I recently received the following question from a WON reader and thought I’d share both the query and my response with everyone since they pertain to the current quagga situation. Others may very well have been wondering the same thing:

“Hi Brad,  

Will you please find out why the quagga mussels in Lake Skinner prevent one from keeping their boat in the water overnight in their marina?  Now, if you want to camp there and fish with your boat, you must pull it out at the end of each day. I enjoy reading your column on freshwater fishing in SoCal.

Thank you,

Brian” (via e-mail)

After speaking with Skinner staffer Soren Dockings, I garnered a bit of insight on the matter and sent Brian the following response:

“Brian,

As I had initially suspected, Skinner doesn't allow campers, or anyone for that matter, to keep their rigs in the water overnight since the quagga mussel was discovered in the lake last year. The theory being that since the quaggas have the ability to cling to most any submerged portion of a boat, the chance of the mussels actually doing so (or even the veligers (juvenile, microscopic quaggas) entering any opening on an engine's lower unit) increases exponentially versus merely having the boat on the water for a day of activities.

As I'm sure you're well aware, all lakes are taking the quagga threat very seriously, and those already ‘infected’ by the mussels, if you will, are doing everything in their power to prevent the spread of the invasive species elsewhere.

I recently spoke with Skinner staffer Soren Dockings on the matter and he said, ‘We even had to take all of the boats stored in our storage slips out of the water and quarantine them for a month.’

Hope this info. helps Brian, and thanks for the inquiry.”