Invasives: If you can't beat em... eat em...

photo via Wikipedia

A quote from a recent article via IPSNewsnet.com about increased Lionfish numbers off of the coast of Jamaica:

"Agriculture and Fisheries minister Christopher Tufton is already leading an aggressive public education campaign to get Jamaicans eating lionfish. Television programmes, videos of high-profile locals like Prime Minister Bruce Golding enjoying meals of lionfish, and some of the hotel industry's most decorated chefs preparing what Tufton describes as "good food" are broadcast regularly. Tufton believes that Jamaicans can eat their way out of the lionfish problem. "I believe the way to control the lionfish is to promote its consumption. We are going to bring in chefs who know how to prepare them and we are going to eat them," Tufton said at the start of the campaign."

No word yet on how they taste with a nice jerk sauce and a Red Stripe...

Asian Carp within 8 Miles of the Great Lakes?

Asian Carp have been detected beyond an electric barrier designed to keep them out of the Great lakes - from JSOnline.com:

The Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged Friday that tests taken earlier this fall revealed 32 positive DNA samples for Asian carp above the electric fish barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, some within about eight miles of the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

The Journal Sentinel first reported the apparent barrier breach Thursday, though the Army Corps refused to acknowledge it until Friday morning.

There now appears to be nothing left standing between the supersized, ecosystem-ravaging fish and the world's largest freshwater system other than the constantly swinging gates of two busy navigation locks, and it may be only a matter of time until the fish are jumping and flopping in Lake Michigan waters from Chicago to Door County - and beyond.

"It's a disaster," said Dan Thomas, president of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council. "Heads should roll for this."

Reader Harry Campbell writes with a call for action:

"This is a genuine environmental crisis, and the Army Corps of Engineers should close the lock on the Calumet River and chemically cleanse the waterway as soon as possible, and not cave in to barge operators who oppose the closure. Please use whatever influence you or your publication can bring to bear to help make sure the Corps of Engineers moves quickly ­ before it's too late."

Alt View: Snakehead Eradication in Arkansas

Bryan Hendricks of the Northwest Arkansas News takes a tongue in cheek look at the recent eradication of a colony of invasive northern snakehead from the pro-snakehead point of view.

Those who knew them say the snakeheads were some of the most industrious, hardest-working fish they ever met. Some also say they were delicious, much more so than their distant cousins, the bowfins, which, coincidentally, endure their own indignities in the form of slurs such as "cypress trout" and the spiteful and demeaning "choupique."

It is true that leaders of the snakehead community expressed a desire to someday migrate into the White River watershed, where the full promise and potential of the American Dream awaited. That proved too much for the AGFC, which quickly deployed its armed forces to squash this exodus before it mobilized.

The rest of the article is certainly worth reading with our favorite qoute being:

Sadly, the snakehead seems to have gone the way of the ivorybill woodpecker, just as Brinkley was on the eve of launching a marketing campaign proclaiming itself "Snakehead Capital of the South."

A Lion is loose in the City

Photo: Wikipedia

The Editorial Trophy Wife sends a link to an article in the News and Observer that will either make Carolina coastal anglers watch their step or set off the next big thing in extreme saltwater angling. Beautiful but posion Lionfish are swarming the Carolina coast.

"If you go deeper than 100 feet, they're ubiquitous now," said Paula Whitfield, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Beaufort. "They're absolutely everywhere

Unhooking them might be the extreme part of the equation when dealing with the venomous fish. However, they might have a place on the dinner table:

The researchers are joining forces with sport divers and even culinary instructors from Carteret Community College to see if the critters can be kept in check with spears, nets and tartar sauce.
Lionfish, it turns out, have a sweet, white meat similar to the tasty groupers and snappers they are threatening.

"Survivor" Shipment Seized at Houston Port

The folks at ProtectYourWaters.net are reporting that a shipment belonging to the CBS reality series "Survivor" was seized at the Port of Houston.

