Question for you San Diego guys. What impacts, if any, have you seen as a result of quagga mussels "infecting" the local lakes. You know, El Cap, Jennings, Dixon, even Irvine Lake.

Has anyone's water bill gone up as a result? Has your drinking water tasted funny? Has fishing quality decreased in terms of size or numbers? Are there any other negative effects from the mussels?

This thing was made out to be some kind of environmental Armageddon and yet since the SD lakes were "infected" several years back I have not heard one peep on this topic from anyone or read a single story in the news. What's the deal? Did I miss something?

Supposedly there is a list for San Diego of all the lakes that have them, its a pretty decent list. So far one of the biggest impacts is obviously all the inspections and not being able to use certain equipment , which stinks.

Here's the map

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/taxgroup/mollusks/zebramussel/maps/CaliforniaDreissenaMap.jpg

Otay has become much clearer the last few years but other than that, nothing that I have noticed....except for the widespread panic by the water authorities.

Well, I'm in San Diego; so I guess I qualify :-) ! LOL

I've fished just about all the San Diego lakes, some more than others. They check your boat at some lakes, some lakes (Dixon and Poway) no longer allow the use of private electric motors on rental boats, they don't check at Otay at all, used to check every trip at Jennings and now they don't. Wohlford doesn't allow private boats.


Doesn't seem like a big deal down here. Main thing that annoys me (kinda think it's funny) is Lake Dixon. They raised their boat rantal prices last year to where a guy going by himself really can't enjoy fishing; it's so expensive. And they didn't improve anything! So you're paying more to fish; yet you're still fishing out of the same leaky POS boats with batteries that die on ya. They won't let me take my own electric motor because of quagga mussels, yet you'll snag someones broken line or something; and there will be a ton of them hanging everywhere. That's the funny part I guess x( ! LOL

Anyway, San Diego's annoying sometimes! Anymore questions Mr. Belloni:)~? How's 2010 treatin' ya so far?


Arden

That's sort of amusing, and at the same time sad, that they won't let you bring your own trolling motor to Dixon/Poway as if you will take the trolling motor from there and infect another lake.

Contrast this with the fact that there are no inspections at the state park managed lakes like McClure, Don Pedro, San Antonio and Nacimiento. Or the California Delta, which is only the most important water body in the state.

But hey, gotta keep those trolling motors clean and dry.

Not much excitement for me this year in fishing land. I'm optimistic for a good spring though. Just going out to make the most of my time on the water and enjoy fishing.

Also, they no longer allow private boats on Lake Wholford because of the Quagga.

Have you guys read any news stories about the costs of dealing with the quagga mussels in SD? I've searched online quite a bit and haven not been able to find any information as to the mitigation costs.

The San Diego Water District 2008 annual report makes a mention of what quagga mussels can do to water supplies, but doesn't say that they have done any of the items mentioned:

http://www.sandiego.gov/water/quality/pdf/waterqual08.pdf

I think there is potentially a very interesting news story here. A story about how everyone cried that the sky was falling with quagga mussels and yet years later - has anything happened?

You won't be seeing any of the effects for another 5 to 10 years down the road. The mussels will slowly take over any type of lake if can. The mussels need something hard to attach to, so as a soda can, rock or even a shell of the mussel will be able to hold a mussel. They will spread slowly and take over the bottom of a lake. The worst part is that they filter out a ton of plankton from the water witch will dramatically cut down on the insect life in the lakes, ex. Midges and Scuds. Yet some lakes don't have the right calcium and Ph levels to support the mussels.