Zebra Mussells and White Perch

The aquatic invasion’s picking up speed, as related in this article from the Wichita Eagle.

Samples of water have found up to 25,000 larval mussells per cubic meter of water. The mussells are moving downstream past the dam as well.

Zebra mussells reduce the amount of plankton in a lake, driving down numbers of other mollusks and fish, and also clog water structures like pipes and intakes.

At the same time white perch have been discovered in another lake near Wichita.

So the bottom line on all of this is: Empty out everything - bait buckets, live wells, bilges - before you leave any lake or stream. The best thing is to keep your boat dry for five days between uses. If that’s not doable, wash everything out with HOT water of 140 degrees or higher, or else use a 10% chlorine solution.