Investigators said some of the items inside were possibly restricted or prohibited by the USFWS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Inspectors said they found a Mandarin skull, civet hides, feathers with biological contamination, cowries shells and bones inside the container. Officials said the items were host materials for exotic pests and diseases to enter the United States. Read the full story to get the details.

Gear: Shock Doctor Gear Drying Duffel Bags

Could the Shock Doctor Power Dry™ Ballistic Multisport Gear Bag be the solution for the moldy waders issue we face after every fishing trip that involves air travel?

The patented Power Dry System uses a custom designed free-standing blower to direct ionized, ozonated air, heated or unheated, into any Shock Doctor Power Dry gear bag, drying and deodorizing the equipment contained in the bag.

I can't help but think that the addition of some microbe killing UV LED lights on the inside might just make this the perfect product for keeping gear fresh and taking care of aquatic hitchhikers in your gravel guards. You industry types out there - I call dibs on the prototype and 10% of the profits to fund my fishing habit.

Orange County Snakehead

I didn't notice this until I was already on my way out of Middletown, NY last week but it seems I wasn't the only invasive specie in the area.

White River Monsters?

FlyFishMagazine.com's Leftentant of Tail Water Fisheries, Jeff Paisley found an interesting note in yesterday's Baxter Bulletin about a side effect of the recent flooding on the White River's North fork. It seems all manner of large warm water predators have found their way into the trout fishery. Officials are taking steps to put them back where they belong.

A sample of fish taken from the North Fork of the White River below Norfork Dam last week confirmed river biologists' concerns that many warm-water predator fish and at least three "monsters" spilled into the North Fork tailwaters during April floods.

White bass were the most numerous at about 70. Some 30 walleye also were taken in the sample gathered between 8:30 p.m. and midnight last Tuesday, Schroeder said. One striped bass weighing more than 20 pounds was the biggest of that predator species, he said. A total of six striped bass were taken from the river. Six blue channel catfish, including three that weighed in excess of 30 pounds each, also were captured and relocated, Schroeder said.

Break out the eight weights boys and girls.

photo: Jay Moore

Simms: Designs to combat invasives

Felt soles are considered by many anglers to be a piece of vital fishing equipment. Anyone who has ever tried to maintain their footing on a mountain stream bed covered in slippery rocks will agree that it is hard to beat felt for traction.

Now scientists are telling us that our soles may be causing problems for the environment in that they can harbor nasties like didymo or whirling disease and aid in their movement from watershed to watershed. Due to the fact that some biologists believe that the felt might be virtually impossible to clean, many areas are moving to ban them.

An recent press release from Simms Fishing Products via Pale Morning Media indicates that they recognize that this could be a turning point in wader and wading shoe design and that they are taking steps to make invasive species control a part of their business:

All of Simms’ waders – made in Simms’ exclusive U.S. manufacturing facility in Bozeman – are extra rugged and are DEET and saltwater resistant, providing exceptional strength and quality through the repeated washings necessary to battle aquatic hitchhikers.

“Many of the county’s outstanding recreational fisheries are under assault from aquatic invaders. Organisms like didymo (or “rock snot”), whirling disease and New Zealand mud snails threaten to alter forever some our most treasured fishing resources,” said K.C. Walsh, president of Simms. “Creating premium quality gear that makes it easier to care for the resources we all enjoy is a responsibility we take seriously.”

CleanStream™ is Simms’ way of melding modern fabrics and design to offer a comfortable, durable boot that is a snap to rinse and clean – and proper cleaning in the first step in stopping the spread of aquatic invaders.

AquaStealth® soles are made from high friction rubber designed to excel in and out of water. The, light sponge-like rubber provides added durability for hiking, and doesn’t absorb and hold water like a traditional felt sole.

Simms is a partner in the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers project sponsored by the U.S Coast Guard and the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service. For more information, log on to www.protectourwaters.net

Invasive Species: If you can't beat'em - eat'em

From our partners at Protectyourwaters.net comes news of this Op-Ed piece from the pages of The New York Times which offers that perhaps we should all develop a taste for invasive species.

