Golden Mussel Biology

Interesting article on the reason they are ending the mussel inspection program at Lake Oroville. It seems they cannot reproduce in cold water:

https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2026/Apr-2026/Lake-Oroville-Update-April-29-2026#:~:text=Ongoing%20water%20testing%20and%20visual%20inspections%20of,at%20the%20California%20Department%20of%20Parks%20and

Well that's good news. At least they can't establish in higher Sierra lakes and will probably be limited in foothill lakes.

 

Great news!

Now if they can just move the lake a little closer, so it doesn’t take me 4 hours to get there…

I wonder if we will see any scientific research on "what is cold water" and if that will open up access again.

I was just at Foss lake Oklahoma.  that place gets effen cold in the winter. 

the place was littered with mussels.  they are smaller than I imagined. 

Smaller than a bean.  Petite pea sized.

Are those the same ones that were worried about here, cuz that's a bad omem for sure 

I think so.  I dried the hell out of everything when I got home.  for days and days.   tossed all my soft plastics that I used.

they were everywhere.   the lakes, if am being honest seem to be doing fine.  crazy fisheries.  seemed healthy.  I was told by a game person that Drum eat the mussels???  there were a lot of Drum-fish.  myself, I caught 3-4.