Marinette Boat Forum

Don't have them yet but would like to know what to expect when they come.Does anyone have experience ?
Wayne

Curious - are they in the waters where you boat? Feeling sorry for anyone affected. We left the Lake Erie area before they spread.

This year in the Chesapeake Bay the problem is snakeheads; they have ravaged the crab population to the point that local watermen don't even bother going out--there's dozens of boats just sitting in the slips. Sad, for many of these guys may go bankrupt.

Jeff

Jeff is referencing an invasive fish species that has gotten wildly out of control - like the carp in some inland streams, rivers, lakes. It was less than 20 years ago when someone apparently dumped this critter into an inland Maryland lake fed by a small stream connection to the Patuxent River. (see this link: https://wtop.com/maryland/2019/06/snake ... york-next/ )
In no time at all they migrated over to the Ches Bay, then the Potomac River and its tributaries, ravaging native fish populations all the way. The article I linked to shows they have gotten to the northern end of the Ches Bay and farther.
There was a small effort to eradicate them but they multiplied too fast. It seems as if aggressive fishing may be the only way to lower their numbers. They are said to taste good and if they had a less creepy name - no one is rushing to eat a snakehead -- they would sell better. Certainly, they would be a source of cheap protein. Maybe,there would be a fertilizer market for them.

If someone were to tell you they'd control the zebra mussel population, take a pass. You'd be trading one pest for another (except that they won't clog you intake).