The citizens of Fukui, a northern Japanese island, coped by marketing souvenir cookies flavored with powdered jellyfish. Returning from a fact-finding mission to China, a professor from Japan’s National Fisheries University offered up 10 different recipes for preparing Nomura’s jellyfish. “Making them a popular food,” he told a Japanese newspaper, “is the best way to solve the problem.”

Perhaps you'd enjoy a tasty plate of stir fried jelly fish as pictured above. What could be next? Rock Snot Salad? New Zealand Mud Snail Escargot?

Filler' up and use the high test rock snot...

Could your next fishing truck be powered by rock snot ? It just might if scientists complete their work towards turning algae into biodiesel.

Cooksey is one of many U.S. scientists who studied the feasibility of turning algal oil into biodiesel in the 1980s. The U.S. Department of Energy, through its Aquatics Species program, funded their research. Cooksey's lab made a number of discoveries. Scientific journals published his findings.

Via the Montana State University web site.

Invasion of the Snakehead!

Fishzilla!

A particularly nasty head cold and the complete meltdown of the housing industry as we know it, have had a real negative impact on the amount of time we have been able to devote to our beloved blog. To top it all off we found this article in the Windsor Star telling us that the Northern Snakehead continues to gain ground.


These things are just vicious," said Becky Cudmore, manager of the Centre of Expertise for Aquatic Risk Assessment in Burlington.
The snakehead has become a popular YouTube subject, with a National Geographic YouTube video added within the last month.

One look at that video shows why it would make a mess of the Great Lakes. One man on the video warns they can bite your entire hand off. A U.S. official warns they can decimate the aquatic food chain. And they could settle comfortably into Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, which Cudmore says would be ideal habitats for the northern snakehead.

This is bad news for most anglers ....maybe not so bad for others.

Jump Around!

I guess I took it for granted that this was already in the rule book but and email today from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service clued me in that they have banned the import and transport of Silver and Largescale Carp AKA Jumping Carp. You might already know that these large fish have a habit of leaping from the water in mass when they feel the vibrations of an outboard motor. This can be cool to watch from a distance but getting smacked in the head by a 60 lb fish while speeding along in your bass tracker couldn't be much fun.

"Slowing the spread of these carp is necessary to protect our native aquatic species," said H. Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Although silver carp are established in parts of the Mississippi watershed, we will work to keep their impacts minimized and prevent additional populations from taking hold."

Silver carp, native to Asia, were introduced in the United States in the early 1970s for use as algae control agents in sewage lagoons and fishery production ponds, but escaped into surrounding waters.

The silver carp have established themselves in the Mississippi River Basin but are not currently cultured in the United States. Silver carp are difficult to handle and transport because of their tendency to jump: growing up to three feet long and 60 pounds in weight, silver carp have leaped into moving boats injuring people and damaging equipment.

Biologists are concerned that silver carp could spread throughout large rivers and lakes in the U.S. and compete with native species for food and habitat, having both ecological and economic impacts and threatening, for example, the multimillion-dollar Great Lakes fishery.

Here is a link to the USFW press release and if you havn't seen them be sure to check out this video via Youtube. Just for fun here is a link to the video for "Jump Around"

Did we say Once Bitten?

It seems that this is the toothy season here at FlyFishMag. In addition to our usual fare of trout eating turtles and snakes, now our lovely wife has pointed out that an angler from the county next door to the FlyFishMagazine Corporate Compound has landed no less than a one pound four ounce Piranha. He was a bit disappointed in his catch:

"I was expecting to get a fish that I could eat. I don't think I want to eat this one," said Melton. The fish had a little more bite than he expected -- one with several very sharp teeth. Melton had reeled in a one-pound, four-ounce piranha. "

Personally we are busy rigging up some flesh flies and wire leaders on our trusty four weight for a trip to the mighty Catawba.

