Milfoil and Rusty Crayfish

[92python]

Does anyone know of a lake that has large populations of both Eurasian Milfoil and Rusty Crayfish?

I was on Woman Lake a few days ago and am amazed by the depletion of the weeds that used to be there. I have heard Rusty crayfish are to blame. There are piles of those things in there.

I just got off Tonka and was amazed at the piles of floating weeds and how bad the foil is this year. Weekends usually are the worst for floaties on Tonka.

I am curious how these 2 species co-exsist. I wish I didn't have to deal with either species.

[TV BOY]

Minnesota Bound had a piece on the Rusty Crayfish last night! Woman lake was where it was filmed. There are some commercially licensed trappers there who are getting hundreds of pounds out without making a dent in the population. The "trapper" said that he has noticed a decline in cabbage weeds in the past several years since the crayfish numbers have come up, and that he has not seen hardly any native "blue claw ?" species in his traps.

[mwal]

Rusty crawfish and millfoil would not exist together. The rusty has destroyed 2 of the lakes on the chain of lakes where my cabin is located in WI. The dnr is now trying to figure out what to do as there are no fishable populations of any specie of panfish and the northerns, muskies and largemouth bass are gone. The rustys would decimate the millfoil. Even our lilly pads are gone. Yes they have been commercially harvesting the crawfish for 6 to 8 years with no dent in the population. Woman lake id officially doomed except for smallmouths that are to full to bite.

Mwal

[JWB475]

The main body of Woman Lake is infested with Rusty's. However other parts of the lake do not seem to be affected. They haven't impacted Child or Girl (yet).

It has become a crawfish driven forage lake, the Smallmouth Bass are HUGE in that Lake, I have caught tons of Jumbo Perch upto 13 inches that were actively feeding on the Crawfish, I have seen Loon's eating them... The walleye bite at night is likely crawfish driven. I have caugth Crawfish ice fishing out there before!

It has become a tough lake to fish, with the absence of weeds, but I don't think the fishery is doomed. The Walleye population is doing OK, the DNR still nets walleye's in the spring on the Boy River between Woman and Child and uses the eggs to stock area lakes - I haven't heard of any noticable population decline.

No weeds and clear water make it a tough lake to fish...

[Swamp Scooter]

Mwal,

I too have a cabin in that area of WI and the fishing is really tough. Clear water and no weeds. The smallies are coming up in size and population but it is very hard ont he lakes. Would love to hear more about where you are in the area.
weyer003 at umn dot edu

[mwal]

Swamp Scooter,

We are on the Eau Claire Chain (Bony Lake) in Barnes WI. I now trailer to other lakes if I have guests that need to catch fish to have fun or if we want a fish fry how sad. We have had the place since Nov of 1970 so I ve seen the lakes cycles of good and poor fishing before the infestation. This chain used to harbour good flight of bills and other diver ducks but they are gone to no food. Have you ever read Gordon MacQuarrie books on duck hunting and fishing the Brule? HE hunted my uncles point on Middle EauClaire in the books he refers to it as Barrell point. The have a DNR person staying on middle creel checking etc almost 7 days a week so they must be concerned. Where are you at? I've heard the Pike lake chain in Iron River is affected also.

Mwal

[Swamp Scooter]

Mwal,

I am on Bass lake across the road from Buskey Bay on the pike chain. They have put in over a hundred cages to help establish the weeds again. The smallies are really thriving but it is gin clear water and no weeds to speak of. You can see clams moving on the bottom in 10-12 feet of water in July!

I wish there was a way to trap them and eat them all.

I guess the walleyes are doing better in the chain and the occasional muskie. I have not caught anything but a sunny and a lg. mouth.

Due to the weeds not being in the shallow water, all the predator fish stay deep until evening and then for about an hour you can catch a walleye.

[mwal]

SWamp Scooter

Our lake has a 23ft seechi disk reading so it is extremly clear. We have the same problem deep suspended fish all day then a short 20min feeding window at dusk in the shallows then they are gone. I have tried trolling with boards everything to catch daytime fish to no avail. We have lots of fish cribs but they don't seem to attract fish anymore we see very few minnows except for baby smallmouths. Our chain has a walleye limit of 2 fish with only one over 14 inches. So there are problems.

Mwal

[EBass]

Would stocking more smallies help? Just wondering.

[mwal]

Stocking More bass may help but there is no cover or vegatation for the young ones. We catch very few small bass. The smallies average 17 to 22 inches but are very well fed and hard to catch. We also have a problem with some people keeping them for food. 3 to 5lb smallies are not what you should be frying but that is what happens. Lakes with this problem should be treated as trophy bass fishery with no kill or a one over 23 inch like Chequammagon bay.

Mwal

[Swamp Scooter]

The Pike Chain has the same limit for walleyes too. I think that is due to the Indian land issue. We can troll on the lakes but it does not do much good. As you say the fish cribs are there but not having a huge impact.

It would be nice to trap huge amounts of the crawfish when they are breeding or be able to add something to make them sterile in to the population. At least they would die out then.

The smallies do help but they can only eat so much. I have not seen any minnows to speak of. Mark lots of fish in deep water but they are not interested in bait or lures.

I guess ice fishing is not so bad sometimes.

[Schnauzer]

I think it is unfortunate that Woman Lake has rusty crays. I wish they weren't there. But, sometimes these things have a way of evening out over time. I started going there regularily in '94 and the weeds had totally been wiped out on our shoreline. By two years ago I began to catch an occasional sun fish off the dock. By last year the weed growth had improved and my kids actually caught some nice sized panfish off the dock. The extended weed growth has continued this year. I have been running into more panfish all over the lake when I have been walleye fishing and the walleye fishing has been good.

If the lake is "doomed", I'd love to see it when times are good.