Rumors are circulating among fishermen that because of the quagga mussel, Clear Lake will be closed to bass tournaments and possibly to all boating. It”s just a rumor and no way a fact. Despite what a lot of fishermen may have heard the lake won”t be closed to boating and certainly not to fishing.
If the lake was ever closed to all boating it would be devastating to the local economy. The towns of Clearlake and Lakeport as well as the rest of the business community rely heavily on tourists and Clear Lake is the main attraction of the county.
It is true that some boats from out of the area will be inspected and could be required to be decontaminated, depending on where they came from and if the boats are infested with the mussel or its larva (called veligers).
There is a genuine fear among county officials that the invasive mussel will find its way to Clear Lake. If it ever gets established into the lake it would devastate the bass, crappie and catfish fisheries as well as the other aquatic creatures that are native to the lake. In other words it would change the ecology of North America”s oldest lake for thousands of years. Clear Lake is estimated to between one to two million years old.
The quagga, and its close cousin the zebra mussel, are native to the Ukraine. The quagga mussel is a native of the Dneiper River system in the Ukraine, which is near Russia. The mussel is now well established throughout the eastern European countries and actually has natural predators, which are a specie of diving ducks and a species of fish. It is believed that it got to America in 1989 in the ballast of a foreign ship. Ships often pump water into ballast tanks when they are empty to stabilize the ship. When the ship arrives at it destination the water is pumped out and the ship is loaded with goods. The mussels first appeared in the Lake Erie, which is one of the Great Lakes. In January 2007 the mussels were discovered in Lake Mead, which is in Nevada. They have now spread to 11 lakes in San Diego County.
The mussels are filter feeders, meaning they get their food by pumping water through their digestive system. As the water passes through their digestion system the mussel extracts the plankton as food. An adult quagga mussel is only about the size of your fingernail but it can pump a quart of water per day through its system.
Plankton is a vital food source for most juvenile fish, including largemouth bass. If the plankton isn”t available the young fish could starve. Other species like crappie, bluegill and catfish as well as the baitfish such as threadfin shad need the zoo plankton as food.
There is no question that Clear Lake is becoming more popular as a fishing destination every year. The lake plays host to more than 50 bass tournaments per year and many of the fishermen trailer their boats from Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. The fear is that the adult mussels or their larva (called veligers) will hitch a ride on one of the bass boats. Scientists say a mussel or veliger can live for several weeks in the livewell or the boat”s bilge as long as there is sufficient water.
One of the most effective methods of preventing the mussels from getting into Clear Lake is by boat inspections and decontamination. If a boat arrives from out of the area and it is determined it could possibly contain the mussel it would have to be decontaminated. That means spraying the entire boat, which includes livewells, bilges and boat trailers, with water that is at least 140 degrees. That temperature will kill the mussels and veligers. The Lake County Board of Supervisors has authorized the county to purchase four decontamination stations, which will be stationed at various locations around the lake. The stations will be manned by trained personnel and used to wash selected boats.
It”s not only bass boats that would have to be checked and decontaminated but pleasure boats as well. For example wake board boats have large ballast tanks that are filled with water. If a wake board boat has recently been in Lake Mead or Lake Havasu there is a good chance that it would be infected with the mussels.
