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So I read an article a while back about Lake Havasu having gigantic redear sunfish from feeding on the muscles. Are there fish in Powell which feed the muscles? Maybe we could suggest some more species which could also serve as forage in later years but also take down some of the muscles. I think wipers could also be introduced to feed on the musles and control the population of them. Would it hurt the stripers? I think this water year will be a good year for fish in general for renewed structure and structure which hasn't been submerged for a while. Anyone with a constructive opinion or thoughts this matter please share your voice.
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Bluegill are eating the mussels and doing VERY well.
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Your suggestion clearly does have merit, and is being considered by fish biologists. Wayne Gustaveson, whom I believe is the state fisheries biologist over Lake Powell discussed the issue back in 2017 on the Wayne's Words site.
https://wayneswords.net/threads/red-ear-sunfish-qm.468/
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A trillion redears would not make a dent in the quagga population. Unless science can find a selective bacteria or virus (that affects only quaggas) Powell is irreversibly contaminated. Which in turn means that every water supply downstream is also infested.
The solution is not something that eats quaggas. Rather, it is with something that the quaggas will eat. They are filter feeders, and they take in massive amounts of water to get their food. The answer is to have some of that food be poisonous to quaggas.
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There has also been discussion about genetically modified mussels. These would breed with the current population, however the gene that they would pass on would make the next generation sterile. Not sure how viable an option it is, as there are long term ramifications that cannot be known, but at least they are working on the problem. Certainly no easy solution.
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there is no easy solution. If an easy solution were out there, it would have been done already. Keep in mind, this isn't a "new" problem. They've been dealing with mussels in the Great Lakes region since their discovery in 1988 (zebra mussels) and 1989 (quagga).
It is estimated that municipalities and power companies in the Great Lakes region have spent over $1.5 billion trying to keep their pipes mussel-free.
In 2008 it was estimated that the damage to fisheries and other recreational activities was about $200 million annually -- a number that will continue to increase.
Again, this isn't a "new" problem. This is something people have been trying to solve in the US for many years, and have spent billions of dollars on. Utah, and the west in general, haven't had to participate in those billions of dollars to this point - but we now get to add to that pot of money spent to deal with them.
What is that saying about sleeping in the bed that you make?
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There are currently no viable solutions to the quagga/zebra mussel problem. There was a group that produced a bacterium that targeted them specifically, however from what I can gather, they have not been able to produce it on a large enough scale to make it a viable solution. Other research is ongoing to look at genetic vulnerabilities that can be exploited, but nothing yet. I have a nephew that is one of these researchers and he hopes that there will be something in 3-5 years ?? The introduction of Redear Sunfish is an ongoing project, but is complicated by the Endangered Species Act due to the presence of the Humpback Chub, Pike minnow, and other endangered species above and below Powell. Lake Havasu does not have those problems, hence the introduction. Lake Powell's indigenous Blue Gill and Green Sunfish have been doing the best they can and are thriving on the things, however, they are not the solution. On your next trip to Powell, observe the shoreline closely and you will see that ALL hard substrate above and below the water is encrusted with mussels. Brush, trees, even tumble weeds blown into the water get coated. Unfortunately, we have to live with them until someone finds a cure, if they do !! Till then, please, get your boat and gear decontaminated AT POWELL when you leave, don't wait to do it later. Unfortunately, there are those that think the rules don't apply to them, which is how Powell got infected in the first place. Only time will tell what the eventual outcome will be !!!
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DITTO to PBH's comments !!
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I realize I may have mistitled this post. I guess what I was getting at is since the muscles are so hard to get rid of and spread like wildfire would it hurt to introduce fish which thrive on them? I do realize bluegill can eat the smaller muscles but sunfish have a larger mouth. Since we are on the subject of sunfish largemouth and smallmouth bass are members of the sunfish family do they also feed on the muscles?
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[quote Lipnrip]I realize I may have mistitled this post. I guess what I was getting at is since the muscles are so hard to get rid of and spread like wildfire would it hurt to introduce fish which thrive on them? [/quote]
This suggestion has been made multiple times on this and other forums and I have been told that the DWR has looked into it. It could happen. That said, there are some possible hurdles and you might see a decision not to pursue it. In the meantime, the bluegills seem to be filling that niche.
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With all the failures and horror stories that resulted from the "just dump another kind of fish in there" approach, I'd hope the DWR is VERY cautious about redears in Powell.
Of course, the counter argument is that unless the MUSSELS (note spelling) are controlled, the lake and everything downstream is ruined anyway.
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My brother and I just spent a few days down at Bullfrog to spearfish this past weekend. The visibility was terrible, only 3 feet... last year during the same week visibility was 30 feet. We think it has something to do with the muscles. Last year the muscles were everywhere. They were on every rock, stick, and even the random rope dangling in the water. The walls of the canyons were coated in them. We even made a joke that if these are the STD of the Sea, 'you better be careful where you put your dingy'. Hopefully that went over the youngsters heads, probably not though 
This year... the muscles are no where to be seen. There are remnants of dead shells on higher ground but there is little to no living muscles we could see near or in the water.
Maybe it's just wishful thinking, maybe they come in waves (every other year like certain salmon in Alaska). Maybe the cool spring has stunted their early season bloom? I don't know, but they aint there.
Hopefully they are gone but I'm not counting them out.
Since we couldn't spearfish we normal fished and it was good. Caught a bunch of stripers, smallies, catfish, and even some walleye from shore. Caught most everything on sardines using a hawaii shore fishing rig with the bait 5' off the bottom. Casting into cover with a rubber shad did well with the smallies. The walleye liked the rattle shad in the back of canyons.
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Its because runoff is trying to start. It is very delayed this year due to the weather
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I have a hunch it is because Lake Powell is coming up so fast with the higher-than-normal runoff. It may take them a little while to cover the newly covered bank.
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It might be that the lake is rising but this weekend the water didn't move an inch (as far as I could tell). That will probably change in a week or two but the water didn't move when we were there.
In past years we've seen the water go up/down 9-12" in 24 hours but not this weekend.
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It is definitely rising:
[url "http://lakepowell.water-data.com/index.php?use_af=1.9835"]Link[/url]
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Lake Powell has come up around 15 feet since the first part of April.
The new muscles would have to grow pretty fast to be the size of the dead ones in that time frame.
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Spent a week at Powell the first of May. Lake was rising about 8 inches a day then. Mussels were on every rock, tree, tumble weed, boat dock, anything that was in the water. We got cut off on mussels more times than I care to count when a fish would rub our line across a rock. Unfortunately the mussels are doing just fine in Powell.
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