muskrats and bass?

[FatBoy]

Jingtao's post about gar reminded me of a question I've been meaning to ask...

Do muskrats bother bass?  Do you think they would spook the fish?  Or worse, do they eat fish...God forbid!!!

My home pond has 4 (I think) muskrats.  They're constantly swimming up and down the shore, cutting the tops off of emergent weeds and carrying them off, I guess to build a "nest."  They really annoy me, but I'm not sure if they should.  

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Not at all. No more than beavers. However, muskrats can cause a lot more damage than beavers. They only consume vegetation, and can strip vegetative habitat, indirectly affecting bass. They burrow under water and can ruin a small dam, requiring replacement, repairs impossible. If I were you I'd eat them before you regret the critters living there. They're good eating. http://www.peavine.com/lowcarb/soups/muskrat.html

Jim

[FatBoy]

Good info, Jim, as always.  And...um...."thanks" I guess for the recipe  

[rocknfish9001]

I doubt they bother bass. Once we were in a little lake that had a beaver lodge on the one side. We pulled out little jon boat on it and we stood on and fished off of it, and even managed a couple of fish. Those bass dont really care. But you might want to get some traps or something since they will strip a pond of weeds and really tear it up. Had a problem with muskrats a while back, a snapping turtle solved that problem.

[senile1]

Good info, Jim, as always.  And...um...."thanks" I guess for the recipe  

;D  I thought the same thing Fatboy.  Is there anything that Jim hasn't eaten or doesn't have a recipe for?  

[56 crestliner]

you think its pretty funny but i know someone who bids on big swamps and marshes. he will bring in 2,000 muskrats and he will save all of their carcass' and sells them for around .50 apiece. All of you how arent math wiz's thats 1000.

I trap muskrats and i sold all my carcass' to a guy down the street for a dollar. i have yet to try it. i have eaten coon however but it is quite rubbery and you have to boil it a lot to get the fat off. One thing i dont think i will eat is a coyote or a fox because if you do that you might  as well eat your pet dog. ;D

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

;D  I haven't turned to road kill yet, but it's been tempting to try some of that grilled deer. If I find one still kickin I might get it. Spend 3 years around Eunice, LA, and you'll learn to eat anything that crawls. It's all in the spices. Foresters will eat most anything.

Jim

[56 crestliner]

This my be a little off subject. but jim brought up road kill. my dad is an operating engineer (he runs heavy equipment). well he comes home with a mink and i asked where he got it he said a car hit. he didnt see it happen but when he checked it it was still warm. so westart a skinin him out and we gut past the arms and i thi8nk this boy got ran over by an 18 wheeler ;D his insides were mush. it smeeled to high heaven. and it was nasty to skin . if you havent ever opened up a minks gland try it sometime it black market claritin . Weel we finally get ehim skined. and i sold him at the auctions and he brought 21 so i think he was worth it

[Guest avid]

Confession time'

When I was a kid I used to love rowing around in my jon boat with my buddy.  We would be fishing but we had a bolt action .22 under the tarp.  We'd load it with shorts and pop the muskrats.  there were just to dang many of em.  Not to mention for a couple of 12 year old boys this was as good as life could get.