Question - Stopping the Spread of Invasive Species

[TLHSS]

I read a lot of articles on how to prevent the spread of invasive species (both plant and animal) by performing proper boat maintenance.  I don't see much of anything on steps shore fisherman should take to prevent the spread.

 

For example, does fishing line, lures (both hard and soft plastic), and hand-held landing nets pose a threat?  If so, how do you clean your line and nets before moving to new bodies of water?  Do you have to replace your line (and baits) before moving to a new body of water?

 

Hope this isn't a stupid question.  We plan on doing some out-of-state travel this winter and I would like to fish bodies of water I don't know a lot about, and I want to do it safely.

 

Thanks!

[Spankey]

I’d like to think I do a great job of washing down my boat, trailer, motor and live well. Anything more than that I believe is overkill. 

[Jig Man]

Many states have guys at rest areas.  If you are towing a boat they will stop you and spray your unit with hot water. 

[casts_by_fly]

Line, lure, and gear is a negligible risk. Nets and boots (if you wade) are more so. In the UK a lot of ponds had dip stations before you could fish for this reason. They were trying to stop invasive snails primarily but the same logic applies. Anything that holds water can hold eggs or larvae. If you’re in a water body that has exotics/invasives per the state fish and wildlife commission, then take precautions. Rubber nets and boots instead of cotton and felt. 

[Tennessee Boy]

Know the rules and follow them and you should be ok.  I think anything that a shore fisherman can transport could also be transported by a bird.  They never follow the rules.

[Bankbeater]

Missouri requests that you thoroughly clean boots, waders, boats, trailers and fishing tackle between uses. Do not transfer mud, aquatic plants, water or fish parts from one body of water to another. 

[king fisher]

Alaska does not allow felt soles on waders.  This law has been in effect for a few years now.  Hopefully the ban has had success preventing invasive species, because it sure has been successful making great slip and fall tumbles for you tube videos.

[TnRiver46]

19 hours ago, king fisher said:

Alaska does not allow felt soles on waders.  This law has been in effect for a few years now.  Hopefully the ban has had success preventing invasive species, because it sure has been successful making great slip and fall tumbles for you tube videos.

I’ve seen several studies done recently that showed felt was no worse than any other material at transporting exotics. They have lifted several felt bans here. I even sat thru one hours long presentation about felt boots and didymo, riveting stuff lemme tell ya. They found drying out your gear was best solution. Bleach worked faster but then your gear fell apart rapidly 

 

the SOP with exotic species is panic, overregulation, then realizing 10 yrs down the road we were wrong about everything 

 

 

but yeah drying out all your gear for 2-3 days sure take care of most hitchhikers. Out west I know they have mussel issues and like a 35 day period to hop from lake to lake, just obey the posted signs and you should be golden

[Susky River Rat]

Serious question. How the hell are you going to dry your bunks? The carpet on mine stays wet for a solid two weeks in my garage. 

[TnRiver46]

16 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

Serious question. How the hell are you going to dry your bunks? The carpet on mine stays wet for a solid two weeks in my garage. 

Leaf blower? Wife’s hair dryer ? 😂 

[gim]

Minnesota has some of the strictest IS laws in the country.  Clean, drain, and dry is their slogan.  All water must be drained before leaving the access - livewells, baitwells, bait buckets, and ballasts that wake boats fill up.  You cannot leave the lake with any live bait you came with either unless you replace it with new, fresh water (this is a big reason why I don't usually bother with live bait, its just a big pain in the rear).

 

You can and will receive a citation if you are driving down the road with the plug in too.  It has to be out until you arrive at the access, and you must remove it before you leave.

 

Initially, when these laws came out, they were in the habit of educating and warning instead of citing.  That phase is long over.

 

There are interns and temporary workers stationed at some more popular, busy accesses during certain times of the year to assist.  They ask a few questions and look things over but they do not have any enforcement power.  I've seen a couple of the "decontamination stations" but never used one.  It appeared to just be a high-pressure system set up right in the parking lot.

 

I personally don't think these rules are completely stopping the spread.  But they are probably slowing it down.  And in the public eye, it shows they are at least doing something about it.

[Susky River Rat]

@gim is it your state or Wisconsin where if you take live bait you need to have the receipt and showed your livewell was filled with water from the bait shop?

 

@TnRiver46 honestly I think most avid fishermen/woman follow the dry and drain. No one wants to spend the money on this stuff than of mold filled or smelly gear. 

[gim]

9 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

is it your state or Wisconsin where if you take live bait you need to have the receipt and showed your livewell was filled with water from the bait shop?

 

Haven't heard of that one here.  Usually when I get live bait, they bag it and put a shot of air in there, and then tie at the top (if using minnows).

 

The live bait business is a dying breed here.  The one nearest me that I occasionally used went out about 15 months ago and it had been there for nearly 45 years.  He said it was time to retire and no one wanted to fill his shoes.  Apparently its a lot of hard, seasonal work for not much money.  So I can undertand why its a bit of a dying business, even in a state when most anglers seek walleyes and live bait is relatively common.

[MediumMouthBass]

3 hours ago, gim said:

The live bait business is a dying breed here.  The one nearest me that I occasionally used went out about 15 months ago and it had been there for nearly 45 years.  He said it was time to retire and no one wanted to fill his shoes.  Apparently its a lot of hard, seasonal work for not much money.  So I can undertand why its a bit of a dying business, even in a state when most anglers seek walleyes and live bait is relatively common.

