Invaders !

[kandrathe]

Here in Ohio, we haven't had to face too many "alien" species of fish invading yet, but I have heard about, and seen (god I love River Monsters) the Asian Carp Problems in some nearby rivers. The biggest problem we have faced locally, was a lake / river system that had little to no Crappie in it previously, somehow has seen an explosion in their numbers, and drop off in numbers of Bluegill that were of impressive size.

I'm not sure why, but as the Crappie started showing up, the Bluegill size began to diminish. I remember as a teenager catching large numbers of 6"+ Bluegill, a really nice size for eating. (They have lots of small bones, and smaller fish make it harder to get all the bones out). As the Crappie have been introduced, Most are 4-5", and 6" are increasingly rare.

Does your state DNR manage (stock) the lake? They may be choosing the winners and the losers here. Here when a lake loses all its predator fish (leaving only Blue Gills, and Suckers) the DNR will poison the lake and rebuild an ecosystem based on the lakes ability to sustain populations. Oddities in weather occur locally, where sometimes it's too hot, or too cold, or we get too much snow cover. Our biggest aquatic invasive species here are Zebra Mussels, and Eurasian Watermilfoil.

Bigger crappies will eat the young of all species, including their own predators. We've had both in our lakes here in Minnesota, and I believe Crappies are considered the better tasting fish. I remember some of the most thrilling fishing I had as a boy some 40 years ago was hauling in our fill of Crappies at dusk, when the bait would hardly hit the water and you'd be wrestling in another nice 6" pan fish. We'd head back to our cabin, clean the fish, batter them up, and invite all the neighbors for a fresh fish feed with local grown sweet corn on the cob, and watermelon.

I think our most hated native species is the Burbot -- ewww soooo slimey.