strange (to me) floating algae covering urban pond, in winter

[fishhugger]

hi all algae lovers,

i've just resumed fishing, with the warmer weather. half the surface area of my pond is covered with these floating small 1/4" diameter 'flowerettes?' of algae(?).  the pond surface looks like a 1960's wall to wall carpet of semi-shag, light greenish, with red hues...solid covering, to appearances.  these flowerettes are free floating, and form pretty seamless mats stretching out for about half the surface area of the pond. i think they are individuals blown by the wind to the N half of pond.  you can't really see the water surface at all in that area. i think it's a winter growth. i'm a new bass fisherman in california.

 

so i'm wondering how to fish these areas, are they 'good', since they certainly provide cover... , the only way i know what's underneath is by dragging a texas rig - that's what i've mainly been doing so far. in the summer, much of the shallow edges of the pond are covered by green mats of a different algae, which seem to grow from the bottom of the pond. i was punching or flipping (not sure of the term) those areas...

 

 i guess i'm trying to feel what is down there, fishing very slowly on the bottom, with my texas rig, and braid... currently using as light a sinker as i can - 1/4 oz. sometimes that is not heavy enough to keep the rig on the bottom, with the tension from the surface algae.  haven't tried any faster methods... something would have to be fairly heavy to stay under the water, with the added tension of all the algae. that easily pulls up line, and the lure is just skimming along the surface, picking up algae.

 

in the photo, is merely one of the millions of small flowerettes. they're all about this size... they just individually float.

 

any suggestions? is this algae common? thank you!

 

 

[thediscochef]

tiny foliage like that is always tricky but that looks like some form of duckweed, Fairy Moss seems most likely to my eye. It is technically a fern, not an algae or moss as I understand it. By some accounts it helps to control harmful/toxic algae blooms in some ponds but can quickly take over an entire surface in full sun.

I'd probably be texas rigging a 3/8oz to 5/8oz weight with a mag ribbontail, a 5" or 6" Senko, or a 5"+ trick worm - something like that - if I was trying to work through the weeds coming off the bottom. Otherwise if there's an edge where the ferns stop, I'd work a lighter bait parallel to that edge, which is generally my first instinct with grass edges like that

As a side note, that stuff is super invasive and can grow unchecked very quickly in full sun. Be cautious about spreading it to other waters.
 

[fishhugger]

it's taken over about half the entire surface of the pond.  so - i can't see the bottom, at all. i'm sort of content to just be dragging a texas rig along the bottom, for awhile. that's the only way i can tell what's on the bottom, afaik. i'll take your advice and switch to some heavier rig, slightly larger plastics...

i may ask someone there about it - idk if it's okay for the fish or ecosystem, or some horrible thing that's choking the life out of it. from what you're speculating - it might be some invasive thing..

with the 'normal' algae, that grows off the bottom, and only is in the shallows, i can at least kind of see what is going on. this stuff is literally a shag carpet just covering huge swaths of the pond...

anyone else used to fishing this kind of stuff?

oh, well --- at least the weather is warming up.

[thediscochef]

15 minutes ago, fishhugger said:

it's taken over about half the entire surface of the pond.  so - i can't see the bottom, at all. i'm sort of content to just be dragging a texas rig along the bottom, for awhile. that's the only way i can tell what's on the bottom, afaik. but, i'm very new at this.

i may ask someone there about it - idk if it's okay for the fish or ecosystem, or some horrible thing that's choking the life out of it. from what you're speculating - it might be some invasive thing..

it's not a super healthy ecosystem to start with.

with the 'normal' algae, that grows off the bottom, and only is in the shallows, i can at least kind of see what is going on. this stuff is literally a shag carpet just covering huge swaths of the pond...

anyone else used to fishing this kind of stuff?

oh, well --- at least the weather is warming up.

It can be controlled somewhat I think, but I don't really know much about pond management or ecosystems overall. I'd think the key concern would be when/if the foliage dies off and consumes oxygen content from the water as it decays, especially if this floating stuff is a new introduction to the pond. If it's normally like this, I'm not sure it's an issue. Have you caught/seen any fishes in the pond before? 

I know some of my local city ponds here have issues with lilypads covering a ton of the area, but that's just a good place to drop in a T-rig

[Darth-Baiter]

Looks like duck weed.  It will eventually cover the surface. 
 

My lake is covered. The county is gonna skim it off soon. I hope. 
 

 

[cyclops2]

I vote not enough sunlight gets thru it to allow life under it.  Water birds transport water weeds also. Ducks, diving ducks, swans, cormorants and others.  Fishing is not getting better.

[fishhugger]

rats............ guess i gotta find another place to fish......... 

