02-26-2011, 06:04 AM
Lucabrasi,
Your question about whether shellcrackers would do something with mussells is a valid one. In the upper Midwest where they have an invasion of I believe zebra mussells, the shellcrackes have been found to be chomping down on them. The shellcracker or "redear" as some people call them have a set of teeth in their throat designed for breaking snail and mollusk shells and then eating the fleshly parts. To everyone else that has commented on this subjectt, your comments have been appreciated and are insightful. I agree, wipers would be great to have. I have a friend who lived in Utah and he heard they were really awesome fighters. I posed the shellcracker idea because Twin Lakes in Franklin County seems to have its bluegill population really being hammered by fishermen. Several years ago Dick Sculley the area Fisheries Manger asked me whether I htought a limit on the bluegill would be justifiable. I told him at the time that I thought the idea was too soon, maybe in several years. Well perhaps that time has arrived. In Twin Lakes there are perch, largemouth bass and crappie that prey pretty heavily on the bluegill as their forage base and humans are taking their share of bluegill also.. The shellcrackers are harder to catch later in the summer as they go deeper than many bluegill. Maybe that would help keep larger numbers of sunfish year around to be caught to relieve some pressure off the blugill by both humans and predatory fish. Just an idea I think is worth considering. Now if we could get the IDFG to consider the shellcracker.
DeeCee [fishin]
[signature]
Your question about whether shellcrackers would do something with mussells is a valid one. In the upper Midwest where they have an invasion of I believe zebra mussells, the shellcrackes have been found to be chomping down on them. The shellcracker or "redear" as some people call them have a set of teeth in their throat designed for breaking snail and mollusk shells and then eating the fleshly parts. To everyone else that has commented on this subjectt, your comments have been appreciated and are insightful. I agree, wipers would be great to have. I have a friend who lived in Utah and he heard they were really awesome fighters. I posed the shellcracker idea because Twin Lakes in Franklin County seems to have its bluegill population really being hammered by fishermen. Several years ago Dick Sculley the area Fisheries Manger asked me whether I htought a limit on the bluegill would be justifiable. I told him at the time that I thought the idea was too soon, maybe in several years. Well perhaps that time has arrived. In Twin Lakes there are perch, largemouth bass and crappie that prey pretty heavily on the bluegill as their forage base and humans are taking their share of bluegill also.. The shellcrackers are harder to catch later in the summer as they go deeper than many bluegill. Maybe that would help keep larger numbers of sunfish year around to be caught to relieve some pressure off the blugill by both humans and predatory fish. Just an idea I think is worth considering. Now if we could get the IDFG to consider the shellcracker.
DeeCee [fishin]
[signature]