spraying lakes to kill weeds

[macbass]

We as fishermen and fisherwomen are in the middle of a dilema it seems the state is in a financial crunch which we know so they will do anything they can to make a dollar. So it seems the easiest way to do that is for the DEQ to hand out permits to everybody that wants one to spray the lakes to kill weeds. If it was just shore line stuff it wouldnt be that bad but it seems that they have to kill every weed in the lake to make the home owners happy. This seems to be a real stress on the fish in most lakes and it also doesnt seem to bother property owners who want to sit and look out there window at pristine water and dont really enjoy the use of the lake other than senery. There is a way for us as fisher people to stop this or at least draw some attention to this. But to do this we need to unite and be heard as one. There is some one here that will add to this post that has the info we need on who to contact so we can bring this to a head and see if we can slow down the killing of a very viable natural resource like all the fish.

[Durand Dan]

I think most of the time the chemicals are distributed in a correct manner. However, the calibration portion of setting up an application is where a lot of the problems arise. There is a pretty simple formula to follow but it hinges an two basic critera. The speed of the application equipment, and the distribution rate. The problems occur when the applicator gets the notion that more is better! The licensing for applicators has become fairly comprehesive over the last 10 years. I believe this registration number has to be posted with the notification that the lake was treated. Follow up on this number and find out who was responsible for the application. Maybe a pattern will delvelop.

[Eric]

A pattern has definitely developed up here.  No weeds in any populous lake.  go early in the season and really catch em, and by midsummer the same nice healthy green weeds in that nice clear water have been replaced by bare muck bottoms and off colored water.  And of course, the fishing becomes much more difficult.

I think they were spraying Tamarack lake about every 2 weeks.

[djkimmel]

This is issue has to be in our top five of things to get ahold of. One reason why TBF of Michigan was awarded a grant this year of $3,000 to give towards the MDNR stufy of using milfoil weevils to control milfoil over pesticides. More on this soon, but the weevils have been planted in Lake Ovid already for this year courtesy of Enviroscience.

The results so far are promising that this may be a better way to control milfoil without detriment to native plants. We anglers need to become the voice of reason and bring our lakes back to being lakes again, not swimming pools (and muddy ones at that).

[macbass]

DJ I think you are right and we need to get this info out to all fisher people so they know what is going on and the more help we get and backing the better things will be in the future. I have collected a folder full of information on this subject and there was a newspaper article in the lakeview paper on this just recently. Think we need to have a greet and meet around lansing this fall and this being the main topic of discussion with all the info collected.

[thedude]

They are doing the weavil thing on Long Lake north of Ionia also.

The weed killing isn't helping the duck hunting on local inland waters either

[Bender]

I have only been fishing for a couple of years so on the local lakes I thought it was just a way of life for the fishing to get so tough without the weeds. I live just off Crooked Lake in Brighton and this was the first year that they have sprayed in our corner of the lake and the were no fish to be found there after the spray.
Also I have been fishing Kent a fair amount recently and they sprayed last Thursday morning for some unknown reason.  Anyway I have never seen such a drastic change in activity before, it just completely ruined the lake. I think they only sprayed near the East launch, but the current carried that crap all over the lake and shut the whole thing down.
I don't know what we can do, but to start I am going to read this: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/deq-oea-cau-publicinvolvementhandbook_415012_7.pdf
and then see.

[motocross269]

I noticed it on Lakeville lake last week.  I had just installed a new sonar in my boat and was just kind of driving around..I thought something was wrong because I was basically not reading anything but the bottom. I went in shallow and the weeds were gone.  I found one big cluster of dead weeds by the launch and there were 2 nice bass laying next to them.  When I was launching they were puting the weedmower on the trailer. 
Pretty sad....Is this a DNR thing or do the lake owner associations have complete power over this???  I know the DNR gives the permits, but how much do they monitor weed removal?

[Bender]

My buddy finished his league Tuesday night at Kent and there was a DNR guy there. They asked him why they granted a permit to spray so late in the year and he said it was stupid but out of his control. The MI DEQ handles all of these permits.
As far as I know on my local lakes it is associations that pay. I don't know on a lake like Kent.

