Michigan Muskie Alliance

finlander wrote:I have only fished Muskegon Lake and Lake Michigan this year. I have carpeted bunks, 4, on my trailer. How might I clean those? And do they suggest we remove the boat from the trailer to let it dry? I'd love to let it sit in the sun and bake it dry for a few hours. Like Mike says, using one boat here, and another for waters shown to have VHS. Seems like it wont be as severe on a larger body of water. I want to go fish Murray but I may skip inland lakes for quite awhile. :?

Finlander - If they dry for a full day you should be OK. However, a lake like Murray that gets a lot of outside boating/fishing traffic is likely to already have the disease.

Had people taken the suggested steps seriously years ago when the invasive signs were posted at all access sites maybe we would have a chance. As we've seen with the spread of Milfoil, Zebra Mussels and other invasives we the people don't seem to care enough. If we couldn't stop Zebra Mussels there's no way we can stop this.

Is there an official press release on Sanford yet?

Bomba wrote:Is there an official press release on Sanford yet?

No reason to panic the masses. I don't think anyone will be surprised to see VHSv positives from every sample they have sent to the pathologists from lakes across Michigan. Personally, I would wait until the sample results from this spring have been returned then make an announcement. If they don't wait, in my mind, there will be more questions than answers.

The damn thing is it takes several days for the carpeted skids to dry out. Maybe warmer weather will speed the process. I have no livewells to worry about. I wonder about the intake on the outboard too. Mike has a good point about waterfowl possibly spreading it from lake to lake. Now the only thing that keeps me from Murray is the gas prices for the 110 mile round trip. Thanks for the info Will.

finlander wrote:The damn thing is it takes several days for the carpeted skids to dry out. Maybe warmer weather will speed the process. I have no livewells to worry about. I wonder about the intake on the outboard too. Mike has a good point about waterfowl possibly spreading it from lake to lake. Now the only thing that keeps me from Murray is the gas prices for the 110 mile round trip. Thanks for the info Will.

Anywhere that water can be retained is a problem. You could spray your carpeted bunks before putting your boat on the trailer.

If you read back through the VHS thread in the PRE area we discuss many things that could be a problem such as waterfowl.

Worrying about this is moot- it is a virus that is so small it can travel anywhere - including the aquifer - it is already everywhere so there is no point in stressing. Assume infection of every body of water in every state. It is similar to the six degrees of seperation phenomena. Chances are that every known musky lake is already infected as this was around years before it was detected.
Kevin

Cyberlunge wrote:Worrying about this is moot- it is a virus that is so small it can travel anywhere - including the aquifer - it is already everywhere so there is no point in stressing. Assume infection of every body of water in every state. It is similar to the six degrees of seperation phenomena. Chances are that every known musky lake is already infected as this was around years before it was detected.
Kevin

Exactly.

Well said c-lunge. In fact, there is actually some good angler evidence to suggest that Sanford has had symptoms of the virus for a number of years, peaking in 2004 and tapering off after that. Probably similar stories on high traffic waters around the state.

Another interesting side point is that large numbers crayfish and snails were also found dead all over Budd Lake during the collection, and the virus is "known" not to infect these critters. Possibly something else going on in cahoots with VHS on Budd...

Budd Lake VHS confirmation a disappointment to fishery managers

"I wouldn't call it a shock," said Tammy Newcomb of the Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division, of last week's confirmation of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) in Clare County's Budd Lake. "But it is a huge, huge, disappointment," said Newcomb, DNR Lake Huron Basin coordinator.

http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm ... 2542&rfi=6

My next question is a good one. What effect will this virus have on new plants from Iowa? Maybe we should be using our own eggs after all. My guess is the survival rate will drop on the fingerlings. I would hope the survivors would develope immunity. Mike and Michelle

I'm curious about the overall mortality rate. What percentage of fish will be killed in an infected body of water?

Or maybe the Iowa superfish have a natural immunity, who's to say?? Not all species/populations are stricken even in affected waters. Why? Who knows. Certainly no reason to scrap the Iowa fish without even trying. Although, admittedly the Budd die off may have already included Iowa fish, I don't have my plant info in front of me, and I don;t know what year classes were present in the dead Budd fish. Anyway...

