At Tackle It you'll find what you need to have a safe and enjoyable fishing experience!
Tackle It Conducting Zebra and Quagga Mussel Inspection
ARTICLE LINKS
· ... Keeping quagga mussel out of Clear Lake
· Quagga mussel fight enters new phase
· Clamping Down on Quagga Mussels (LA Times)
· A new invasion: Quagga mussels take over lake (Milwaukee, WI)
"Native to the Ukraine, quagga mussels entered the Great Lakes in ballast water in 1989 and were discovered in Lakes Mead, Mohave, and Havasu in January 2007; this fall they have also been found in parts of the San Diego county reservoir system entirely unconnected to the Colorado River system, presumably transported by an infested boat.
They breed prolifically, and cause horrific damage in several different ways. Most obviously, they will cover any hard object with shells, thus clogging intake pipes, ruining engines, and crusting pilings and mooring lines. Recreational enjoyment of infested areas is diminished when their sharp shells cover beaches, and also by their pervasive stench." - Victoria Brandon, Lake County News, 11/11/07
Tackle It is serving as a temporary inspection site to assist with boat inspections and issuance of stickers for boaters who wish to satsify the new requirements imposed by the Lake County board of supervisors. This took effect April 8th, 2008.
All boats being brought into Lake county from other areas must have their vessels inspection for Zebra and Quagga mussels. Lake county has set up a special hotline: 707-263-2556. Also, permits and a copy of the new regulations can be downloaded from the Lakeport Chamber of Commerce website at www.lakeportchamber.com.
For the next two weeks, Tackle It will be opening early on weekends to help fishermen fishing in tournaments satisfy these new inspection requirements. We;ll be open 8 to 5 Mon thru Sat and 8 to 2 on Sunday. But special arrangements can be made for tournaments coming to Lakeport we can open early for you. Just call us.
This new regulation JUST got passed and there are not enough inspection stations set up around this huge lake yet so we stepped in to help. Tackle It is working closely with local authorities to ensure that fishermen have what they need to continue to fish tournaments on Clear Lake.
An example of what we've done is Ed called Fish & Game to discuss the "live bait" moratorium. Evidently they are saying that live bait risks introduction of the mussels as well as boats. The problem Ed saw in this new regulation was that "worms" are not packed in water so they are not a risk.
Worms are packed in dirt and mussels don't live in dirt so we saw no reason for the regulation to eliminate all "live bait" when their concern is only live bait that lives in water (i.e. minnows). We believe we have convinced them to revise the requirement to allow worms rather than eliminating worms as bait. This is HUGE!
For more information about this program, please call the Lake County Mussel Hotline at (707) 263-2556.
