invasive species

anybody ever catch an invasive species? Few years ago, i was on little bay de noc in the U.P. and caught a small, 4-5″ fish. I had no idea what kind of fish it was. The longer it stayed out of the water, the more slimey it became. was disgusting. After consulting a few neighbor fishers on the ice, we had to turn to google. Turns out, it was an invasive eurasian ruffe. Very damaging to the local fish as it would ravage the freshly laid eggs. Glad i didn’t throw it back and turned it into the DNR.

Just yesterday, i was fishing on burt lake and caught a crayfish. I could see it moving around on the bottom and told my buddy i was going to catch it. he laughed and said yeah right. 2 minutes later, i had the crayfish topside. I did a quick check to see if it was a bad crayfish, and my first finding was not the crayfish i had landed. so i tossed it back. After i got home, still curious, i did more digging, and sure enough, it was an invasive crayfish. A rusty crayfish to be exact. I was disappointed i didn’t keep it top side and let a bird find it.

anybody else catch bad aquatic fish or critters?

I have never caught one but someone recently posted a photo of a sizable carp they brought up through the ice.

Lots of carp. We target them in the spring on the mn River

Once again, there is no such thing as an invasive species.
There are only species.

the red spot was the dead giveaway

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Eelpoutguy wrote:

Once again, there is no such thing as an invasive species.
There are only species.

agree to disagree.

I recommend reading “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.” That book will open your eyes on invasive species. Species naturally are trying to expand their range, but when man does it for them, they are invasive species. Often they have devastating consequences.

Southern border?

guthook1 wrote:

Southern border?

all humans are invasive and covid is thinning the herd nicely.

TH wrote:

I recommend reading “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.” That book will open your eyes on invasive species. Species naturally are trying to expand their range, but when man does it for them, they are invasive species. Often they have devastating consequences.

The invasion of the sea lamprey into the Great Lakes was initially very devastation to trout and salmon species. Luckily we’ve figured out to at least control them in a reasonable manner now otherwise they would have completely wiped out the fisheries there.

phishingruven wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Eelpoutguy wrote:</div>
Once again, there is no such thing as an invasive species.
There are only species.

agree to disagree.

But when the DNR stock muskies in a lake that never had them they are not invasive. Hmmmm.

i caught some zebra muscles on my lure the other day at lake winnie

AK Guy wrote:

But when the DNR stock muskies in a lake that never had them they are not invasive. Hmmmm.

What’s your point? The DNR stocks walleyes into hundreds of lakes where they aren’t native either.

What’s your point? The DNR stocks walleyes into hundreds of lakes where they aren’t native either.
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His point is that they just make believe what’s invasive and what’s not invasive by the money it may or may not produce

That is pretty crazy to catch a craw fish through the ice. I have never seen that one before

Bearcat89 wrote:

What’s your point? The DNR stocks walleyes into hundreds of lakes where they aren’t native either.

His point is that they just make believe what’s invasive and what’s not invasive by the money it may or may not produce
[/quote]

that’s not true at all. the 2 species i listed decimate local, native species of plants and fish. The eurasian ruffe has no predators. the bigger fish do not eat them and the ruffes feed on native species eggs, preventing the natural reproduction. the ruffes could not swim here on their own in a natural migration. they are brought in by big ships dumping their ballast water. they are also reproducing in the waters, unlike stocked walleye and muskie and other “sport” fish. Sometimes the “sport” fish are stocked to help with overpopulation and stunting of smaller panfish.

No argument on how these ” invasive species” get here. I have a full understanding. I remember when what is now a common carp was going to destroy all of our water ways as well. Same with zebra muscles. Just like most invasive things such as flowers weeds, fish and so on. They all have a natural cycle and only a very small percentage is harmful.
That rusty craw is probably already in a fishes belly.
What I said wasn’t completely untrue. Not sure how you say that

i doubt that crayfish is in the belly of a fish. i watched many fish pass on it yesterday. i watched it fall back to the bottom. would have been an easy target as the fish were eating anything in sight. except that.

