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Post by coheasion on Dec 14, 2015 13:12:28 GMT -5
WT 52-53 degrees AT 54-70 Partly cloudy - very light breeze A good morning on the Blackwater. Bait - Peanut ales and 3-5"gizzards. Bait was still difficult to find...one good throw netted us about 20 3-5"gizzards...still no luck with mongos though :-( All ales were small and were not very thick at all at the dock lights. All bait balls we marked were 30 feet deep and scattered. Pulling planers/free-lines/down lines. 3 fish on planers with 1/4 oz weights and 1 fish on a downline at 20'. 4 fish put in the boat this weekend all 4 between 25 and 28"- noticed some of the worms in the mouth of one...1st time I've noticed this in my short time on the lake.  |
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Post by drag4striper on Dec 14, 2015 13:53:46 GMT -5
Sounds like a nice day on the water.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 16:43:46 GMT -5
What are the worms from?
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Post by mwardncsu on Dec 14, 2015 16:51:26 GMT -5
I'm guessing by "worms" he's referring to the coepods that show themselves thorugh the egg sacks in the striper's mouth & gill plates during certain phases of their reproduction cycle. There are some old threads here on them, but here is one for starters: smlfishingforums.proboards.com/thread/879/copepods |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 16:58:03 GMT -5
Will this cause a decline in the Striper population
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Post by mwardncsu on Dec 14, 2015 17:07:31 GMT -5
Will this cause a decline in the Striper population The coepods found their way into SML most likely through transport of bait from other lakes where they were present (initially found in TN if I recall) and are one of the factors that are believed to have led to the fish kill back in the early part of last decade, and have been hypothesized to also impact the growth rate (though the coepods are also in Leesville and the growth rates there are more normal). They cause increased respiration to the fish, and thus cause them to burn more energy. The theory related to the fish kill is that once introduced and spread through the system here, the fish were "stressed". At the time the forage base was heavily biased to threadfin and then a very cold same which killed off most or all of the threadfin. Now you had fish that already had a higher metabolic rate and not enough to eat which triggered the die-off of the larger fish. Were there other contributing causes - maybe. Will we ever really know, unlikely. However, what we know is the coepods are here and here to stay - they are in all the striper in the lake - you just don't see them except for when they are in the phase of their reproductive cycle when they exhibit the egg sacks. They are not deadly to the stripers assuming sufficient supply of forage. Are the part of what is causing slower growth rates? Perhaps, or at least perhaps a contributing cause along with other factors. They are of course not harmful to humans if you consume striper that has been properly cooked. Well, at least not in the ones under 10 lbs or so - I hear eating a striper over 15 lbs will cause your "little willie" to immediately fall off  |
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Post by Happy Camper on Dec 14, 2015 18:12:57 GMT -5
Well, at least not in the ones under 10 lbs or so - I hear eating a striper over 15 lbs will cause your "little willie" to immediately fall off ,LOL I needed that!
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