no more private boats,,,is that the future

[Musky Bob]

I wonder if the conservation department will exclude private boats from all the small conservation lakes.

Blind Pony Lake is being re-opened but it will only allow conservation boats with electric only. 20 boats with first come basis.

Hunnewell Lake (up north) has a similar rule.
The only reason I looked up Hunnewell, it was listed in Missouri Fish and Game magazine as good crappie fishing in March and fair crappie fishing in November.

Of course, I'm not familiar with all the lakes, but it looks like the conservation department doesn't want anyone who owns a small boat to enjoy some of our lakes. Is Maple Leaf next?

I wonder how many lakes around 200 acres or less will be changed to these rules?

Last fall I bought an aluminum boat just to fish some of the smaller lakes, even thinking about when Blind Pony might open (remembering catching a few bass many years ago).

If their reasons for protecting Blind Pony Lake is valid, why don't they protect all of our lakes?

I sent an email to the department, but I was so upset it probably didn't make much sense. Besides, I doubt if anyone will listen.

I wonder what can be done to stop them from doing this to all of our small lakes.

[CrappieTech]

Iread that article and it said they were doing that on those lake becuase zebra mussles had been introduced into them from private boats.We should all really start thinking about that when we pull our boats out of one body and go to another.You need to clean the boat and livewells first.
I know with the water down at LOZ if ya fish up around the dam area that they are all over the rocks that are exposed.
I dont like the fact of not being able to put my boat on some lakes either but those things are getting bad.So i guess i can understand thier point.

[Musky Bob]

Hunnewell Lake up north has this same rule about free boats, first come. It also has a hatchery.

Let's see, there isn't any way to filter and protect the hatchery?

If the hatchery doesn't have protection, then we are in big trouble....I don't buy this excuse,,,,

If this is a big problem, all of the lakes used for city's water supply should be closed to private boats.

I don't buy into this...but may be this will only be lakes with hatcheries.

[Musky Bob]

The zebra mussels win.....below is a reply to my concerns....
However, I do wonder about the lakes that supply water to cities. are they in danger???

Thank you for your most recent e-mail. The new boat regulation has been placed on just three of the over 900 lakes that the Department manages for fishing: Blind Pony Lake, Hunnewell Lake, and Lake Paho. All three of these lakes serve as water supplies for Department hatcheries that deliver fish to all other lakes statewide. The private boat ban is to insure that these lakes do not inadvertently become infested with zebra mussels. Zebra mussels in these lakes would not only cause problems for hatchery pipes and infrastructure, but they also could be inadvertently spread to other bodies of water elsewhere in the state where we stock fish. We decided to do whatever we could to keep this from happening, so in addition to treating the water on each and every load of fish that leaves a Department hatchery, we also decided to eliminate the use of private boats on these three lakes.

Since the most frequent way zebra mussels are spread is through private boats moving from an infested lake to an uninfested lake without the boat, motor and trailer being completely cleaned and dried, eliminating private boats protects our hatchery water supplies by making sure that an unknown transfer of the mussel does not take place. We knew this was something that had to be done, but we were also confident that anglers would understand why we had to do so. As a concession to anglers who like fishing from boats, we decided to make small boats available at these three lakes to anglers at no charge. While there have been boat restrictions on the Busch and Reed areas near St. Louis and Kansas City for years, and one small St. Louis urban lake hasn't allowed any boats since it opened to public use, there is no plan to expand this regulation beyond the three hatchery lakes mentioned above.

I hope this explanation helps. Please drop me an e-mail if you have other questions.

Rich

Richard E. Wehnes
Fisheries Programs Supervisor
Missouri Department of Conservation
P.O. Box 180
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180
Phone: 573/522-4115 ext. 3162
Fax: 573/526-0990
email: [email protected]

[crankbait mo]

If you lived on the LOZ like i do and could see how fast the zebra mussel are becomeing a problem for boat lifts, docks, and lower units on boats. I can understand why the conservvation department did ban private boats on those lakes and why small cities may have to do the same.............

[Jigging15]

Kind of a scary thought how fast they can invade a new lake.

[911slab-slayer]

have they found any in truman yet??

[wbook01]

"...but it looks like the conservation department doesn't want anyone who owns a small boat to enjoy some of our lakes."

Boat owners can enjoy these few lakes the same as anybody else. They just have to use the MDC boats.

[rocket rich]

Busch is the same way. in st charles mo

[beagle man]

I dont see a problem they are not telling you you cant fish they are telling you, you can fish the way we want you to. it cant be easy being the D.O.C. has to be a rough way to go. zebra mussells ban things man.