Bluebacks

Saw 6 dead stripers floating today along with 4 dam POS bluebacks on Martin.. When are dh's going to learn that DIY biology by some nad can really screw up a lake's ecosystem. Yeah, I'm very familiar with Lake Lanier. What's next, snakeheads? Really wish that somebody that knows something and who did it, would come forward and point fingers. Reminds me of the idiot on here, asking about transporting hogs to another property. F'ing rant ain't over on this.

Ok...school me. I get the whole invasive/introduced species upsetting the ecosystem thing, but what's the correlation between the bluebacks and dead stripers?

Schooling aint going to be extensive. As for me, I have little concern for the stripers. They have no correllation with the blue backs, except that the fish are dealing with a lack of dissolved oxygen in the water. Mostly all fish are affected. As long as the striper population is controllable, no big deal, The bluebacks will multiply like crazy and affect the fry of our desired fish. ie bream, bass, crappie.

Bucket biologists put bluebacks in Smith Lake up here at Cullman about 10 or so years ago, too.

And now on Smith it regularly takes an 18lb+ sack of spotted bass to win a tournament instead of a 10lb sack. With no evidence (only theories) of the long term effects, I'm just going to keep enjoying the 5 minute drive from the house to catch a quality sack of fish.

Violating state laws about transporting and introducing species is worth a "quality" limit or winning a little bass tournament? Hopefully an unknown disease won't join all the septic runoff in Smith and harm the fish, or the herring won't get into the Sipsey and move downstream.

If someone transported a dozen wolves from Canada and turned them loose because they were cool, everyone would have a freaking come-apart. Because it's a fish no one sees and, gosh the fishing's better!, then no one gives two rips about it.

At some point the piper will present his bill.

I hope you live close to Smith. Talked with my son yesterday and there are strong indications of detrimental effects caused by bluebacks. And I nor many others couldn't care less what you or any other bassbuster has in his sack when it is compared to the health of a lake.. Really pretty childish when you consider that folks actually do this with invasive species and the thought process is people's tournament ego.

They already downstream

I never condoned the act of violating state laws; but the species was entered into the population and at this point there's no way that can be undone. My simple point was that the fishing has improved greatly, and I'm going to enjoy it. You're more than welcome to go purchase a casting net and start the effort to remove them yourself, and it will not hurt my feelings either. Good effort with the wolves analogy.

Because the spots are bigger, fishing is better?

Gotcha1... Yes I do live close to Smith (5 Minutes to launch) I fish it multiple times a week. For me, the size and numbers have gotten better every year for the past 5 years that I've been fishing consistently. The blue backs were introduced around 10 years ago, so thus far I have seen no negative effects. Maybe that will change, but maybe it will not. I've researched this issue because the bluebacks have changed the way you have to fish the lake, but I have not found any fisheries to have hard evidence that the fishing has been hurt since the introduction of bluebacks. Again, most have not had the bluebacks in the systems to sample long term effects; so there are still plenty of questions to be answered. But as I said earlier regarding Smith, it is now to late to remove them so all I can do is enjoy the fishing an wait; childish as that may be.

To only talk about one species, doesn't address the quality of fishing.
We've beat this to death. I give!

At smith the spots are bigger but numbers are down to me. I just don't catch as many bass as years past and blue backs have already been spotted in warrior river below smith

I think you 2 are completely missing the point. There's always...never mind.

Privet hedge is wonderful, mimosa trees are awesome, princess trees are beautiful, feral hogs are fun to hunt, Asian carp are fun to bowfish for, fire ants keep the neighbor hood kids out of the yard...... Yes I do believe I
I have changed my mind all non-native species are great!!....As long as they have ONE benefit I'll over look any possible negative affects. SMH

what are bluebacks

A type of herring that are not native to Alabama waters. Some predator fish including bass eat them and may thrive on them. But they can/may be disruptive to a lake or waterway's ecosystem. Also since they're not found here, importing them is illegal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueback_herring

I understabd your point clearly; there could be long term problems that effect some, or all, species of fish in the fishery that the bluebacks were released into. I get that, and I agree that no individual should take it upon themself to introduce a new species into an environment. With that said though, my point is it has already been done, the state officials have said it would be impossible to remove them from Smith due to the depth and size of the lake, and they simply are there to stay for better or worse. Currently it appears to be better, and I hope it does not have negative long term effects, but it may. I didn't put the bluebacks in the lake, and the indiviuals that did have been caught. There is simply nothing else for me to do but fish the lake, enjoy it, and pray that the fishing remains positive. I primarily fish for bass and crappie in Smith; and thus far have not seen any negative side effects. I went yesterday evening with my brother for 2 hours and caught between 15-20 spots and an 8lb catfish on a Crankbait. Once I do start seeing negative side effects, I will gladly let you know. If you don't want the bluebacks in your primary lake I suggest you start talking to people at the launch and your local game warden. If people are Stocking them, they need to be caught and punished just like the 2 guides on Smith.

