Weed types and fishing them

[Mobasser]

Over the past several seasons, I've watched a 6 acre lake I fish become consumed with milfoil weeds. It started as a couple of smaller patches and has increased in size to cover large areas. Like many of us, I've learned to adapt to it the best I can. I've given up on crankbaits here. Almost any below surface treble hook baits won't work well either. You may get a retrieve started, but after a few yards into it, your snagged on milfoil, and dredging it up again. What we've had to do is to fish in it with T rigged worms, or above it with buzzbaits and spooks. Sometimes a fluke or other soft plastic jerkbaits fished within one or two feet of the surface can draw a strike. I've made friends with a Conservation officer who works this area. He told me last summer that they plan to get it under control this coming year. I sure hope so. Are the lakes you fish choked out with weeds? If so, are they an invasive weed like milfoil? Have you had to change your fishing methods to catch fish consistently? 

[MN Fisher]

Good luck with that. Lake Minnetonka has been fighting a 'standing still' battle with milfoil since 1989. Harvesters cut it 3'-6' below the surface to keep channels and frequently traveled path's navigable, but even with thousands of tons harvested...they've basically only kept it at bay. Now there's this little gem

 

"The Lake Minnetonka Conservation District board has decided to suspend its mechanical harvesting program on Lake Minnetonka until an aquatic invasive species specialist completes a full review of the program."

https://www.hometownsource.com/laker_pioneer/news/local/lmcd-will-likely-suspend-ais-harvesting-program/article_a1af76cc-19f8-11e9-89f6-1b614066d6d1.html

 

As well as the fact that a new hybrid of Eurasian Watermilfoil and native Northern Milfoil was discovered 3 years ago...one that's hardier.

"The new crossbreed appears to be more resistant to treatment and control measures, according to the study, as more of this particular watermilfoil appears in areas that were treated with herbicides than those not being treated."

https://www.hometownsource.com/laker_pioneer/news/local/new-aquatic-invasive-found-in-lake-minnetonka/article_6b02ee6c-1d26-599a-9043-f1ae64520375.html

 

Learn to live with it and fish through it...swim-jigs are your friend.

[dodgeguy]

I hope they are careful when they go to reduce the weeds. Lake Mahopac in NY state had lots of weeds years ago so the homeowners had a study done. They then put in 3 times the amount of grass carp that the study said they needed. Very shortly thereafter every single weed was gone. They decimated the lagemouth population. The smallies loved it and thrived.it has since recovered some 25 years later but now they want to do it again from what I have heard. Total stupidity in my opinion.

[Cdn Angler]

 

I'm in Canada and many lakes around me that aren't crazy deep/rocky are weed choked. I enjoy fishing them more in the Spring before the weeds get insane. 

 

The lakes that are filled with milfoil - I'm talking everywhere - are just a pain to fish. Especially if the weeds are regularly reaching the surface.  Locating fish is harder since everywhere looks similar. If they aren't near the surface I basically have to drop baits vertically and it is hard to cover water doing this. I avoid these lakes in mid-summer. 

 

Spinner baits are an option sometimes if kept shallow.  Topwaters can often work. The WP 110 is an alright option as it doesn't get as fouled up and easier to "steer" than a spook.  Stop/start around the weeds.  

 

I'm no expert though, my catch rate goes down on the most weed infested lakes.

[N Florida Mike]

My lakes main weed is eel grass. They were able to kill all the Niad, which would choke the lake in the summer. This time of year it is 1-2 feet below the surface at my end of the lake. There are some deeper eel grass clumps down toward the other end of the lake. The fish really relate to eel grass edges from late spring to fall. The areas without grass don’t seem to hold fish much, unless it’s near drop offs or deeper holes, or structure. I can’t fish any kind of crank bait. I can fish jerkbaits in some areas , but those areas are real limited in the summer. I have lately rediscovered roostertails, and they can be fished over the top of eel grass as it is in the winter. I switch to edges when the weeds re-emerge. Spinnerbaits work well on the edges too, and soft plastics are the most versatile ( and most used, of course )?

[Russ E]

My little home lake has curly pondweed, brittle Naiad, and coontail.

the curly pondweed and brittle Naiaid usually does not hold many fish. They are also hard to fish without fouling the baits.

Nearly any healthy patch of coontail has bass. In the heat of summer, when other lakes get tough to fish, this lake produces crazy numbers of fish.  Dragging a texas rigged worm along the edges of coontail, is usually the most productive.