Same thing is happening here. A few local guys pulled their tanks out of the shop and only carry crawlers and grubs now for live bait. Even they dont sell to well, except for trout season.

Too much work and not enough money is right. Plus most people seem to have moved away from live bait, i still know a few people who use it. But the masses have headed towards soft plastics, especially the scented ones. And for walleye+crappie they work fantastic (but i still think live minnows are the best for those species). Just alot of work and smell.

[Susky River Rat]

@MediumMouthBass  @gim usually people using live bait here are for flatheads and they catch their own gills.

[gim]

Not legal here.  Have to use minnows from a bait dealer or you can catch your own minnows for personal use, but species like bluegill or crappie or perch are not permitted as live bait.

 

They charge like 15 bucks each for a big decoy sucker minnow to muskie fish.  No chance I'm paying that for a one-time use minnow.  The last time I did that was in 2015 and we bought 6 of them because we had 3 people.  Do the math on that one lol

 

@MediumMouthBass there are quite a few gas stations/convenient stores that still sell nightcrawlers (seasonally) or waxies out of a bait fridge.  But live minnows are a bit of a bigger undertaking than worms.

 

I've essentially weened myself off the use of it now.  I will occasionally buy a scoop of crappie minnows in spring when I go panfishing with my wife/son.  Its a lot easier for them to just toss out the bobber with a little minnow on than it is to make them work an artificial one.  Crappie minnows are like 5 bucks/scoop so that isn't a deal breaker.

[Jar11591]

I can think of far worse things to be done with my tax dollars. 

[Susky River Rat]

@Jar11591 In Pa the fish and boat commission is funded by boat registrations and fishing licenses being bought. No tax dollars unless their is grants from the state involved. This is one reason why there was a huge uproar a few years ago when they wanted to use part of fishing license fees to fund the highway projects. 

[Alex from GA]

I moved out of CA 25 years ago but they had one lake with white bass and if you were going to keep them you had to kill them even if they were in the live well.  Rip out the gills would do it.  Now if we could keep people from moving fish but I'm afraid it's too late for that.

[TnRiver46]

15 minutes ago, Alex from GA said:

I moved out of CA 25 years ago but they had one lake with white bass and if you were going to keep them you had to kill them even if they were in the live well.  Rip out the gills would do it.  Now if we could keep people from moving fish but I'm afraid it's too late for that.

California should call me , have ice will travel. I’m hell on white bass, survived on them many years 

[little giant]

Unfortunately, it's too late in south Florida. Clown knifefish, snakeheads, Chinese snails, tegu lizards, pythons in the Everglades. People dump their aquariums into the canals or lakes, release their pet snakes and reptiles.

[Bluebasser86]

We've got a few of the fun invasives here; zebra mussels, bighead and silver carp, Chinese Mystery Snails, several kinds of vegetations, white perch. I really don't know that there is much to be done about controlling a lot of them. The zebra mussels will be everywhere eventually, they just move so easily and are so tiny that they're easily overlooked. The vegetation travels easily also and most folks don't know their Curlyleaf Pondweed from their Eurasian Water Milfoil anyways. I fear the carp are the biggest issue. They are eating machines that will crash a food chain from the bottom up. They filter so much out of the water every day that it makes it difficult for anything else that uses plankton (or eats anything that eats plankton, which is everything in some form). 

 

Best thing you can do is not releasing fish or dumping water from one lake to the next and allowing visible water on gear to dry. Shore anglers are probably one of the smallest contributors to the spread. I would suspect here, it's largely wake/ski boats ballast that contribute to the spread, but fishermen certainly do too. I've seen too many guys posting on FB about fishing a tournament on an infected lake, then the next day, fishing another tournament on a lake that isn't infected. It's very irresponsible, but that's human nature I suppose. 

[WRB]

Shore anglers transport fish and bait taken from somewhere else introducing all kinds of invasive aquatic plants and critters.

Your friendly neighbor dumps their aquarium into the local waterway to release the kiddo’s pet fish or turtle etc. thinking they are doing something good.

California transports water from Northern California and Colorado River, both systems have invasive plants and mussels that made the trip from the Great Lakes.

Sort of like closing the barn door after all the animals escaped.

Tom

 

[TLHSS]

Thanks for the replies. Very much appreciated!
 

When I fish from the shore, I don’t use live bait. Only hard plastic and soft plastic lures. Everything I catch gets released. I don’t wade. 
 

From reading the replies, the biggest risk for spread would be fishing line and my landing net (rubber)?  Would it help if my reel spool and net were soaked in boiling water?  Or cleaned with a bathroom cleaner that contains a small percentage (1%) of bleach?  

[Swamp Girl]

30 minutes ago, TLHSS said:

Thanks for the replies. Very much appreciated!
 

When I fish from the shore, I don’t use live bait. Only hard plastic and soft plastic lures. Everything I catch gets released. I don’t wade. 
 

From reading the replies, the biggest risk for spread would be fishing line and my landing net (rubber)?  Would it help if my reel spool and net were soaked in boiling water?  Or cleaned with a bathroom cleaner that contains a small percentage (1%) of bleach?  

 

Thanks for being so interested in not helping invasives spread.

 

I know a guy who's always worried about my canoe. I tell him again and again that it's usually two or three days between my fishing trips and that my canoe always sits in the Sun during that time. It's a lake and bake deal.