The percentage of a dieoff could be all across the board based on many other stressor variables, I don't know what the high end could be from an outbreak. The Budd muskie dieoff might end up being the highest percentage of a population dieoff to date though, not sure but it might be somewhere between 10-30%????

Our Hamlin Lake muskie cohorts are bracing for the VHS.

Deadly fish disease now in Lake Michigan

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news. ... y_id=36283

05/25/07 BRIAN MULHERIN - DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A dead brown trout on the shore of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin was found to have viral hemhorragic septicemia, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The disease, which has caused fish kills on Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie in recent years, can cause freshwater gamefish of almost every known species to die of internal bleeding.

Officials from Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources could not be reached by press time, but news that the disease had reached Lake Michigan sparked concerns in the area.

Jim Fenner, president of the Ludington Area Charterboat Association, said he’s concerned about the disease, but also concerned about perception.

“We want to make sure that everyone understands that VHS is a fish disease and is not transmittable to humans, but we think that information’s getting out,” Fenner said. “The DNR is working real hard to get that information out.”

Fenner said so far, the salmon season is looking fine.

“All the reports coming in from up and down the lake are that the fish are very healthy right now,” Fenner said. “Guys are finding limits at least as far up as Grand Haven right now.”

Fenner said even if the disease is in Lake Michigan, he’s hearing that in a worst-case scenario, the lake might lose eight or nine percent of its total fish population.

“It’s interesting to note that on Lake St. Clair where they had the big fish kill last year, there’s almost nothing going on now,” Fenner said.

Although the disease has only been found in one inland lake, Budd Lake in Clare County, residents on local lakes are concerned the disease could move easily to their lakes now that it is in Lake Michigan.

“We’re worried — I think every inland lake is worried about that,” said Bob Haupt of the Hackert Lake Association. “Personally, I do not think it’s like any other diseases. This is a virus, I don’t think it’s transported in water, I think it’s transported in bait. The No. 1 baitfish is the emerald shiner. I’m more worried about people buying bait and bringing it into the lake. This is prime crappie season.”

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has created rules about where bait purchased in the various Great Lakes watersheds may be used. If Lake Michigan is confirmed by the Michigan DNR to have VHS, anglers won’t be able to use bait purchased in the Lower Peninsula in Upper Peninsula waters or Lake Superior.

Dave Hall, a resident of Hamlin Lake and a member of the Hamlin Lake Preservation Society said it seems inevitable that every invader and disease will reach every lake eventually.

“We went through the effort of trying to keep the zebra mussels out with all the signs saying wash your boat and wash your baitwells and everything and it didn’t work,” he said. “I’ve gotten fatalistic about this and feel that the diseases are just going to move everywhere because people don’t care that much. It’s something small that you can’t see and we won’t get alarmed until the fish are gone. It’s kind of like any crisis that comes up, we don’t react to it until it’s really become a very difficult situation.

“We raise our saber-tooth tiger kitten because it’s cute and we finally decide it’s nasty when it eats our arm off.”

Hall said because Hamlin hosts so many transient boats and visitors it’s possible the disease and subsequent invasive species will reach Hamlin Lake sooner, rather than later.

Just an FYI here - the collecting biologist on Budd said that the majority of dead fish collected were over 33". Given that Budd received 1000 Iowa fish in 2005, and only a handful of that year class turned up dead (in a lake that is known for having VERY high fingerling survival), I suppose you could come up with a few hypotheses, 2 being:

1) Iowa fish are less prone to die once infected (note: healthy, living fish in Budd were also positive...furthermore biologists assume that all fish in the lake are VHS positive).
2) Non-sexually mature fish were able to combat the disease better than fish that had to go through the rigors and stresses of spawning.

We certainly don't know enough yet to confirm or deny these or other theories, but regardless it should be helpful to analyze data and observations like this biologist had as we progress through this nasty dilemma.