As anglers, we’re all familiar with the challenge aquatic invasive species (AIS) present to our water bodies across the Midwest. Whether you’re fishing in South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming, or anywhere else this is a topic that is present across the country. Fortunately, as anglers ourselves we have a great deal of control in doing our part to successfully slowing the spread of AIS.
The most important three words we have to keep in mind every time we are on the water is CLEAN. DRAIN. DRY. If we follow these three words, we can be confident we’re doing everything in our power to ensure we’re doing our part in the fight against AIS. What specifically does this look like?
For starters, this means pulling our plugs. All of our plugs! This includes the main boat plug, our live well plugs, and any other plug that may be present in our boats. When we pull away from the access, if our plugs are out and our boat and livewell(s) are draining, we’re well on our way to accomplishing a drained and dried boat the next time we are on the water.
As soon as we pull the boat plug, there’s another step that is critical. This is lowering our motor to drain our lower unit. This is as simple as trimming the motor down, watching the water drain out, and then raising it back up again to prepare it for travel on the roadways. Again, this is another critical component of a successfully drained boat.
The next step is ensuring you’re not transporting your bait in river or lake water as you leave the access. If you dunked your minnow bucket in the water while you were fishing, you cannot transport that water away from the ramp. The best option, when the weather permits of course, is to keep your bucket full of the water you filled it with at the bait shop.
Once you’ve got a fully drained boat, the next step is to make sure your boat and trailer are clean as well. You can do this by removing any weeds, vegetation, mud, or other debris that you may have picked up on your boat, or more likely your trailer, as you were launching or loading. Zebra mussels can hide in this vegetation, so by removing it you’re doing your part to slow the spread of both invasive plants and zebra mussels!
The final step is ensuring all of our gear is dry. Take a towel or sponge and wipe down any damp spots that may still be present in your livewell(s) or other gear that may have collected water throughout the course of the day.
If you pull out of the access knowing your plugs are out, your livewells and other compartments are dry, your motor is drained, and your trailer and boat are cleaned you can know you’ve done your part to slow the spread of AIS!