[keagbassr]

I've got like 4 ponds around me that become about 70% choked off by milfoil and /or chesnut pads most of summer thru early fall. The pads you can frog/toad early before they get to thick and the milfoiloil you punch it as well as pitch jigs and bladed jigs into any 'feedholes' in it. 

[BigAngus752]

I fish a 172 acre lake that about 30 minutes away.  This lake has produced several 9lb + bass.  If you aren't familiar with Illinois, that is a legendary fish for Illinois.  The first year I fished it I started in the spring and as the weather warmed huge areas of lily pads started to grow. I got really excited because I love to frog fish but soon realized the pad fields are just too enormous.  They expand a little every year and there is no one that can cast anything far enough to cover even half of the area.  I've tried to fish every bit I could reach with frogs and punching.  I've tried to chop my way through them (that's a miserable day).  Finally I discovered that sometimes bass just aren't in the mood for all the vegetation.  I learned to seek out small pieces of submerged structure that are in the uncovered areas and I have identified numerous, very specific spots that are almost guaranteed to hold a bass.  I have never been skunked on this small lake because I have taken the time to find these small, unique places and I can go through them one by one and I always catch at least one bass.  Usually several.  

 

Try looking only at the small portions that aren't completely covered with vegetation and then find the small, little pieces of structure that will draw a fish that just doesn't feel like hanging in the jungle at that particular moment.   

[Bluebasser86]

I'll trade milfoil for curly leaf pond weed anytime. One of the lakes I fish gets choked with it (literally), from late April through about late June when the heat kills a lot of it off and the lake is fishable again. It's so dense a boat can't even launch and trolling motors can't cut through it. The lake is so shallow that it grows from shoreline to shoreline. Literally shuts the place down for a couple months, it's nuts.

 

[Bankbeater]

They'll need to be careful in killing off that vegetation.  If that lake is shallow and the vegetation is supplying oxygen in the heat of the summer, they could be looking at a fish kill in the when the water heats up.

[Bluebasser86]

30 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

They'll need to be careful in killing off that vegetation.  If that lake is shallow and the vegetation is supplying oxygen in the heat of the summer, they could be looking at a fish kill in the when the water heats up.

They started to poison a couple of the lakes I fished regularly, and the fishing has been horrid at both the last couple years since they started doing it. One the did it because the people living on the lake complained about all the weeds (which are curly leaf pondweed that would die off naturally with the heat of the summer if they'd just leave it alone). The other is a lake that is solely for fishing and they just decided to kill the weeds because?

 

A friend of mine lives on a private lake that use to be an amazing fishery, and then they started dumping copper sulfate in the lake to kill off the milfoil. A lake that use to take 20lbs to get in the money for their little club tournaments, now rarely produces fish over 2.5 pounds and nowhere near the numbers.

[N Florida Mike]

57 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

They'll need to be careful in killing off that vegetation.  If that lake is shallow and the vegetation is supplying oxygen in the heat of the summer, they could be looking at a fish kill in the when the water heats up.

That happened to my lake in 2011. A lake resident and board member was also the aquatic weed sprayer. He had done it since 1985 without a kill. He treated too much too quickly. Killed everything. 2 weeks later fish began dying . My opinion is that every bass over 2 pounds died- it was that bad. Most, if not all the big bream died. I was fit to be tied. We have a professional do it now, and he does a pretty good job keeping the lake clear enough to suit the “ no weed” folks. I keep them at bay with “ we don’t want another fish kill, bad for the environment “ so we keep a healthy amount of weeds in the lake.

The bass population is back to excellent, with fish approaching 10 pounds again. The bream have never fully recovered, because they are the basses main forage and get eaten.

[scaleface]

We are both in  northern Missouri and yes , the small lake I frequent has been choked out with Chara algae  .Chara  is difficult to fish .  Treble hook lures are out of the question except in deep water but with the chara everywhere , there just are not as  many bass hanging out  deep as there  once was. I use spinnerbaits and buzzbaits around the edges . Texas rigs are  difficult to fish because the chara has no root system so Texas rigs usually bring a wad of it back  . I still use T-rigs in some of the laydowns  but more than half the wood is choked out with the stuff . Stanley Ribbets do extremely well in it .The back of all major coves are  a chore to reach. I  seem to be  the only boat who fights the stuff  to  get back there but it can be  worth it . The fishing there can be really good . The lake fishes differently now , not worse just different . 

 

 This happened  to the lake before and the MDC introduced sterile Grass carp .  That worked wonderfully. I dont know why they dont go that route again