Missouri Warns of Danger Clinging to the Bottom of your Boat

Danger sometimes lurks where you least expect it and that includes the bottom of your fishing boat. The state of Missouri is asking all fishermen and boaters to look because a real danger might be clinging to the bottom of your favorite water craft right now.

The Missouri Department of Conservation has just issued a bulletin advising everyone who uses boats in the state to check for something. The villains they want you to look for appear like this.

These are the invasive zebra mussels and they are a killer to a river or lake ecosystem. They like to cling to the bottom of boats which is a big problem if a boat moves from one lake or river to another.  After first being spotted in the Mississippi River in Missouri in 1991, the Department of Conservation says they have spread like wildfire including "to the Missouri, Osage, and Meramec rivers, and streams downstream of infested lakes. They have also been found in the following Missouri lakes: Blue Springs Lake, Bull Shoals Lake, Carrollton Recreation Lake, Lake Jacomo, Lake Lotawana, Lake Taneycomo, Lake of the Ozarks, Longview Lake, Prairie Lee Lake, and Smithville Lake."

What can you do do avoid the spread of zebra mussels in Missouri?

They advise four different steps including clean your boat inside and out and then letting it fully dry before putting it into another river or lake. Missouri also recommends draining all live wells before you leave a lake. Finally, you should never dump bait you're using into a lake or river either.

All of the different fish and organisms that are native to Missouri lakes and rivers suffer when the invasive zebra mussels are present and this is the time of year when so many fishermen are returning to the lakes and rivers. That's why a boat check and cleaning every time you leave the water is vital.