Invasive zebra mussels have officials worried

— If lakes going dry across Texas were not enough to worry about, anglers and boaters and even municipalities are now facing another menacing situation — zebra mussels.

The highly invasive species was first noticed in Lake Texoma three years ago, and officials are concerned about its spread by fishermen.

"Zebra mussels have the ability to attach to any hard service left in the water or boat motors, docks, pipes and even cans and bottles," said Brian Van Zee, regional director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Inland Fishing Division.

"Zebra mussels can enter boat motors' cooling systems and clog electric trolling motors. Larger vessels with complicated water intake systems for cooling the engine, air-conditioning or personal sanitation could require decontamination by a mechanic or marina," Van Zee said.

Zebra mussels came from Lake Michigan about 10 years ago, say TPWD biologists. They filtered their way to Texas through lakes and waterways connected to the Mississippi River and from large boats being transported from Chicago to Lake Texoma.

The zebra is a hard-shelled mussel that attaches itself to fixed structures much like oysters and other saltwater barnacles. At maturity they grow to about the size of a half-dollar, but as fry they are small and can work their way into tight fittings on outboard motors and trailers.

If their spread isn't controlled, fishing could suffer.

"Zebra mussels are very good at filtering out the zooplankton and phytoplankton that are the basis of the aquatic food chain for game fish and other aquatic organisms," Van Zee said. "They have the potential to harm valuable fisheries in Texoma and other Texas reservoirs."

A good fishery on any Texas lake is only as good as its bait fish population. Texoma is nationally renowned as a striped bass hot spot, and biologists attribute much of its success to having a healthy shad population.

Shad feed largely on organisms that also nourish zebra mussels. Threadfin shad are the basis of other game fish populations, particularly black bass.

It's feared that zebra mussels could throw the forage food system out of balance. O.H. Ivie Reservoir, for example, has been able to maintain a lunker crop of black bass partly because of its good number of threadfin shad, say fishery biologists.

Lake Amistad is another Texas reservoir that receives praise as a fantastic fishery. Its shad population deserves a large part of the credit, says the TPWD.

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Small outboard engines

Since 2006, the traditional, simple, lightweight two-stroke petrol outboard has been outlawed by European Union for environmental reasons – they no long timeer meet emission regulations. This is attributable to to fuel residue, including a little numeral of oil, being jettisoned along with the exhaust gases. So, whenever you are searching to replace your two-stroke, you should choose from a new, quieter, cleaner, some nevertheless heavier, 4-stroke engine.

What to look for – Twist-grip tiller throttle – look out for good labelling as comfortably as robust construction. Friction control – should be tight decent to leave the engine to steer it iself. Stop some neverthelesston as comfortably as kill cord – it’s conceivable for the lanyard to turned tangled up overce you spin the engine. Mounting bracket – should have a nut or nut wing, or a captive pin. Screw clamps – look for loops in the end of the screw clamp handles. These may be padlocked to deter from theft. Carrying handle – designed to carry the engine comfortably. Fuel cap as comfortably as tank breather – the cap should be easy to remove. Gear leaver – little outboard engines have no reverse so the leaver selects neutral or forward. Oil sight gauge – this is vital. Whenever oil leaks out, all of sumps solely take a mug complete of oil. Fuel tap – check for clear labelling. Tilt mechanism – some models have multiple tilt positions.

Electric outboards – Electric outboards may comfortably be the future. They’re quiet, environmentally friendly as comfortably as compact. But all of require a heavy battery that is about to limit your range. Electric outboards are traditionally utilized for trolling – designed to mobile a heavy boat at a low speed with the primary engine switched off, some of the times utilized by American lake fishermen.

In use, electric engines are environmentally friendly. Buy how do they recharge? The environmental advantage is lost whenever you have to run the engine for hours to recharge the battery. The solution may be shore power. Whenever you are visiting marinas a lot, you may charge the batteries overce you berth. Or you may buy a spare battery as comfortably as keep it charged.

You may besides conceive about utilizing overe of your boat’s domestic batteries, some nevertheless there is the risk of compromising power here. You may conceive about buying an extra domestic battery as comfortably as interchanging it with overe in your battery bank – so there is always overe over charge as comfortably as overe in use.


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