Ed Mitchell Outdoors

Striped Bass – Sea Lice, Oatmeal Slime, and Mycobacterium

Striped bass are hardy, and it is very rare to find one with a visible defect.  But lets take moment to look at three of them. I’m reasonable sure that if you fish often you’ll observe sea lice. The other two, however, you may never come across.

In the days ahead I’ll cover two unusual genetic deformities –  the “pugnose” bass and scoliosis.

Sea Lice : Ahh…. Springtime in New England. The days have grown, the wind has swung to the southwest, the trees are starting to leaf-out. Does the Dairy Queen open soon? Ha. There is lots of reasons to celebrate – including sea lice?

Sea lice

Okay kinda kidding, but if you’re a striped bass angler, you know what I mean. When migratory striped bass first enter New England waters in the spring, they are often covered with sea lice. And that is a reason to rejoice – the bass are back. Apparently the striper schools pick them up in deep water during their journey north. Looking like fried rice, the lice typically clinging to the rear half of the bass.

Sea lice are parasitic hitchhikers, little copepods dinning on the bass’s mucus, but they don’t seem to do any real harm, disappearing quickly as the season progresses. For one thing the lice are salinity sensitive, so as soon as the stripers enter rivers, which they frequently do in the spring the little hitchhikers fall off. And best I know present no harm to humans.

Oatmeal Slime:  There are two other things you may see on a striped bass, neither of which should be confused with sea lice. One is a rarely seen pale colored oatmeal-like slime on bass that have wintered over in New England’s rivers.  I think it is a consequence of bass sitting in groups for long periods inactive on the bottom. No idea whether this causes long-term harm to stripers, but I would avoid handling these fish.

Striper with Mycobacteriosis

Mycobacteriosis: The other is a bacterial disease called Myco. Myco manifest itself in red skin ulcers and is serious trouble, harming striped bass by attacking their kidneys and spleen. It came to attention about 15 years ago in Chesapeake Bay, but since then has been seen in bass up the coast into New England. Although I have heard very little about it in recent years.   Warning – do not handle these fish without gloves, as this bacterium may be transmittable to humans.

Captains for Clean Water

Bought a new hat. Did I need another one? Not on your life. No, I got this for a special reason. Have you noticed that fishing isn’t getting better these days? Damn. Its true pretty much no matter where you go. Why is that? Too much pollution? Too much habitat destruction? Bad fisheries management? Too little political attention? Too much angling pressure? And now climate change? Or is it all of the above? Folks we have to gang together and support any and every effort to reverse those nasty trends. That’s why the new hat.

Captains for Clean Waters is a wonderful conservation group in Florida. Here is what they have to say. ” Captains For Clean Water is a grassroots 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that fights to restore and protect our water resources. In 2016, we started as a couple fishing guides that had “had enough” of Florida’s poor water management practices devastating the estuaries we rely on. We were convinced that if everyone knew about the issues, they would’ve been fixed long ago. The solution is known, but has been delayed for decades due to lack of political will and public awareness. So, we set out to change that.” Roger that !