Quagga Mussels

i hit my local pond lake perris this passed tuesday! the water temperature was 75 still hot. it was overcast most of the day. i fished for bass like normal. there is a good top water bite that doesn't last long. i was on the bass most of the day. got board so picked up the bluegill rod to have a little fun stretching out some 2# test. there is still a good bite if you no were to find them. i kept maybe half a dozen gills. 2 redear an 4 copper nose. took them home cleaned them to find out that all the copper nose had what looked like cream corn in them. i believe we can thank the carp fishermen for that. back to gills the redear had quagga mussles in them. so yes its true perris has quagga mussles in the lake. i recognized them right away from catching huge rerdear on the colorado river. the intestines were full of shells. this might not be new to some but it was new to me.

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February 24, 2017 - News release (Department of Water Resources)
Invasive Mussel Veligers Detected in the Santa Ana Pipeline; State Conducting Further Testing (PDF)
SACRAMENTO – Mussel veligers (microscopic, free-floating larval life stage) this month were detected in water samples collected at the North Park valve of the Santa Ana Pipeline, which transports water from Silverwood Lake, San Bernardino County, to Lake Perris, Riverside County. Further testing is under way by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to confirm the findings and determine if the veligers are quagga mussels or zebra mussels...


Sounds like you have the answer...

Said that we still have to deal with this invasive species, but the Sunfish and catfish are natural predators. So as long as the muscles are in our water we should be stocking these fish to help control the population from devasting the plant life in these waters.

cannot see anything really from the pictures , but yes as Bob posted they have been found in the pipelines leading too some of our local waters ... I have cleaned my share of Perris Redear and they always have freshwater snails in them .... and a lot of time the gills have baitfish ... from a local biologist a good friend at perris they have not stated they have been found in Perris yet /shrug so dunno

I have found lots of the freshwater clam shells in the LP Redears for many years now. Lake Perris is loaded with them down in the mud and sand. The Redear Sunfish is also called a "shellcracker" because of the grinding "stones" found in their gullets. They can crush small young clams, mussels, snails and crawfish. The larger fish just seem to swallow the entire mollusks.
What I almost always find in the Bluegill's stomachs are dark green and black water insect larvae, aquatic worms, and small Threadfin Shad. If there are indeed Quagga or Zebra Mussels in LP, we are going to see some huge Redears caught in the near future. Look what happened to Lake Havasu! 4,5 and 6 pound Redears!

So it is a plus for the redear and the redear fishermen that is good to hear. I was talking with a friend years ago that said the State had started to hold mass amounts of Chlorine (not sure if that was true). But the idea was to use it to kill of the quagga muscle. His argument was lets use nature to combat this. That being the Redear Sunfish and I believe the Blue Catfish, natural predictors and find fish for us to catch later.

These little muscles are going to be part of the food chain it seems. I have a friend who worked for the water district and said that we can slow it it down and fight hard as we look for ways to "DEAL" with it. The short answer he gave was the waterfowl like ducks carry larvae and smaller muscles, and no one is inspecting them. 

There have been limited studies if anyone wants to research further. 

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We fight the fight, but mother nature has her own ideas.

Let them come...........the state only worries about their pumps and intakes..........let the fish do the controlling.......more perch also add to larger Bass.........its a win win for the fisherman in my opinion. Knowing Moonbeam and the state, they will panic and have toxic kills.......GT