Quote Originally Posted by Captain Jim View Post
If that is the case, unfortunately we may begin to see them at our end too.

I was wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to cut the parasite off of the inside of the fish's mouth without hurting the fish, or maybe pour salt on them like a leach and they will release?? if so, we could maybe help infected short fish.

i just hope its a case of "weather the storm" for a few months.....and then they go away (or at the very least become a "non-issue")
as for cutting the parasites out they kind of scrape off but it leaves an ulcer where the parasite was attached, i couldnt even speculate as to whether it heals or how long it takes.

research points to the population being cyclic, if this is the top of the cycle for infestation then maybe good times are ahead? not much else we can do.

i was reading that one opinion from a researcher is this :
under circumstances where the host population (stripers) was so adversely affected that total numbers crashed the number of parasites were drastically reduced. i guess its like coyotes....if theres nothing to eat they move on.
while this problem exists it may be worth looking at more liberal size / creel limits. this may not be a situation that "works itself out" without some help.
right now untold amounts of money are being spent to determine how to erradicate asian carp....feed em parasites !