Edited for spelling since original was from my Blackberry.

[Skulley]

I went to Thompson in Howell on Friday 9-21-07.  The lake bottom was like a desert.  It was totally different than when my daughter and I fished the Fathers Day tournament out there.  I caught one 13 inch fish.  It sure was healthy looking for a fish but I will have to say the lakes weeds were eradicated.  I was so frustrated about how the lake was RUINED that I put the boat on the trailer and went to Woodland.  Woodland was better.  There were more weeds.  At least they didn't eradicated them all.  I managed a total of four bass there with one of them being a keeper.  I know they have sprayed this lake but it seems to have been done in good moderation.  Something has to be done about this.  Tipsico is a barren desert also.  My neighbor down the street went there for Division 43 Championship for NBAA and said that it was terrible.  Nothing like it was in June and July.  It is getting to the point that if you want good fishing you have to go to St. Clair and Erie.  But with weather and wind St. Clair and Erie are not always accessible.  So where do you go?.........

We has fisherman probably have more lobbying power than we think.  I would be all in favor of joining all our resources to stop this senseless spraying of weeds.  We need to meet to discuss some kind of conclusive plan on persuading the DEQ that this is not good for the environment.  This spraying of weeds is destroying the quality of our environment.  Isn't that what the DEQ is supposed to protect?  Well in my opinion they are doing a LOUSY job.  They would generate more revenue if they stopped doing this senseless spraying and kept the fishing better than it has been this summer.  It is a crying shame.   

BD            Probably the first time I frowned when finishing a post.

[djkimmel]

Another OLD topic but 2 years ago Michigan B.A.S.S. Nation had a resolution passed at MUCC Convention to make it policy for their staff to do something about the out of control aquatic plant killing on many Michigan lakes. The MDNR Fisheries Division has now actually been meeting with the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality (their aquatic nuisance department has 'authority') on how this can be improved.

I found out BY LAW this department is limited to 6 staff total. There is no way they can review and do anything meaningful with all of the permit requests they get each year! Also in LAW, if they don't do something with a permit in a certain short window, the permit is considered APPROVED!!

So the final, real answer is we will need to get state Legislative support for some changes to probably do anything real meaningful. Makes it even more important that we are directly involved on a consistent level with our state elected Legislators through things like the Michigan Legislative Sportsmen's Caucus (with activities like our annual Lake St. Clair bass fishing outing - a GREAT opportunity to talk to Legislators about the aquatic plant issue!!).

We are now actively working with MUCC and the MDNR on what and how we can make the situation better. The MDNR says the new MDEQ manager for the aquatic nuisance control department is a good person who cares. She will need our help to change the situation though to have great impact.

Right now, most riparians (lake property owners) can do just about anything they want with their own lake frontage-bottomlands (which generally includes a pie-like slice out into the lake) and the 'weeds' growing there. That was a change that was made after a notorious governor many years ago split the MDNR into the MDNR and MDEQ after he promised MUCC he would NOT do that!

Lake association level weed treatments generally require a permit but they are generally approved or allowed because MDEQ staff isn't able to respond to them all in time. MDNR Fisheries Division input is taken the same as input from anyone and generally doesn't impact the permit much if at all. They can do multi-year approvals too so they don't need a new permit for several years.

I'm developing a plan to see what we can accomplish. It was a main topic of the latest MDNR Fisheries Division Warmwater Resources Steering Committee meeting just the other day. Bass anglers are not the only groups who care about this. Other groups also care a bunch, particularly the muskie groups and MUCC too, of course!

[dartag]

The sad truth is many lakes would Die without spraying.   Kent would be Choked Solid with weeds.  The back bays are solid weeds to the surface in 6 feet of water.  Every year they would get worse until it would Die.
 

[djkimmel]

Except, if you go too far the other way... you turn your lake into a huge starry stonewart farm... I think that is worse. I don't think most of us want to eliminate all spraying - we just want some moderation and thought for the natural lake environment to go in to it.