Photo via IMDB.com

What do Paris Hilton and Henry Tan have in common?

Both are spending time in the pokey. Paris got 40+ days for a probation violation. Henry had his brother send him invasive plants and second hand aquarium equipment from Singapore into New Zealand and he got nine months and a $25k fine. Both Paris and Henry have paid a high price for their indiscretions but Henry's deliberate offense might have had a lasting impact on New Zealand's environment.

"This is one of the most serious cases of deliberate offending I have seen. The defendant's importation of unauthorised risk goods increased New Zealand's exposure to exotic algae or marine pests, potentially placing export earnings at risk and creating the possibility of introducing yet another unwanted pest that could impact on our native flora and fauna."

Via Protect your waters. (Editor's note: We apologize in advance for using a photo of Paris Hilton in a post somewhat related to fly fishing. We can only hope that this blatant traffic grabbing tactic does not unseat the phrase "Cindy Garrison Bikini" from the top spot on our search engine key word referrals list.)

Wanted: Dead or...well actually just dead

Snakehead = Invasive


Bowfin = Native

The Charlotte Observer reports that an angler caught a 31 inch Snakehead on the Carolina's Lake Wylie. The angler released the fish because he mistook it for a Bowfin. The fish was later identified as a snakehead from photos by NC Wildlife officials. Once introduced into a fishery the Snakehead can devastate native fish populations.

"Most snakeheads caught in U.S. waters were released by aquarium owners or bought live at fish markets and released, the wildlife commission says. It's now illegal in North Carolina to possess, buy or sell the live fish. As they did in 2002, state biologists searched the Wylie catch area for more snakeheads but found none. But they're asking local fishermen to keep their eyes peeled.

UPDATE: Here is a link to the actual photo of the fish caught in Lake Wylie via Charlotte.Com

Photos: Courtesy NC Dept. of Wildlife Resources.

Do you have a receipt for that bait?

Via our partner ProtectYourWaters.net where they lead the fight against invasive species in our nations waters, comes this article that tells about a plan to help curb the spread of viral hemorrhagic septicema AKA VHS in the Great Lakes. VHS is a nasty virus that is roughly the fish equivalent to the Ebola virus in humans.

"As a result of a new state law that took effect in late March, fishermen are being asked by state conservation officers to produce a receipt upon demand from the place where they bought their minnows, certifying the bait is VHS-free. They're also banned from transporting non-certified bait by motor vehicle from one body of water to another. The receipt is only good for seven days. "

If you can't produce the receipt would it be suitable to call your minnows "jail bait?"

Throwing them up on the bank?

A bid to rid the Shenandoah National Park of invasive species has spawned new regulations that are not sitting well with some die hard catch and release fishermen. Park officials say the new regulations are aimed at protecting the Brook trout fishery.

From the park's fishing regulations:

In the park’s continuing effort to control wild non-native brown trout populations to limit
impacts on wild native brook trout populations, special brown trout specific regulations
have been promulgated for the Rose River, Hughes River, and Brokenback Run.

All regulations as specified in the Regulations section apply to these three streams except:

• The minimum size for brown trout as part of any daily creel or otherwise in
possession is 7 inches.

• The release of any captured brown trout back into any park stream is prohibited.

Undersized brown trout, those less than the 7 inch minimum, must be disposed of
away from the stream and away from park roads or trails.

KY Trout Disease Free

22 states already have a whirling disease problem but according to this article from the Louisville Courier Journal, for the moment Kentucky is in the clear.

"We put a great amount of emphasis on disease testing," said James Gray, who manages the Wolf Creek facility."

The hatchery produces all of the 800,000 trout annually stocked in Kentucky. The eggs come from broodstock fish in Montana, West Virginia, Tennessee and Wyoming. Those fish are inspected regularly.
"Our broodstock are tested twice a year for whirling and other diseases," Gray said.

Photo from the Whirling Disease foundation.