Quote Originally Posted by Springhill Duckman View Post
Craig,

Thanks for everything you post.

Quick question, since you work El dorado how has the zebra mussles affected the brush habitat in the lake? Do Crappie and Bass still use the shollow brush piles like cedar or willows or have the Zebra's choked them out of those?

Thanks
Nick
Nick,

The zebra mussel population peaked in 2006 at El Dorado and at that time brushpiles were VERY colonized with zebra mussels and this had to impact the quality of the habitat. There were no "small branches" on a pile as everything in the water had a dense covering of zebra mussels. Brushpiles were much more solid as the zebra mussel shells filled in the voids. This would reduce hiding areas for fish. We had our first zebra mussel die off mid-year 2007 and the adult zebra mussel population density dropped of dramatically. It is now possible to see rocks on the shoreline instead of coatings of zebra mussels. Brush in the lake is not completely covered with zebra mussels and line breakage due to line abrasion from the zebra shells is not currently a problem. We still have the zebra mussels in the lake but at a MUCH lower density than 2006. Crappie are currently using the brushpiles and if you happen to snag a branch and pull it to the surface there are very few noticeable zebra mussels present.

So in short, at very high zebra mussel densities I believe fish habitat was impacted at El Dorado. Currently, zebra mussel densities are low enough that they don't appear to be impacting the fish habitat.