Another Rage Tail Thread, but Different

[Fishing Rhino]

Yesterday, I caught a clam on a Rage Tail Space Monkey.

As the weighted keel of the hook passed throught the open bivalve, the clam clamped down on it.

Drat, I did not have my cell phone with me to take a pic. Anyone can make up a story like that.

Today, I made sure I brought my cell phone with me. What are the odds of a repeat. Lo and behold, this time, the Rage Tail Lizard was the bait.

Not only did the clam clamp on the weight and the hook, it also grabbed a bit of the lizard.

The pics aren't the best quality. Sorry 'bout that.

[BassNub]

haha i guess not only it catches bass but, muscles too! hahah

[CRFisher]

I had that same thing happen a few weeks ago deadsticking a fluke.

[Hammer 4]

That's funny..lol

[Big Mike in Fl]

that's a good thing...that means you're fishing over a mussel bed, which means you should be producing fish as well, I'm not sure if they close like that to feed, or if it's a protection thing, but whatever the case, you're bait being there isn't necessarily a bad thing

[Maxximus Redneckus]

RAGE TAILS are EXTROIDINARY they are the second coming

[Glenn]

Keri caught a clam on a crankbait a few years ago.  Thought it only happened to us.

[JacobK]

must be the new coffee scent!

[Fishing Rhino]

that's a good thing...that means you're fishing over a mussel bed, which means you should be producing fish as well, I'm not sure if they close like that to feed, or if it's a protection thing, but whatever the case, you're bait being there isn't necessarily a bad thing

It's definitely a defense reaction, triggered by an invader.

It appears they are called clams or mussels.

Being an old salt, the mussels I'm familiar with attach themselves to the bottom and other structure with byssal threads.

These anchor themselves by burrowing into the bottom with approximately half their shell exposed.

For sure, the otters around the pond love them, and perhaps the muskrats as well, though I thought muskrats were vegetarians.

There are several muskrat condos around the shoreline of the pond. Near these mounds, on the mat of dormant aquatic vines are piles of shells. Obviously something has been eating them.

I would imagine that they are a food source for snapping turtles. They are plentiful and easily obtained. It's not uncommon for the mushroom anchor to come up with a clam it "dredged up" from the bottom.

Being filter feeders, clams must play an important role in the natural purification of the pond's waters.

An interesting article, which may explain why the pond I fish most often has an algae bloom which it never had years ago.

http://www.glsc.usgs.gov/_files/factsheets/2000-5%20Clams.pdf

Some attribute it to a development which was built a few years ago, increasing the flow of nutrients into the pond. But I doubt that because years ago, farms around the pond had, in total, several hundred head of dairy cows that grazed in the fields that abut the pond. All these fields sloped to the pond.

Further, the cows would often wade in the pond to cool off on hot days.

It seems more likely to me, that, based on the article, a decline in the clam/mussel population, is responsible for the algae bloom.

It seemed to me that there were not as many clams as I had seen back in the '60s.  There are definitely more otters around the pond.

I see a few every day.  Back in the day, I didn't see any.  

No doubt there may have been some, but not in the numbers so obvious today.