Fall musky anglers reminded of bait restrictions when fishing with suckers
MADISON – Because of statewide restrictions now in place to prevent the spread of a deadly fish disease, anglers who use suckers for fall musky fishing are encouraged to buy only the amount of these bait fish they need for each outing before heading out onto the water for the remainder of the season, which closes Nov. 30. The same holds true for other anglers using live minnows or other bait fish.
Under emergency rules aimed at preventing the spread of viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS for short,
http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/pages/vhs.html that took effect statewide on Nov. 2, anglers are prohibited from taking live fish away from any water in Wisconsin, including leftover bait minnows, suckers and other fish.
These requirements reflect concerns that bait fish could possibly be exposed to the fish disease while anglers are fishing if the anglers change the water in which the minnows are kept. Using leftover bait on other waters could potentially spread VHS, says Mike Staggs, fisheries director for the Department of Natural Resources.
“If we knew exactly where VHS was in the state, we could tell anglers where it was safe to take home bait minnows,” he says. “But with 15,000 lakes and 44,000 miles of flowing rivers, we can’t test every water for VHS so an angler doesn’t know whether the water they are fishing has VHS or not.
“It’s important for anglers to keep in mind why they should never move suckers or minnows to a new water. We’re trying to prevent transferring potentially infected water or fish to a new water,” he says. “The best advice we can give anglers is to buy only the bait fish you need and carry commercially processed minnows in reserve.” The new rules do not apply to other kinds of bait such as leeches or nightcrawlers.
Minnows distributed by licensed wild bait harvesters, raised by fish farmers, or imported from other states must meet Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection fish health inspection and testing standards, but after the minnows leave the a licensed bait dealer, there is no way to track their fish health status.
VHS has demonstrated in other countries and Great Lakes states the potential to cause large fish kills, long-term reductions in wild fish populations, and severe economic losses for aquaculture operations, Staggs says.
While Wisconsin hasn’t had any large fish kills to date due to VHS, the disease is very new here, having been detected for the first time in May 2007. Fish appear to be most vulnerable to VHS in the spring, when water temperatures are cold and fish immune systems are stressed from the rigors of spawning. So the spring could hold the potential for fish kills that people would notice; it’s also important to note that other states have reported signs that the main VHS impact is on young fish, and fish kills of these smaller fish are not as easy to detect.
Muskies, walleye, bluegill, freshwater drum, and yellow perch are all very susceptible to VHS – they are all in the federal government’s “Tier 1” category of species that have been documented to have suffered fish kills, according to Tim Simonson, the fisheries biologist leading DNR’s musky team.
Muskies in particular are one of the species that has suffered major fish kills in the lower Great Lakes as a result of VHS. In spring 2006, large die-offs of musky in the Detroit River and St. Lawrence River were related to VHS. And there are signs now that the musky population in the St. Lawrence River in New York is dropping significantly as a result of VHS, which has already killed thousands of fish in the river.
More information about VHS and about the steps that all anglers and boaters statewide are required to take to help prevent the spread of this disease is available on the DNR Web site
http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/pages/vhs.html FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Staggs (608) 267-0796
