Sea Lice

[Jay M]

Ok, I have lerked on this site long enough and I now have a question. Up until this point, all my questions have been answered in one form or another. I've read in reports here on this site about sea lice. What is the importance behind this? Does it show that these are migrating fish and not hold overs?

Thank you in advance for all the great advice in all the past posts and also for putting up with this rookie question.

Jay

[Dave]

Welcome!

Yes, usually an indication of fresh arrivals of migrating fish.

[arden]

sea lice only remain on fish that have recently come in from deep cooler water. in the spring, even costaly migrating fish will have sea lice as the water is much cooler. however, as the season progresses liced fish will be ones that have moved in from deeper water, often from a large migration, and tend to signify a large body of fish having passed by...i.e. maybe still in the area

[MaxC]

Not sure if I buy into that whole sea lice thing, I have been catching fish in the past few weeks that are set up in definite summer spots a few miles from the open ocean, all of which have sea lice.

[Jay M]

While we are still on this sea lice topic. Is it all right to keep a fish of legal size with sea lice? Or if it has lice, its not a good idea.

Again thanks for the info.

Jay

[arden]

Originally Posted by MaxC

Not sure if I buy into that whole sea lice thing, I have been catching fish in the past few weeks that are set up in definite summer spots a few miles from the open ocean, all of which have sea lice.

are they covered in them? a few is not surprising but i would be very surprised to hear of a fish that been in a bay for any length of time that has a significant amount of lice on them....unless ur fishing north of the cape...water is significantly cooler there summer or not.

are usure they are not just constantly new fish pushing in?

Originally Posted by Jay M

While we are still on this sea lice topic. Is it all right to keep a fish of legal size with sea lice? Or if it has lice, its not a good idea.

Again thanks for the info.

Jay

sea lice as far as u and i are concerned are completely innate. they are not parasites..i forget the word but they basically are along for a free ride and to grap any crumbs they can

[MaxC]

Not covered with them but they do have them, water temp changes anywhere from 60-67 depending on tide. Doubt these fish are fresh arrivals but who really knows.

[7milebridge]

I dont know if anyone else has had the pleasure of enduring the effects of sea lice. I was in the Keys diving, and went through a whole section of water with sea lice. It makes a person feel like he has the worst case of chicken pox. So I feel bad for the stripers with them.