on fighting Ruffe and Gobies, but definitely something needs to be done before we find them overtaking each and every body of water known.
As to Common Carp, I am still in shock how situation has gotten out of control in the US! Traditionally that is the Christmas food in Europe and this is the fish described in The Bible, yep it was no Bass nor Walleye, but somehow down the road things got out of hand and here we are today, leaving rotten 40lb carcasses on shore, for the Raccoons plate, fertilizing our gardens or feeding minks. In my humble opinion, however human scientific development has helped improve human life – it has thousand fold hurt everything else breathing.
Thank You all for the time taken, keep fishing fun and not a bloodthirsty massacre.
Eng. Lyubomir E Antonov
Master Techniques and Equipment for Environmental Preservation
Technical University Ruse, Bulgaria
[email protected]
http://groups.msn.com/Lyubaka
23 January 2004
Wisconsin Dells, WI
Edited by Lyubaka 1/31/2004 1:34 PM
|
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 1406
| Lyub, Thanks for the article, very interesting perspective in Invasives!
Good Luck
Tyee |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 157
Location: YouTube.com/LyubakaVideo Instagram @LyubakaVideo | Originally written by tyee on 2004-01-31 11:39 AM
Lyub, Thanks for the article, very interesting perspective in Invasives!
Good Luck
Tyee
Tyee, it actually just comes down to prospectives and point of view. I would keep my eyes wide with dismay at the sight of senceless destruction in the form of burning mudpuppies in the campfire or leaving dogfish on the ice to add to the scenery... And at the same time people fighting over whether to CPR or cook their catch!? 
Lyubo
|
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 526
Location: blue mounds,wisc | lyubaka, thanks for your discription of your home land waters.it very intresting to hear how different cultures look at thier resources. i agree with your perspective on wasting a fish by leaveing a fish to rot on the bank or atop of the ice. a simple mentality thinking this one carp left to die will lower a population.their are alien species that will hurt our fish of choice and these are the ones that should be taken care of.gobies and the dreaded zebra mussel and asian carp were brought here from over seas.its a problem i dont know how to address,but i feel they are hurting our north american waters. |
|
| |
|
Location: Rhinelander | laybuka,
Zach was very interested in the article, and was placing it in our articles section and highlighting it when an issue such as this commanded attention. It will very rapidly disappear in the message board archives, so this isn't the proper location for our users to have access to the information for a long period of time. Zach will find the correct place for the article on WalleyeFIRST so it will not disappear into obscurity.
Thank you for submitting the article. Zach will place it in a section so it remains up front information. Good information, and it ties in to other subject matter on the Trawler. |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 526
Location: blue mounds,wisc | LYUBAKA, I spent alot of time laying in bed last night thinking about your feelings about invasives.its been along time that something i have read hit home like this. i want to personally say thank you |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 2393
Location: Waukesha Wisconsin | Laybuka,
Great article and insightful perspective. It just goes to show you how global our problems really are. I hope that this country’s DNR's are working/learning from/with other countries like yours. We can all learn a lot from your mistakes and triumphs.
It sounds like the people in your country consider ALL fishes a resource and possible table fare. Obviously, people in this country have a long way to go in appreciating all that swim.
|
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 157
Location: YouTube.com/LyubakaVideo Instagram @LyubakaVideo | Originally written by sworrall on 2004-01-31 10:45 PM
laybuka,
Zach was very interested in the article, and was placing it in our articles section and highlighting it when an issue such as this commanded attention. It will very rapidly disappear in the message board archives, so this isn't the proper location for our users to have access to the information for a long period of time. Zach will find the correct place for the article on WalleyeFIRST so it will not disappear into obscurity.
Thank you for submitting the article. Zach will place it in a section so it remains up front information. Good information, and it ties in to other subject matter on the Trawler.
I am sorry, I lost my patience, I am usually not that eager and head over heels when it comes to letting people know What I think ...;) But the cold snap kept me off the ice for a bit and as you can see from my icefishinfirst reports I have not been doing great even fighting the elements... But I truly, thank You, guys for the attention. I am planning on writing a more profound actual study and plan to include a few things that represent the same issue on land (the Colorado Potato Bug and how it found its niche in Europe, Sparrow Femine in China (How a simpleton with a high post and a "bright idea"can bring his people to rags...), Florida's Lady Beetle etc.)...
Lyubo
|
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 157
Location: YouTube.com/LyubakaVideo Instagram @LyubakaVideo | http://www.lake-link.com/forums/fishingreports/viewposts.cfm?Thread... |
|
| |
