Fact about skunk weed { chara } that I didnt know .

[scaleface]

This stuff is common in local lakes and I often wondered what type of vegetation it was . Surprise . Its not vegetation at all . Its a form of Algae . Look at this link.   http://www.aquaticbiologists.com/branched-algae-chara/

 

[Scott F]

This is not what I expected when I saw the title of the post. ?

[J._Bricker]

3 minutes ago, Scott F said:

This is not what I expected when I saw the title of the post. ?

Same here ?!

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, Scott F said:

This is not what I expected when I saw the title of the post. ?

Thats a topic   for the "Everything Else "  forum . 

[Glaucus]

It is estimated that it will be federally legal before 2030. ;)

[Brew City Bass]

I was expecting a rant about how crappy the supply of the devils lettuce has been lately, and I was going to agree haha!

[BigAngus752]

You guys have been smoking too much algae. 

[38 Super Fan]

Interesting. It has grown in pretty well in one of the lakes I fish, I never knew it was algae though. Skunk weed is a good name for it, it's stinky stuff.

[scaleface]

  It has no roots but it does anchor itself to the bottom . That is why lures cant be   ripped free and big wads of it are reeled in. The good news is bass love this stuff  and apparently crawfish too .  This little lake I fish was devoid of  this stuff  because of the introduction of grass carp  and spraying .Those grass carp have all died and the lake managers appear to have given up  trying to control this stuff .    The lake has went through a huge transformation and the deep-water bite   just has not taken off this year , yet  . This algae is now the major bass habitat . Apparently the crawfish population has exploded too because I'm getting a lot of fat bass stuffed with crawdads . The water is a lot clearer too . Every angler I have talked too  hate it  . They just havent adapted   . 

23 minutes ago, 38 Super Fan said:

Interesting. It has grown in pretty well in one of the lakes I fish, I never knew it was algae though. Skunk weed is a good name for it, it's stinky stuff.

 

[BigAngus752]

20 minutes ago, scaleface said:

  It has no roots but it does anchor itself to the bottom . That is why lures cant be   ripped free and big wads of it are reeled in. The good news is bass love this stuff  and apparently crawfish too .  This little lake I fish was devoid of  this stuff  because of the introduction of grass carp  and spraying .Those grass carp have all died and the lake managers appear to have given up  trying to control this stuff .    The lake has went through a huge transformation and the deep-water bite   just has not taken off this year , yet  . This algae is now the major bass habitat . Apparently the crawfish population has exploded too because I'm getting a lot of fat bass stuffed with crawdads . The water is a lot clearer too . Every angler I have talked too  hate it  . They just havent adapted   . 

 

One of the lakes I fish has quite a bit more of this stuff this year than last year.  What are you doing to fish around/through it?  

[scaleface]

35 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

One of the lakes I fish has quite a bit more of this stuff this year than last year.  What are you doing to fish around/through it?  

Ive been fishing spinnerbaits and buzzbaits and doing well each time out . Next time I'm going to try some Paca Craws with a weight inserted inside its hollow body .   The bass are feeding on crawfish and I'm hoping the weight inside the lure will come  through it easier .. 

[38 Super Fan]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

  It has no roots but it does anchor itself to the bottom . That is why lures cant be   ripped free and big wads of it are reeled in. The good news is bass love this stuff  and apparently crawfish too .  This little lake I fish was devoid of  this stuff  because of the introduction of grass carp  and spraying .Those grass carp have all died and the lake managers appear to have given up  trying to control this stuff .    The lake has went through a huge transformation and the deep-water bite   just has not taken off this year , yet  . This algae is now the major bass habitat . Apparently the crawfish population has exploded too because I'm getting a lot of fat bass stuffed with crawdads . The water is a lot clearer too . Every angler I have talked too  hate it  . They just havent adapted   . 

 

I also didn't realize it was the stuff I've heard called "sandgrass". I know I've seen anglers on TV looking for that stuff.

 

The highland reservoirs I fish rarely have vegetation, but Norris Lake has had steady high water since late April and a decent amount of it has grown in. It will disappear once the lake drops for Winter pool, but it was an interesting thing to see around here. How much it will actually change/help fishing I couldn't say, but I don't see how it could be anything but good for the ecosystem.  I could certainly see how it would help the crawfish population.

 

 

[BigAngus752]

7 hours ago, scaleface said:

Ive been fishing spinnerbaits and buzzbaits and doing well each time out . Next time I'm going to try some Paca Craws with a weight inserted inside its hollow body .   The bass are feeding on crawfish and I'm hoping the weight inside the lure will come  through it easier .. 

