Quote Originally Posted by stripernut View Post
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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.