Lake Cumberland parasites from KDFW

[jcb]

Sorry man, but that's sure the way it read to me. The guy's a striper guide who probably removes more hooks from inside a striper's mouth in a week than I do all year. Sorry if I offended.

[JoeB]

No offense at all. I'm a striper guide too and have been for a lot of years, and I know what is very obvious to everybody on the lake. We've taken quite a few hits since the lake was drawn down and so far survived. I hope we can hold it together a couple more years until the water level comes back up.

[jcb]

No offense at all. I'm a striper guide too and have been for a lot of years, and I know what is very obvious to everybody on the lake. We've taken quite a few hits since the lake was drawn down and so far survived. I hope we can hold it together a couple more years until the water level comes back up.

Joe, do you believe what everybody tells me, that because of all the new brush on the shorelines, if we can make it until then it will be like the old days?

[JoeB]

My name is actually Phil, JobB is just an internet homage to coach Hall. lol Tough question to answer. When the lake comes back up, you have to believe that all the woody cover on the shoreline will be a real boon to bass, crappie, etc. That's great. It may, however, have an adverse affect on the second story or cool water fishery. Stripers and walleye will do best in a deep, cool infertile lake. All the new plants will undoubtedly increase the fertility. The added fertility will in turn consume more O2 and we've seen what happens to stripers when the O2 is depleted.

My best guess is that when the lake returns to normal levels, we will notice very improved striper fishing within two years. We are stockpiling a ton of 23 in. fish that should grow to decent fish in a couple of years. However, I think it will be a long time before we get back to the trophy fishery Lake Cumberland was before the drawdown. Fingers crossed.

[HURRICANEBOB]

Phil and Stripernut, I hope you guys are right and the lake gets back to a Trophy fishery and better supports the local economy. I really feel more info is always the best way to allow people to come up with a valid game plan to work around obstacles. At a minimun, when we know what we are faced with we can plan accordingly.

Best regards and thanks to both of you for what you do and what you share with us.

[stripernut]

Phil and Stripernut, I hope you guys are right and the lake gets back to a Trophy fishery and better supports the local economy. I really feel more info is always the best way to allow people to come up with a valid game plan to work around obstacles. At a minimun, when we know what we are faced with we can plan accordingly.

Best regards and thanks to both of you for what you do and what you share with us.

.

really looking forward to the day we go back to measuring in pounds instead of inches.....it will happen. i would urge people to contact the fisheries representatives and press them for more info as to what the plan of attack is ? changes in creel/size limits ? no action at all ?
while the dam repair is going on is this the opportunity to repair age class structures ? i dont know im not a biologists, i do know the present plan isnt providing the trophy results weve had in the past.
keep in mind that when the lake returns to "normal" summer pool there will be challenges, like phil said the fertility levels, the O2 levels, not to mention have you ever tried to pull boards in a submerged "sappling thicket?

i am curious about something though. some stripers have a heavy infestation in their mouth but are still fairly plump while others are almost whithered to nothing. are the ones that are still fairly healthy looking "newly infested"?.....if so then there are alot more parasites in the water now than in the past? are they feeding better in the cold water ?

there is so much more to this than saying "the stripers have parasites".
like i said before...let the department know we are concerned, make this issue a priority for them.

[JoeB]

.

really looking forward to the day we go back to measuring in pounds instead of inches.....it will happen. i would urge people to contact the fisheries representatives and press them for more info as to what the plan of attack is ? changes in creel/size limits ? no action at all ?
while the dam repair is going on is this the opportunity to repair age class structures ? i dont know im not a biologists, i do know the present plan isnt providing the trophy results weve had in the past.
keep in mind that when the lake returns to "normal" summer pool there will be challenges, like phil said the fertility levels, the O2 levels, not to mention have you ever tried to pull boards in a submerged "sappling thicket?

i am curious about something though. some stripers have a heavy infestation in their mouth but are still fairly plump while others are almost whithered to nothing. are the ones that are still fairly healthy looking "newly infested"?.....if so then there are alot more parasites in the water now than in the past? are they feeding better in the cold water ?

there is so much more to this than saying "the stripers have parasites".
like i said before...let the department know we are concerned, make this issue a priority for them.

I honestly think the kdfwr biologist's hands are tied. I don't think any regulation is going to fix a critical lack of O2. If you want to protest to anybody, not that it will do any good, let the COE know that we need more water. I think even an extra 10 ft would help a lot. Pray for a dry spring! (not that that will do any good either)

I don't believe the copepods, at this point, have anything to do with the "skinny stripers". That's a result of stress from poor water quality at the end of the summer. I haven't read anywhere that these parasites cause problems with feeding. But, when the larva attach to the gills, they do cause problems w/ respiration. (as if they're not having enough trouble breathing in this lake already) That in turn causes the fish to become fairly dormant and to not feed, as we've seen with the low O2 levels the last two years.

We need water, and until that happens,there's not a lot that can be done to improve the striper fishery at Cland.

[thunderstorm]

We caught 4 (3 keepers) a couple of days ago in the upper part of the ck. All of them had the parasite and looked in decent shape. They sure hit hard.

25 or so ft of line w/ 1/2 oz sinker in 25-40' of water.

[HURRICANEBOB]

Definitions of parasites:

1. A place one erects replacement Twin Towers
2. The aiming mechanisms found on twin machine gun stations.
3. What you get when you look twice at landscaping.
4. What you get when 2 cops do a traffic stop on you at once.
5. The places 2 para-chutists will land.

[MagikSmallie]

Do you guys really think the lake levels are going to raise anytime soon? I for one don't see this happening any time in the near future, if ever.

[28buckeyefan]

i was wondering if this parasite has been in other lakes why dont you find out how they got rid of them or touch base with them and see how long it stay infected and if it goes away has it ever came back to there lake.my personal apinion is where the lake has been so low since 2007 and all the factorys are dumping waste chemicals in the lake is gonna kill most of the fish,so lets hope they get the dam fixed so we can raise the lake back up and it will filter itself out and get back to the beautiful blue lake that we used to have instead its mercury green in the summers now and thats because of all the mercury and waste dumped in by the factorys,i beleave these factorys need to be investigated of what they are doing because these sun bays as they call them dont work i dont thing so anyway.

[stripernut]

WHAT FACTORIES ?????????

WHAT DUMPING ????????

friend we just heard about the poor economy just the other day.....because weve always had a poor economy.....this isnt industrial cicncinatti.

the major thing getting dumped here is off the houseboats during buckeye navy summer