In an earlier post I’d made a joking reference to the next great gamefish being the common carp. Assuming plenty naturally; the continual destruction of the pristine water via human interaction, global warming, acid rain, and all other ills.

That theory may have more legs than first imagined.

Of greatest concern to states, water districts, and the populations they supply is the Quagga Mussel, whose prolific reproduction clogs pipes, pumps, and all that precious infrastructure that takes water from its source and out your tap.

These same entities are less concerned about environmental issues, fish populations, or what it does to your moored boat – they’ve got a full plate serving up an incompressible liquid to a burgeoning population.

With California in the grip of a 26 Billion dollar deficit (this year) and the potential for many more lean years ahead, everyone is frantically searching for something that will repel the little beasties and keep the water moving to the desert.

The state Department of Food and Agriculture has added quaggas to checklists at inspection stations. Since the first find in Lake Mead, 249,000 boats, canoes and kayaks have been stopped in California. Of those, 21,728 were drained and dried after evidence of mussels were detected. Nearly 400 have been quarantined.

Little wonder that the issue is growing with great ferocity, as nearly 10% of the recreational boats inspected are coming up “dirty.”

Of particular interest to us fishermen is the option of introducing a second invasive species to eat the first. Apparently the Black Carp is a voracious eater of the Quagga (as is the Red-Eared Sunfish), and a last ditch option may be to introduce Carp to the water supply.

I assume they’ll be sterilized triploids or something similar, but I’m not so sure:

Introducing carp to eat the sharp-shelled quaggas has not met with similar zeal. Still, Steve Robbins, general manager of the Coachella Valley Water District, sees value in allowing black carp to be used if the state’s power and water delivery system is overrun.

“I haven’t dropped the idea,” Robbins said. “We’re being successful right now. But if we weren’t successful” the district could seek a permit to use carp.

Nibling said some other species make meals of quaggas, such as the bottom-feeding redear sunfish.

“A number of fish eat quaggas,” he said. “The problem is they can’t eat enough.”

That’s great news for us fellows that aren’t timid about our admiration for Carp as a gamefish – but does bring some really interesting questions to the fore…

You’ve got a “Quagga Lawnmower” in the Black Carp, but you’ll probably need a sustainable (or growing) population of carp to diminish the growing population of mussels. Planting them as juveniles will cause all those monstrous White and Largemouth Bass to gorge themselves, which will piss off the water district manager (who really isn’t interested in the fisheries angle) – so in addition to suing the State of California for not delivering all the water they need to save Salmon, he’ll be suing the State again as those fat Southern California Largemouth are dining on regiments of his Quagga shock troops…

… and then the US Fish and Wildlife Service sues him for introducing an fertile invasive – with the potential for destroying most of the East Coast.

Water politics and “who ate whom” is liable to convert “fish bums” to the legal profession, as lawyers will spend more time on the water than the rest of us combined.

The good news (if any) is us apocalyptic brownliner’s will be plying our craft at every stop of the California Aqueduct, touting the merits of one Carp species over the other – until we’re recognized as a tangible threat, then we’ll join the long list of defendants summoned to the docket on a trumped up terrorism charge…

… as the Lockerbie Bomber only got eight years, we’ll be defiant as always.

The down side is that just as they clap the manacles on us – some fellow will boat the new World Record Largemouth Bass – weighing 63 pounds, and while incarcerated – and mindful of our posterior, we’ll miss out on the Great SoCal Largemouth Shootout. Southern California becoming the New West Yellowstone, drawing anglers and tournaments – lured by the prospect of lazy bloated fish barely able to tread water.

Cash prizes courtesy of the Water Districts, naturally …

Tags: Brownliner, Black Carp, Quagga Mussel, Lockerbie Bomber, West Yellowstone, California Aqueduct, largemouth bass, red eared sunfish, fish bums, Fish and Wildlife, bass tournament, Coachella Valley Water District, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, lawyers, California water politics