The larger size and aggressive nature of rusty crayfish that have been introduced to a body of water makes it harder for them to be preyed upon by native species of fish, which are not accustomed to crayfish fighting them back.Instead of running away like the native crayfish species do when they come in contact with a predator, the rusty crayfish will take an attack stance with its claws raised above its head, which will generally scare away most predatory fish. Additionally, adult rusty crayfish can be too large for some fish to consume.

Because these rusty crayfish populations have basically taken over the natives species’ habitats and forced them out of their homes, many populations of native crayfish have experienced drastic decline
Rusty crayfish destroy aquatic plant beds, affecting the fish and organisms that require this habitat. Their broad diet can impact native populations and ecosystems. Rusty crayfish also limit habitat and food sources used by native crayfish.

they just make believe

again, agree to disagree. nobody is going to change their mind so it’s not worth debating.

What’s your point? The DNR stocks walleyes into hundreds of lakes where they aren’t native either.

Whoa there defensive much?

A largemouth or smallmouth bass are not afraid of crayfish. They eat alot of them

My wife caught a goby in Lake Michigan a few years back. Had to check the website as I have never seen one in real life. It was promptly turned into seagull food.

Pike, bass, walleye all est crayfish that rusty will be devoured in the sprint along with his relatives

Coletrain27 wrote:

A largemouth or smallmouth bass are not afraid of crayfish. They eat alot of them

Studies have shown that up to 80% of a smallmouth’s diet consists of crayfish in certain bodies of water.

I am not sure if they speciate the crayfish down to a native species or a rusty version but a hungry brown bass isn’t going to care.

I think one of the problems with “invasive” anything is because of the brew-ha-ha we had with Gov. Dayton and the Big Head and Silver Carp. Millions of $ and a lock was closed because these fish were going to take over the world. Not that we aren’t still dumping money into this hole, but we seldom here about them anymore.

Now it’s which lake was the latest to be infected with zeebs.

Besides carp (which most people don’t consider an invasive species any longer) I’ve caught zeebs on snagged clams, wood ect.

Good post phishingruven! We all need to be reminded to contact the DNR before tossing a species back that we aren’t familiar with.

Ruffes aren’t new to the region. We’ve been battling them for 30 yrs up here.
Technically, the term “invasive” applies to a great number of our favorite quarry. All pacific strain trout and salmon are invasive. As are SMB and walleye in most of northern Mn. Rainbows and splake? Yup! As are most muskies. Fortunately, they don’t have the same impact on the ecosystem as things like zebra and quagga mussles, spiny water fleas, starry stonewort, or eurasian water millfoil, largely because they aren’t so easily transported by recreational watercraft…..and their stupid, stupid, selfish operators. I’d love to see fines that really hurt for leaving a landing w/o first checking/cleaning the watercraft and trailer. We’ve lost some fantastic fishing lakes up here to the selfish behavior of idiots who wouldn’t clean up after themselves.

since the OP versed as invasive species, and didnt specifically say fish……..

would the ever popular pheasant be considered invasive……….. hmmmm

glenn57 wrote:

would the ever popular pheasant be considered invasive

Haha. I thought about that one too since its not originally native here.

what damage does the pheasant do to native habitat? what native species is the pheasant displacing, competing for food with and ultimately reducing numbers of native species? are those pheasants being preyed on by predators higher in the food chain? have they been a net positive or a net negative to the environment to which they have been introduced?

to most your questions probably not………but to the question of being preyed on by prdators higher up the food chain….most certainly.

it still isnt a native species here!!!!

The pheasant is/already has displaced sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chickens. Pheasants are invasive species. But, they also do not change an ecosystem (and they make money).

Organisms like zebra mussels change the food chain at the very bottom which affects everything above. Look at Vermilion for example. Rusty crayfish has decimated all weeds in the west end. Night and Day difference in 10 years.