LOW Lamprey?

[curt quesnell]

Ish, they are really ugly.<P>You catch some fish with Lamprey on them<BR>but not many. More in or near the river<BR>but you will get one occasionally everywhere.<P>I dont think they are a problem, just ugly<BR>and discusting. I would vote them off the<BR>island.<P>Seriously, with the international implications of LOW there is very little<BR>that isnt looked at, turned over and looked<BR>at again. There are some very good fisheries<BR>people in Baudette and if there was something<BR>to deal with I feel it would be done.<P><P>------------------<BR>Curt Quesnell<BR>NorthCountry Outdoors Radio

[cashcrews]

Just got back from a first-time LOW trip in the summer. Caught a decent pike that had a lamprey attached. This is something that is not advertised in the tourism literature for the area.<P>How long have the lamprey been in the lake? Has anyone studied the effects on the fish in Lake of the Woods? How about efforts to control them? Are these the same variety of lamprey as found in the Great Lakes?<P>I had also caught sturgeon in the Rainy River during the spring season that had lamprey and/or scars. I've also found little "baby" lampreys in my livewell after keeping walleyes from the river. I've always done a thorough job of cleaning out the livewell, but what do you suppose is the chance of someone "introducing" lamprey into other lakes via a livewell or bait bucket?<P>Cashcrews

[fiskyknut]

Ishta, I can't stand those nasty critters either! 2 species are native to LOTW and also the entire Hudson bay drainage....They've been here forever, Silver and Chestnut Lampreys. Chestnuts are the ones a guy see's most often, I believe the Silvers are a nonparasitic filter feeder. Most I've seen are on Pike and/or Suckers caught in the Rainy, can't remember ever seeing one on a winter caught fish of any type. The Red river {also Hudson drainage} and some of it's tribs are very full of Chestnut Lampreys at times, so thick you can kick dozen's out of the water with your boot! They seem to really like Carp and Pike for some reason. I've seen Chestnut Lampreys close to 15 inches in length attached to fish. This is one fish I kill with pliers or any instrument of death anytime I see one! I've often wondered how they'd work for Catfish bait, but I won't touch one of these nasties so they won't be going on my hook! It is the Sea Lamprey that caused all the harm to the great lakes fishery years back, these get large, to about 3 foot and fortunatly we don't have any of these in LOTW. As far as them speading to other watersheds via livewell/baitbucket transfer, I spose it's possible. I think {not sure} those Chestnut Lamprey's are native to other watersheds besides the Hudson drainage, like the Mississippi and Missouri. Introduction of exotic/foriegn species is a bigtime concern to the MNDNR and like Curt said it's probably been looked at. I'm wondering what LOTW's fishing will be like once we get those Zebra Mussel's in the lake heavy. I think it's just a matter of time before these impact the LOTW fishery.<P>fiskyknut