Weed spraying

[Savage]

Here's a question....  where should a guy look for fish when the lake has just been sprayed for weeds?  Does the spray affect the fish, and make them "sick" or anything?  Where should I target?  In the upper end of the lake, in the current?

[Bassman24]

Go to another lake.   

Dan may have good insight on this topic.

I know every lake I have fished being recently chemically treated shuts the bite down dramatically. And unfortunately, I have yet to figure out if they move shallower, deeper or become so drugged up they can't bite.

I am probably stating the obvious here but lakes that are treated are usually heavily weed infested. Because bass are structure oriented, I would assume most of the bass in that lake live in and out of those weeds. Those chemicals must be like a fire going through a home.  All of a sudden, they have nothing to relate too, food has been scattered and there is oxygen depletion.  I'd say that would mess me up too.

I do find it sad that our DNR and lake associations continually state there is no harm to the fisheries they are dumping in.  Maybe they are right, it does not affect the fish directly, but it sure does indirectly


GT

[djkimmel]

When weeds die, they use up valuable oxygen in the water. Low oxygen is hard on larger fish like bass. It takes anywhere from one to two weeks for the bass to get back into their normal behavior on average from what I've read and seen firsthand.

The more heavily weeded areas will have worse off fish, so go to less heavily weeded areas or move out to the farthest edge and know the fish will probably be lethargic.

Of course, I've seen a huge boom in bass fishing at the one to two week margin when things stabilize and they go back on the feed. The bass are also more vulnerable because their cover has shrunk. Anytime gamefish are more vulnerable because of man's unnatural affects, I worry about longterm effects.

I think we may have more of any ally than we think within the MDNR Fisheries on this issue. It is the Dept of Env. Quality that actually issues the permits and the MDNR would prefer more cooperation between the two departments. It came up repeatedly during the bass season meetings that this was the most common issue of concern with bass anglers across the state, and particularly on the west side.

This will be a good area for future work for bass anglers, and with our new and improved relationship with the MDNR Fisheries Division. Certain weed treatments are much harder on the lakes than others. Sometimes, more acreage is treated than permitted. We anglers may be able to impact that.

As far as more to the point of the original questions, I would think current and wind action would be better targets too because you could expect those areas to have more oxygen probably, and therefore more active fish. I don't know that bass leave an area completely and move long distances, especially if we are talking inland largemouths. I think they move only as far as they have to and become inactive. Enough oxygen depletion over a large enough area could kill bass, especially if other stress factors are already involved.

[Skulley]

I would be happy to jump on the bandwagon for that issue.  Weedkills mess up a lot of good lakes and a lot of good fishing.  The residents of the lake are mostly water and jet skiers.  Not that  many fisherman.  The only way we can effect this is exactly what Dan says.  The MDNR realizes the impact, but the DEQ doesn't seem to care.  Department of Environmental Quality.  What I would like to know is:  Environmental Quality for who?   Those that live on the lake or in the lake?   Well the residents on the lake have $$$$$$.   The residents in the lake don't.  They rely on us.  I am in when the federation or any organization is ready to go toe to toe on this issue.

BD       

[djkimmel]

It will be a priority issue as we move forward.

[h2o]

It's poison. What else needs to be known? I was on a lake one morning and here comes the sprayer. I zipped off the lake in record time and before I left I got a whiff of the poison and it smelled nasty. There's cutters to control weeds but noooo? it's harder to do so what the heck lets drop a bomb on what ever's there and make it quick.?

h2o<--says it kills.

[McCarter]

I used to fish White Lake in Highland quite a bit when i bought my first boat.

They used to spray that lake like crazy.  We always found the fishing was better moving out to deeper water and fishing sparse flats in 12 - 20 feet of water.

PoorBoy himself 

[Savage]

I'll try it out deeper......