LRIA News Update

​LRIA Members,      
                                                                                                          
With summer behind us and while waiting for the lake to freeze, I thought I would send out an update on several LRIA topics.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
 
Aquatic Invasive Species
Lake Riley is living with 3 aquatic invasive species; 1) curly-leaf pondweed (clp); 2) Eurasian watermilfoil; and 3) zebra mussels.  Chemical treatments for Eurasian watermilfoil have been successful at keeping it “below nuisance” level.  However, curly-leaf pondweed was “above nuisance” level this summer, especially in the south bay.  Because we had very little snow cover on the lake this winter, the DNR expected curly-leaf pondweed to grow much earlier than normal.  They set an earlier than normal treatment deadline, so the watershed staff had to survey the lake and identify areas to treat earlier than normal.  Unfortunately, many of the clp patches in the south bay were not growing yet and were not identified for treatment.  The result was a bumper crop of clp in the untreated areas. We will be in better communication with the Watershed District this spring to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
The alum treatment and the zebra mussels have contributed to much clearer water.  This has resulted in a fast-growing crop of Chara. Chara is the first native plant to establish a larger presence due to increased sunlight reaching the lake bottom.  Several people contacted the Watershed District about it, but it is considered a “good” plant so there is no plan to treat it.
The next invasive species we don’t want in our lake is Starry Stonewort.  It was first seen in Minnesota in 2015 and is already confirmed in 31 lakes, the closest one being Medicine Lake in Plymouth.  We depend on rigorous boat inspections to keep it out of Riley!
Fish Stocking
Greg reports that the 2024 Walleye stocking is completed, and it was different from previous years.  Because last winter was so mild, the ponds used by Ron Rademacher did not freeze out.  Fish that were not trapped last fall survived the winter and over the summer ate the fingerlings put in the ponds, so Ron did not have many fish to sell us this fall.  Based on advice from Kristin, the DNR speaker at our April Annual Meeting, we decided to take advantage of the situation and stock larger fish this year. According to DNR studies, they have a much better (5-10X) probability of surviving to adulthood compared to fingerlings.  We bought all the yearlings Ron could trap and he helped us find additional fish from other vendors. Thanks to very generous donations from several LRIA members, we were able to stock a similar number of fish as previous years, but larger in average size.  Since we pay by the pound, stocking cost increased from $2500 last year to $4400 this year.  Hopefully, this will improve fishing in the years ahead.
New Boat Landing Signs
We got two new signs posted at the boat landing this summer as shown below.  One is to encourage fishermen to release walleye below 14 inches.  The DNR regulation is that up to 6 walleyes under 18” can be kept, with no minimum size.  For our stocking efforts to produce more large fish, we are requesting fishermen release walleye under 14”.  
The second sign states the regulations for PWC (Jet Skis, WaveRunners, etc.).  We had an issue with a company renting up to 4 PWCs at a time on the lake this summer during the busy weekends.  Many of the renters were young and inexperienced and several LRIA members reported seeing dangerous near misses.   We got the Hennepin Sheriff’s Office involved and they opened a case against them. The rental activity on the lake stopped after two renters had an accident on August 8th and one PWC had to be towed off the lake. Jake updated the website homepage with instruction on all of us should report dangerous activity when you see it.