Maine--the next Florida?

Jeff Reardon

Jeff Reardon

Well-known member
Supporter
I posted about this a few weeks back when a 10 foot python or boa was first reported on a river bank in Maine, eating what appeared to be a large beaver. To my knowledge it hasn't been seen again, but it's apparently finding enough food to grow, as evidenced by a shed skin reported in today's paper:

http://bangordailynews.com/2016/08/20/news/portland/giant-snake-skin-found-near-river-in-westbrook/

Now that our climate is warm enough for subtropical critters, I'm thinking of introducing peacock bass to diversify our fishery!
 
Florida fearing that our endemic and endangered Crocodile was doing too well these days now has a Monitor Lizard species to ravage their nests. Not happy to just stay in the far Southern reaches of the State it has now been seen as far as Orlando.....

And since as Pythons condition to expand northward we were worried about them not having enough to eat apparantely we now have a blossoming population of Capybaras to free send them into hibernation in most excellent condition....

Tilapia abound in every body of water that isn't a swimming pool and while that thrills the people who like to eat fish whose primary diet is other fishes poop they block the view of the ever growing population of non native catfish and other exotic trash....maybe the growing population of Spectacled Caiman will make a dent in those.....I have zero doubt that somewhere some idiot is discussing the need to bring in Jaquars to solve that problem.....

It truly is amazing just how stupid and short sighted elected officials and management authorities can be when there are pd lobbyists in the chicken coop.....

Careful what you wish for....Snakeheads while not as purdy but who fight as well approacheth you at a high rate of speed.....Jode Hillman reports they are good to eat if you can get past the ugly.....course you guys eat those strikingly ugly Black bottom fish things so you're set for another "ugly fish".....


Steve
 
And for more great invasive species viewing, just go to YouTube and search for "Lionfish off Alabama".

Only redeeming quality is that they taste like grouper.
 
Carl. Florida's Lionfishbpopulaion consumed every fish on the reefs and had to go West to find something to eat. Don't worry they'll move to Texas as soon as they eat all your reef fish.
 
Lionfish have been pervasive throughout the Caribbean for at least 5 years. We've gigged them in Bonaire for at least that long. IMO they are one of the best eating fish on the reef. Voracious feeders and as Steve said, will clean all the baby fish off the reef in no time. Fortunately, they top out at 17-18".
 
Dave, I read this on line about the Brown tree snake on Guam. They have even parachuted mice laced with acetaminophen which is the down fall of the snake.
They have said that in certain areas of the island they projected 13,000 Brown tree snakes per square mile.

Down here in New Mexico we have invasive tropical plants that have taken over the irrigation ditches.

Years ago a guy decided to use his son's goldfish to try and catch some trout on Quemado Lake. Years later if you were up on the hillside looking down at the lake you would wonder why the water seemed to be colored orange. They netted tons of 2 and 3 pound goldfish but to no avail. Finally they have brought in the Tiger Musky from WI, and that seems to have helped.
Al
 
Al - that's what I was referring to. The Guam story sounded pretty silly when they began "bombing" the island with little dead mouse parachutes to get rid of the snakes. We flew in there quite often on WestPacs and had to check the wheel wells on the aircraft and all of the pallets to make sure we didn't have any "legless hitchhikers"! The nutria was a similar story....one pest brought in to control another..etc...etc.


Dave
 
The coming invasion of Big Head carp up the Mighty Mississippi is taking a lot of head space here.

But we've gotten used to the Common Carp introduced 130 years ago to improve fishing opportunities, and heck, we now have an organization dedicated to the protection and proliferation of "introduced" species like pheasants and, in certain areas of the state, wild turkeys. The latter having a range in MN that has been artificially expanded to create more opportunities, but appears to be displacing other game animals in it's non-native/introduced ranges.

The flora/fauna list of invasives in MN is now so long that no one seems to get too worked up about the next one.

Best was, after one of the local lake associations tried to "ban" non-lakeshore owners from using the public waters as to avoid introduction of Zebra Mussels, a lake shore owner got tagged launching his boat.... with Zebes from a near by lake he'd spent the day at.
 
Turn the netters loose on big head carp, from what I understand the high end Chinese markets will take all we can ship them.
Our waters are so much less polluted than theirs and the ones from here taste better.
From all the stuff I have read, once you learn how to fillet them, they are good eat.
 
Jeff, I have a few 5 gallon buckets. Maybe if we get a few of those peacock bass in that stream up in the west forks we can get rid of those pesky brook trout. Look what it has done to improve the fishery of Moosehead.
Just this month there is an article about "Bucket Biologists" in Outdoor Life.
 
Dave, no to the buckets and bass, but a trip up there before the season closes might be worth doing. It will have to be towards the end of September for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top