[casts_by_fly]

Frogs and toads are your friend. I always loved duckweed for that. It’s not as thick so when the fish hit there isn’t any weed in the way yet it still forms a semi solid mat. 

[thediscochef]

If there's fish in the pond and you know it, I'd still try it. But if you've never caught there...?‍♂️ I don't know what to tell ya

[Bird]

7 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Looks like duck weed.  It will eventually cover the surface. 
 

My lake is covered. The county is gonna skim it off soon. I hope. 
 

 

WOW !!!! Not seen it that bad.

[fishhugger]

9 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Looks like duck weed.  It will eventually cover the surface. 
 

My lake is covered. The county is gonna skim it off soon. I hope. 
 

 

looks about the same as at my lake... looks like you're still fishing it? my pond is about 80% covered... 

1 hour ago, thediscochef said:

If there's fish in the pond and you know it, I'd still try it. But if you've never caught there...?‍♂️ I don't know what to tell ya

i've caught there, definitely......... idk - this seems like a new menace.... like a star wars thing.  i'm kind of discouraged, i have to say. was out there today, just dropping a wacky worm into the depths, where the veggies were somewhat thinner.. felt like a desperate man.....  there's another pond i can go to, but it's further, not nearly as nice. 

[fishhugger]

it's a fern...as @thediscochef speculated.  it's azolla, according to one site, the smallest fern in the world. and i wish i'd never heard of it.

i just spoke to someone at the parks office, who deals with water management. they're aware of it, but their 'expert' said it wasn't harmful, at this point. it covers 80% or so of the surface, and it started growing two or three months ago.

it's pretty awful. the lake looks like a golf course. the parks guy told me the stuff is so thick, a dog jumped in it. he thought it was a field.

[QED]

My nearby lake (Grant Lake in SJ CA) looked like this last summer.  It then cleared up but by late fall we had a toxic algae bloom.  Sometimes you just can't win...

[scaleface]

I have caught lots of bass in that stuff , many big ones . Weightless soft plastics , toads , fogs and Zman PopShadz are the lures I use .

[fishhugger]

16 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I have caught lots of bass in that stuff , many big ones . Weightless soft plastics , toads , fogs and Zman PopShadz are the lures I use .

it was fern, aka azolla? the azolla floats, free, on the surface, blown by the wind. it seems to not 'pile up' on top of each other, so it easily covers about 80% of the entire surface of the lake...  you really fished and caught bass in that stuff? it just seems like it would decimate the life in the pond, due to the diminished sunlight... am i wrong? hope i am....

@QED yeah --- i normally fish in that 'algae' in your photo. that's the normal stuff in my lake, which is in berkeley.  i assume some of it is the toxic blue green algae

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, fishhugger said:

it was fern, aka azolla? the azolla floats, free, on the surface, blown by the wind. it seems to not 'pile up' on top of each other, so it easily covers about 80% of the entire surface of the lake...  you really fished and caught bass in that stuff? it just seems like it would decimate the life in the pond, due to the diminished sunlight... am i wrong? hope i am....

@QED yeah --- i normally fish in that 'algae' in your photo. that's the normal stuff in my lake, which is in berkeley.  i assume some of it is the toxic blue green algae

 Little green floating stuff that blows around  the lake . I fished a pond that was completely  covered in it and   big  bass would blast through it to get a weightless worm twitched on top of it . 

[slonezp]

Wish I could help. All that covers our ponds during the winter is

[thediscochef]

The lack of sunlight will impact plant life below it more than anything. It's really only going to cause problems for the fish if it kills their food. The other concern is when the ferns die and decompose in that water.

 

Until you actually see a fish kill or something changes, a weightless senko would likely do well on that stuff

[fishhugger]

47 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

The lack of sunlight will impact plant life below it more than anything. It's really only going to cause problems for the fish if it kills their food. The other concern is when the ferns die and decompose in that water.

 

Until you actually see a fish kill or something changes, a weightless senko would likely do well on that stuff

ty.... i'll try it. altho it's hard looking at my formerly very picturesque pond and now its a shag carpet....

[Darth-Baiter]

On 3/8/2022 at 6:14 PM, fishhugger said:

looks about the same as at my lake... looks like you're still fishing it? my pond is about 80% covered... 

i've caught there, definitely......... idk - this seems like a new menace.... like a star wars thing.  i'm kind of discouraged, i have to say. was out there today, just dropping a wacky worm into the depths, where the veggies were somewhat thinner.. felt like a desperate man.....  there's another pond i can go to, but it's further, not nearly as nice. 

I did fish it.  Caught five fish.  One 5lb “goodun”. I haven’t been back since.  I had that crap stuffed into my transducer pocket tight!   It was not fun to clean.   I think it will directly affect the underwater weed growth.  Time will tell.