Thanks for the tips.  I've only thrown hollow-body frogs over it but not had much luck.  I mostly avoid it.  I won't now, thank you.   

[MichaelCopeland]

On 9/7/2018 at 10:10 AM, Scott F said:

This is not what I expected when I saw the title of the post. ?

That makes 3 of us...lol! ?

[Glaucus]

On 9/7/2018 at 6:13 PM, BigAngus752 said:

You guys have been smoking too much algae. 

Beats drinking too much hops and throwing up and driving wreckless. 

[Bluebasser86]

I've never had much luck fishing around the stuff. Seems like if I'm fishing milfoil and suddenly start getting into that stuff, I stop getting bit. Redear sunfish love it though, I imagine snails probably eat it and they, in turn, eat the snails. 

[scaleface]

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I've never had much luck fishing around the stuff. Seems like if I'm fishing milfoil and suddenly start getting into that stuff, I stop getting bit. Redear sunfish love it though, I imagine snails probably eat it and they, in turn, eat the snails. 

I wouldnt know . There is no milfoil around  here that I know of . 

[BassNJake]

On 9/8/2018 at 2:23 PM, 38 Super Fan said:

I also didn't realize it was the stuff I've heard called "sandgrass". I know I've seen anglers on TV looking for that stuff.

 

The highland reservoirs I fish rarely have vegetation, but Norris Lake has had steady high water since late April and a decent amount of it has grown in. It will disappear once the lake drops for Winter pool, but it was an interesting thing to see around here. How much it will actually change/help fishing I couldn't say, but I don't see how it could be anything but good for the ecosystem.  I could certainly see how it would help the crawfish population.

 

 

The last few weeks I've been doing pretty good tossing my toads around flats that have alot of this stuff.

Now that they are dropping the water, they will hide in the little holes and depressions waiting for something to go by.

 

 

[38 Super Fan]

3 hours ago, BassNJake said:

The last few weeks I've been doing pretty good tossing my toads around flats that have alot of this stuff.

Now that they are dropping the water, they will hide in the little holes and depressions waiting for something to go by.

 

 

Toads and frogs on Norris? Who'd have thunk it. I haven't been down there in about a month, but I'll give that a try next trip. I did OK throwing a Whopper Plopper around that "sandgrass" the last time.

 

According to my graph some of that stuff was growing down to 7 or 8 feet deep, so there should be some left at least for a little while longer.

[scaleface]

On 9/10/2018 at 8:06 AM, BassNJake said:

The last few weeks I've been doing pretty good tossing my toads around flats that have alot of this stuff.

Now that they are dropping the water, they will hide in the little holes and depressions waiting for something to go by.

 

 

Revisiting this thread and thanks for mentioning toads . Thats the lure I've been having the best success with the last two years . I've gone through lots of packs  of Ribbets . They litter the boat floor .

[galyonj]

On 9/7/2018 at 6:14 PM, Brew City Bass said:

I was expecting a rant about how crappy the supply of the devils lettuce has been lately, and I was going to agree haha!

Buddy of mine referred to it as jazz cabbage a little while back and now that's my favorite euphemism for it.

[Team9nine]

Pretty common in some areas around here. I have a couple ponds I fish where it is pretty prolific and well established. Neds work great for fishing it - bass often eat it off the stalks or when ripping the bait free of them. Jerkbaits are good over shallow flats, as is a wakebait type lure (I use Minus-1). Any surface lure will work on the heavy shallow stuff. A great winter location also as it tolerates cold weather/water well in deeper depths.

[Herbert Lorenzo]

I just learned something . Thanks for the info . Found it interesting in that I recently introduced some into my goldfish pond .

[RoLo]

 

Chara and Nitella are the highest forms of algae, and also the largest algae families.

Anglers are probably more familiar with their common names, which is ‘muskgrass’ for chara,

and ‘stonewort’ for nitella. When a stem of muskgrass is crushed, it gives off a garlicy odor,

but stonewort does not.

 

Nitella may form a carpet on the bottom, but usually under a foot tall, non-obtrusive

and routinely overlooked by anglers. Ever since Hurricane Charley (2004) this low-lying algae

has been a key holding feature in Lake Walk-in-Water, for offshore bass (~8 ft deep).

As you’d expect, many anglers are totally oblivious of its existence. 

 

Roger

[Hook2Jaw]

Fact about this stupid algae : I hate it.  It has severely crippled my ability to effectively fish treble hook lures.