Thanks, Idot. Just about to google to find out how big they get.

Anybody want to say anything in response?

Who'd of thought they grow to 16"? That's big enough to hunt stripe with.

Which is why I snicker when I hear someone say, "Bass won't eat that lure, it's too big!" and yet they eat giant gizzard shad, big bluebacks, other bass and whatever else they can get their mouths around.

When I was about 13 and we first moved to Alabama in 1976, the 1 1/2-2 acre pond on our place had a few catfish, a ton of red-eye bream, and pond shiners or roaches that grew up to about 16" long. We added a couple grass carp and 11 small bass from another pond. There are no more shiners, now, and the bream population has stabilized and produces some real decent fish. The bass grew like they were on steroids for about the first 10 years or so, then leveled off, too. Haven't fished for them there in a long time, but I assume there are still some there. My Mom feeds the bream daily, when she goes down to feed our ducks, so we see them regularly. There are still a few big catfish in there, and the last of the grass carp was last seen just a few years ago, and was probably in the neighborhood of 75-80 lbs, then. Biggest bass I know that came out of it was about 5 lbs or so, biggest catfish is 27 lbs. We've introduced shellcracker a couple times, and have caught some up to about a pound, but they've never really taken hold like the bluegill and the bass. I've thought now and then that it'd be nice to have a place to put crappie in, but I've seen the damage they do to a micro-system like a small pond, and I'd rather not have to start over like we had to with all the small bream and shiners infesting the pond.

Dang yall, give the guy a break. All he said was the bass fishing has gotten better. He's probably not a fisheries biologist. He doesn't know what kind of detrimental effect they "may" have on the ecosystem later on. Hell if someone put something in the coosa that killed all the bass and carp and made stripers, catfish, and crappie bigger I would be jumping for joy but the guys in the 75 mph bass boats would all be pissed. Give the guy a break. I haven't ever seen a group of grown men so eager to jump on a guy over something he didn't create, that brings him greater joy.

TFD, don't you think that jumping up and down with all the bass gone is extreme. Also, the earlier statement about fishing being better leaves out a lot of species and fishermen.

Yeah, that was kind of harsh. I think they ought to make tournament bass fishing illegal though. Do you realize how detrimental tournament bass fishermen are to the ecosystem? They catch every bass they can possibly catch and net them, removing most of their slime coat. the ones that they keep to weigh in are kept in a livewell in subpar conditions for hours and after they are touched by 2 or 3 different people they are weighed and then finally turned loose miles from their home, most likely to die. Also the bass fishermen roar up and down the lake at 70 miles per hour, never stopping for more than 5 minutes at a time, ultimately sending out relentless wakes that muddies up all the near shore waters so I can't see carp (another invasive species) when I go bowfishing. I am trying to kill all the carp so they won't raid the beds of all the crappie, bream, and bass. Yall talk about something detrimental to the ecosystem, it's the tournament bass fishermen.

You see how it sucks when you enjoy something and someone roasts your ass for it. Leave the guy alone.

As far as my fishing, yall know I love catching stripers and stripers love eating blueback herring so bring them on. As a matter of fact, I bet catfish and crappie eat them too. The only fish that I believe the blueback herring will effect is the young of the year bass and bream which feed on phytoplankton but I am sure there is probably enough phytoplankton to go around.

Hey, bud, you are preaching to the choir as far as I'm concerned on tournaments.

I have a small pond in South Carolina that someone introduced bluebacks to back a few years ago. I thought they looked like awesome bass forage! I have not been able to shock the pond since then but am going to try to shock it this fall. I would like to see how they have affected that fishery either positive or negative.

Carp, an omnivore, eat crappie, bream and bass and raid their beds? Learn something new every day.

I didn't say carp eat crappie, bream and bass. I said they raid their beds.
click here
click here too

I thought stripe guides got caught fishing with bluebacks and they had to pay a big fine?? I didn't think the state put them In there

Clem, bring your cast net when you come.

I caught two in a net below Oliver L&D about 3 years ago

Bluebacks are probably good for the environments.

Just for reference here are some dead bluebacks from Smith Lake.

Man, those look like good bait. Hillary will probably be vetting 100,000 blueback refugees from smith lake and dropping them off in a lake near you. Sorry, I been in the wine and that seems funny right now.