Zebra Mussels will benefit from Minnesota's Government shutdown!

Ms. Zebra Mussel has got places to be, lakes to see.

It's going to be a great summer to spread myself around!

Ms Zebra Mussel might get involved in a certain fishing contest at Big Sandy Lake, or she’s thinking about attending Lake Waconia’s Band Festival… let’s not forget the free loving waters of Lake Kabetog. Either way, Ms. Zebra is looking forward to a summer of spreading and with Minnesota’s impending government shut down, the possibilities are limitless. 

Come on elected officials, who’s side are you on? Minnesota constituents or aquatic invasive species?

“A shutdown of state government would suspend virtually all services and divisions within Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources.

All 74 state parks, recreational areas and campgrounds, visited by millions of people every year, will close. Conservation and enforcement operations will also cease, and ecological monitoring will come to a halt.”

Coming to a beach near you! Zebra Mussels

Minnesota resorts have noticed zebra mussels by the thousands on Pelican Lake, Zebra Mussels will benefit from government shutdown and Minnesota Budget problems, and that will mean bad news for our beaches and trying to protect our lakes from Aquatic Invasive Species. To read more…

Over-sexed Chinese Mitten Crabs threatens native wildlife and researchers are asking your help!

It’s unwelcome by the US Fish and Wildlife, over-sexed and in American waters: the Chinese Mitten Crab has spread to both eastern and western coastal lines, and is alarming conservationists.

Capable of thriving both in seawater and fresh waterways, the crustacean invader joins the list of aquatic invasive species as a major threat to native wildlife.  

Ms. Chinese Mitten Crab’s impacts are likely to be damaging and her continued spread seems certain. She can grow to 5-6cms, gets her name from her conspicuous furry claws, or as she calls them…mittens. Unlike native crabs, she is very adaptable and can exist in salt and fresh water. Did we mention her furry mittens are pretty soft?

During breeding season, Chinese Mittens gather in large “swarms” in estuary waters. Each female lays 250,000-1m eggs each, giving the species a dramatic capacity for invasion. The crabs feed on other invertebrates and fish eggs, affecting river ecology. They also have a habit of burrowing into riverbanks, undermining flood banks and shorelines.

“Anyone spending time on the Bay or its tidal tributaries this summer who spots a crab with furry looking claws is asked to report the sighting to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

The center, based in Edgewater, MD, is trying to gather information about the distribution and abundance of Chinese mitten crabs in the region to help develop plans to control their spread and limit their damage.

Got Furry Crabs? Control the Spread and Report it!

Since 2005, more than 100 of the crabs, which are native to East Asia, have been found in mid-Atlantic estuaries from the Chesapeake Bay to the Hudson River, and biologists believe the species may have the potential to spread as far south as Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.” To read more…

Reports can be made and photos uploaded by visiting a new reporting website http://mittencrab.nisbase.org/and going to the tab "My Crabs."

Monday morning blues....

It’s hard. We know.

You’re back in the office after a phenomenal weekend on the boat.

Approving expense reports. Hiring and firing. Overseeing installation of the office copier machine and producing TPS Reports doesn’t get the blood flowing.  

At Bob Lake we want to help. Get those daydreams flowing. And we know just the thing—wear a Bob Lake pin-up tee under that mild-manner suit while your dreaming about hunting down Snakeheads.

If you took a bunch of Rambo-worthy adversaries and dropped them on the Virginia’s Potomac River, it would look something like this. Oh wait… Snakeheads are already here.

That's one nasty fish!

Snakehead has been on Virginia's list of predatory and undesirable exotic species since 2002. Thus, it makes it illegal for all of you to possess a snakehead without a permit.

Because they are an invasive species terrorize fish, snakeheads disrupt and compete with the feeding and breeding of native and naturalized fish. Compounded with the ability to transmit parasites, live outside of water for hours and slither across dry land, these fish could permanently affect Virginia's natural aquatic ecosystems.

Code Name – Operation Bait and Switch

Let’s talk carp. In particular, cunning Asian Carp

In the plus column: our men and women in uniform have been working over time at preventing Asian Carp from slipping past the sanitary zone – Duane Chapman, U.S. Geological Survey biologist and Asian Carp expert and member of the Asian Carp Response Team- is always on hot pursuit and preventing the spread one of America’s “Top 10 Evil Animals.”

Duane Chapman
 (a.k.a. U.S. Asian Carp Bounty Hunter)

In the minus column: Asian Carp have a habit of finding their way into...well, let’s be frank, into places where they don’t belong.

"I think there is a very serious issue here," said Chapman. "We may now be finding them in lakes, ponds, bayous, anywhere the river water went. Those things will be full of carp now."

Asian Carp’s secret strategy and weapon: while legislators, media and conservation officers are focused on preventing the spread of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes… Asian Carp have decided to swim down stream.

Code name – Operation Bait and Switch

Technically, it’s a technique taken out of the Chinese Communist Military Playbook to spread propaganda and world domination of Ramen Noodles.

Oh Carp! Stop the Spread!

Click Here to read more about spring floods along the Mississippi River the spreading the Asian carp downstream. 

Go Figure… Minnesota is spending millions to stop the spread of Zebra Mussels, while spending millions to promote an industry that will increase their numbers

Zebra mussels need calcium (calcium carbonate) to build their shells and for reproduction. "Dissolved calcium in water is an essential constituent of shells for zebra mussels to grow from larvae to veligers and adults. It was shown that there is a significant relationship between calcium content and zebra mussel density." (G.L. Mackie et al., 1989)

Limestone is composed of forms of calcium carbonate — and the extensive use of limestone is a major part of how sulfide-mining companies claim they will control the leaching of heavy metals to Northern Minnesota waters. So Minnesota is spending millions to eradicate zebra mussels, while at the same time it is spending millions to promote an industry that will feed them.

It's going to be a prolific summer!

Is it any wonder why Ms Zebra Mussel is laughing at us? 

Special thanks to C. A. Arneson of MinnPost.com for cracking the story!   Click here to read more.

Ms MILFoil and Hydrilla unfairly maligned as instruments of terror!

There’s been a lot of gossip going around lately, so we’d like to set the record straight: American’s are fed up with aquatic invasive plants and their waging war on water weeds.

At least we’re 82% sure.

Water Milfoil Fronds

Introducing Water Milfoil and Hydrilla, an all too common collaboration unfairly maligned as instruments of terror on our waterways. 

Honestly, while Bob Lake would like you to spread Ms MILFoil around, pertaining to these two aquatic invasive weeds, we need mild-mannered Americans to sign up and wage war on these invasive aquatic weeds.

No doubt numerous boaters have fallen victim to Ms MILFoil’s fronds. Her tiny green fronds appear to be harmless, sure—but that’s her style. Pay no attention to the suggestively red bathing suit, or the subliminal messaging of control it, her goal is to take over our waters. And now… she’s teamed up with Hydrilla.

Oh Carp!

"You can’t get the boat out, you can’t use the Jet Ski. You essentially have no use of the waterway."

Carp Protection Gear... Send Us Your Ideas!

You’re on the clock.

You’ve got just over the craziness of Memorial Day weekend and it will be another four days before you’ll embrace a world of sparkling water, Lakemaid Beers, water skis and fish slapping you in the face.

And since you’ve got a fair amount of business to attend to in the interim, you do not—not—have time to waste on surfing the web for Carp protection gear.

But, Doug Grann of Wildlife Forever is contemplating the issue of helmets and baseball bats for staff cruising rivers infected by Asian Carp.

If anyone has ideas for Carp Protection Gear, post your photos on Bob Lake’s facebook, and if like your  gear, we'll send you a free t-shirt.