Spiny Water Flea now FOUND IN LAKE GEORGE

[raz]

It's now in the beautiful Lake George :

https://www.mychamplain.net/forum/spiny ... ake-george

[raz]

Click=>Aquatic invader found in Lake George, path clear to Champlain

[WildFisherWoman]

I blame the bass fishermen. Half those guys take their boats from Lake George and his So. Champlain.

[Dirtyhooker]

If it is in Lake George do you honestly believe it is not already in Champlain. How many millions of gallons a day does the Lechute dump out of Lake George from Mossy Point into Lake Champlain just south of the Fort in Ticonderoga. I am sure if more testing was done in this area we would find it is already in Champlain. I do not agree that Bass fisherman are the culprits even though they are not my favorite group. I believe the culprit is the hundreds if not thousands of pleasure boaters on Vacation from downstate that have no clue as to Spiney Water Flea or any other invasive species. I hope I am wrong but it kind of makes shutting down the Canal a mute point.
Scott

[raz]

The optimistic side of me says the flea isn't here yet.
At least nobody has reported anything suspicious.

[Dirtyhooker]

It was found in Lake George by a fisherman who took it to a Lake Steward who sent the sample to Darrin Freshwater Institute which is part of RPI. I do hope I am wrong and it is isolated to George . But it seems physically impossible.
Scott

[Captain Paul]

I realy didnt want to say anything but I think I saw some on our lines earlier this year but I hope I am wrong I only saw it once and I didnt pay much attention so it could have been something else

[fishingmachine]

why blame fishermen?,most water skiiers and cruisers that ply the canal are clueless to transporting invasives,I doubt that many of them even know that invasives can be tranported on a vessel.Also,out biggest danger is the asian carp,if those things get in the great lakes it is all over .that's why NY must close the canal now.

[fishhuntadventure]

RE: fishinmachine: It is hard to blame fishermen or this or that group... However, I have been irritated this summer by a couple of incidences when I was checking the boat and trailer for vegetation and stuff after loading up and a couple fishermen and a few pleasure boaters basically asked if I had a problem with the trailer. "No, just checking for weeds and hitchhikers." The summary answer can be given in one word: "Why?"

If one is a fisherman and have to ask "why" then you are clueless and irresponsible in my book! When I pull my boat I always stop a minute on the ramp and pull the plugs while still on the ramp and give a quick once-over before getting out of the way. It's gotten me some dirty looks but I fish a lot of different water and I don't want to be the one to wreck one of these small inland lakes.

It would be a shame for me to see the canal closed as I have as of yet to do my summer adventure I have talked about for years which is to get dropped in the Hudson below Albany and boat north, taking four days fishing and sightseeing and camping my way to Burton Island for the weekend. But closing locks could be the right thing to do... too bad they haven't found some specie-specific pesticide to whack 'em. At this point I am not sure that closing the locks will have any effect whatsoever according to some learned opinions.

The thing that bothers me most is that we should NOT be having new problems if it were not for boaters and fishermen!!! Wehave to live with the past- some of these invasives have been introduced long before awareness of the damage and problems they create was known. But boaters and fishermen transporting and spreading invasives after all these years of awareness signs and media attention is incomprehensible. Absolute carelessness in my opinion.

(Not picking on bassers, but recently when pulling my boat at Converse I watched a bunch of bass boats after (apparently) some small tournament. Several NH and a few MA and NY bass boats powered on the trailer, pulled to the parking area, strapped down and stowed some rods, chatted and left. Maybe they were not all together. dunno. Of the several I saw come out not one looked at the boat or trailer other than stowing gear.)

[Fishdawg]

I/ve only seen info that the fleas feed on zooplankton which other species within the lake feed on and that they can make a mess on fishline, rod eylets and downrigger cables. I've seen nor heard of any info regarding what might feed on them. (??should I start customizing some lures to look like a water flea???). The fish in Lake Ontario seem to grow quite large and Ontario has fleas. If they're inevitably going to get here, are there any positives??

[Reel Delight (Walt)]

Now people want to point the blame to New York for one more invasive. Lake George now has a total of 5 invasive species in it while Lake Champlain has 59 known invasive species in it.

There is a group of people that want to close all boat launches on Lake George except of when a Lake Steward is on duty (8 am to 5 pm) maybe Memorial Day to Labor Day to inspect your boat for possible invasives. Why do they want to do this, they say to prevent us fishermen from transporting invasives from Lake Champlain & the Hudson River. Yes they also want this program to become a state wide thing which includes all boat launches on Lake Champlain.

I have been involved in opposing the locked gates on our boat ramps and also with boater education not fishermen lock outs for the past year. I have also talked to a number of the fishermen on this forum in the past about the prevention of invasives and protection of fishermens rights. Be careful of what you wish for or what you say. It might bite us soon!