Lake Weed Control

[fishon-son]

anyone else have  issues with how there city/township controls weed growth in your lake?  my lake has just been sprayed with some copper crap for weeds..this drives the bass off there beds.  kills the weed growth and and fish food that live in the weeds. like the bugs they need to grow.. next week is bass opener and ill be fishing some place else...

[Travis]

This like so many topics is one that most already have their minds made up.  I would raise any concerns/questions with your local city/township and other agencies if applicable to the watershed in question.  

 

It is necessary on many bodies of water for various reasons.  Some waters are managed for shore angling  so vegetation is killed in order to support the shore angler.  I have a local city pond they sprayed a few times so kids can catch stunted gills all day long.  Before they started killing it off I could pick up a dozen or more 2 lb to 2.5 lb bass in that area but the average recreational angler caught nothing as they spent all the time hung up in weeds.  While I found the dense growth great with the my polarized glasses and flipping soft plastics to fish I could see  the bulk of people were using wally world poles and bobbers and had a very different take on the city pond their tax dollars also pay for.

 

Proper vegetation control by knowledgeable individuals will be done in a manner that minimized risks to the fishery.  Spraying isn't done during spawning in some areas unless the lake management plan is aimed towards other species and not bass.  To be honest if vegetation control is needed that usually means a much larger issue is at play with too much nitrogen and phosphates getting into the lake especially those waters with lake front property.    Spraying may be done based on home owner associations and lake front property owners or to keep water ways open for recreational boaters, skiers, etc...  

 

After vegetation gets to a certain percent coverage level bass success rates in regard to prey capture significantly diminish.  You actually end up hurting the fishery. Other things to take into consideration is if the lake had very good year classes prior not much concern regarding reduced spawning success for current year and they may jump at getting control of areas that have issues early.    Unfortunately we also have invasive aquatic vegetation that gets into watersheds it shouldn't be in.  Drastic measures early are often needed to avoid much greater problems later.

 

Often on freshly killed vegetation it makes fishing easier as all those bass end up stacking up on the closest hard cover.  Docks,  piers, rock piles, etc....   Eventually they make way to other grassy areas so numbers increase in those areas and can be very hot areas to fish.   If major vegetation loss in many areas and lack of hard structure often will need to tweak ones approach and work at fishing suspended schools in deep water.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Travis

[fishon-son]

lake average depth is  9 ft....

[mark poulson]

A levee worker here on the CA Delta said they use Roundup to control the hyacinth.  It has been killing off the tulles, and the primrose has really gotten out of hand.

And the hyacinth, which seemed to have died off over the winter, is coming back.

[Long Lake Lures]

On our lake the invasives were getting out of hand, so we elected to spray. It kills the bite for a while but I think it will be better for the lake over time. I think the copper is to control algae. They just sprayed that last week so there was a bunch of algae floating around.