Fertilizer effects on fishing

[msfisherman]

I fish a private 1000 acre lake that is professionally managed. The fertilizer boat is out there often and I have noticed that the fishing really drops off for a few days immediately after they fertilize. Anybody else notice this? The management guys insist it has no effect, but I beg to differ. 

[Siebert Outdoors]

I would think it alters the PH of the water and sucks out the O2.  Not sure on that though.

[Jig Man]

What the hell are they fertilizing with a boat?????

[Raul]

What the hell are they fertilizing with a boat?????

To distribute the fertilizer evenly throughout the surface of the lake and allow for better dispersion Jig Man, you can 't dump the fertilizer on a spot, it doesn 't dissolve fast and the only thing you create is a big fertilizer rock on the bottom.

[J Francho]

I think jigman has the same question as I: what is the fertilizer for?

[RobbyZ5001]

My guess and I could be wrong, but they are probably trying to make the lake more productive. More productive meaning more plankton and macroinvertebrates, but again I could be wrong.

[Raul]

I think jigman has the same question as I: what is the fertilizer for?

Fertilizer ---> phytoplankton ( food )

Lime ---> to boost the pH.

Waters that produce lots of fish and big are pea soup green, crystal clear waters are nutrient poor.

Besides being a nuisance because they clog up everything mussels also are a nuisance because they eat all the plankton.

[J Francho]

A assumed as much, thought the "often" verbiage had me curious.  Seems like this lake has some issues to start with.

[Raul]

A assumed as much, thought the "often" verbiage had me curious. Seems like this lake has some issues to start with.

Not everything that 's done to maintain the productivity has to do with issues, it 's regular maintenance, just like adding chlorine to a pool or fertilizing your lawn on a regular schedule.

[msfisherman]

The fertilizer is for phytoplankton as stated above. Most managed lakes are kept at a certain color as a measure of the appropriate level. Shad eat the phytoplankton, bass eat the shad etc. I'm guessing since most are unfamiliar with this, then few will have noticed any problems with fishing acutely.

[Gatorbassman]

I've fishing several lakes just after they limed them. I didn't notice any change in the fishing. As a matter of fact we had a great topwater bite in pockets where the lime had been blown into and was still floating on the top. The bass were using it as shade.

[J Francho]

My personal experience in this would be limited to small ponds <acre, and while we buffered the water, we were generally trying to limit nutrients in the water, simply because the ponds were overstocked.  Up here, I guess this isn't a problem in natural lakes.  Thanks for the explanation.

[Raul]

It has a lot to do with size my friend, things magnify upon scale, the larger the body of water the more stable it is, also has a lot to do with location and bottom composition.

My everyday lake turns into pea soup ( sometimes at your own very eyes ) during summer, summer is a funny season for us, it 's the rainy season so all the agricultural run off from the surrounding terrain washes into the lake with the rain, it 's just a matter of having a couple of clear skies days, add fertilizer and manure from the surrounding terrain plus the heat and you got yourself pea soup in an eyeblink.

There 's a lake near Tepatitlan to the north that I fish every now and then, all arround the lake there are chicken farms, the farms remove the manure from the pens and pile it oustide and since the lake is the lowest part of the terrain all that manure leaches into the lake when it rains. That lake produces fish like this on a regular basis:

Lots of 10+ pounders have been caught on that lake. On the other hand, there 's another lake just about the same distance from Tepatitlan but in the opposite direction to the south, there are no chicken farms surrounding the lake and even though the fish are nice it doesn 't produce fish like the one in the picture.

[SirSnookalot]

In my area of Palm Beach county they do the opposite, weed killer every few months and the fishing really tails off for a while.

[J Francho]

That would be a drastic difference in management goals.  One seeks to promote a fishery, another seeks to improve the waterway for rec. boating.

[RoLo]

'Fertilizer' (NPK) is at the bottom of the natural food chain

> Fertilizer provides nourishment for phytoplankton (microscopic plants)

> Phytoplankton provides food for zooplankton (microscopic animals)

> Zooplankton is the staple diet of prey fish (baitfish)

> Prey fish is sustenance for game fish

One thing I really miss are the Pay-to-Fish ponds strewn throughout the state of Georgia.

All the well-managed 'pay-to-fish' ponds were fertilized on a regular basis,

not to cure or prevent any problem, but to maximize population density and average weight.

Lake Butner (now Ono Road Lake) was a private, pay-to-fish pond managed for bluegill production.

It was regularly fertilized (along with alkali) and displayed the characteristic fertile pea-soup green color.

I've never seen so many cab-over bluegills in my life, than those from Butner Lake.

On a trek around the pond (no boats allowed), I encountered a woman sitting in a lawn chair

who had four 1-pound bluegills on a stringer. About 75 yds away was a fellow with five bluegills

that I'd estimate at least 1½ lb each. The lake record was 3-lb, 2-oz and that little pond

also produced monster cats and several 8-lb bass.

When I managed my tiny backyard pond in Georgia, I was able to control water clarity

using fertilizer to reduce clarity (increase nutrients) and liquid barley to increase clarity (reduce nutrients).

Roger

[SirSnookalot]

That would be a drastic difference in management goals. One seeks to promote a fishery, another seeks to improve the waterway for rec. boating.

In the private community ponds( no boating on most ) private companies do weed kill several times a year, the Home Owners Association cares less about fishing.  Palm Beach county and the Lake Worth Drainage District ( LWDD ) are always dredging and weed killing, I'm told it's about water flow, they also don't care about fishing.  The canal behind my home used to be sensational, they dredged and I haven't caught a bass there in 6 months.

[BrASSmonkey]

Is this fertilizer the same fertilizer used on agricultural lands?  This fertilizer is usually rich in phosphorus which is used by plants.  The phosphorus can lead to algae bloom (the pea soup that some may have observed).  In many instances, too much phosphorus can lead to the eutrophication of a body of water, which causes the depletion of dissolved oxygen, limiting the growth of aquatic life in that body of water.  Without knowing what goes on this body of water, th addition of phosphorus worries me (I am a wastewater engineer in Canada and phosphorus loading from wastetwater treatment plants is controlled heavily here).  However, if done in a controlled way, it should be susstainable.

BrASSmonkey

[BassThumb]

Is this fertilizer the same fertilizer used on agricultural lands? This fertilizer is usually rich in phosphorus which is used by plants. The phosphorus can lead to algae bloom (the pea soup that some may have observed). In many instances, too much phosphorus can lead to the eutrophication of a body of water, which causes the depletion of dissolved oxygen, limiting the growth of aquatic life in that body of water. Without knowing what goes on this body of water, th addition of phosphorus worries me (I am a wastewater engineer in Canada and phosphorus loading from wastetwater treatment plants is controlled heavily here). However, if done in a controlled way, it should be susstainable.

BrASSmonkey

That could be what's happening in my favorite local lake. It's actually two small connected lakes totaling about 400 acres , much of which is less than 4' deep. The lake is almost entirely surrounded by corn and alfalfa fields, plus a small bird preserve. Right away when I first saw the pea-soup green water, I knew that the water was heavily affected by farm runoff because most of the local lakes have very clear water and this one has 1-2' visibility.

Aside from a few mucky bays with moderate lily pad growth, the lake is almost devoid of significant weed growth. The only weeds are a handful of sporadic coontail clumps that are only a foot or two wide. But this lake provides the best bass fishing locally, with a 3 lb daily averages being common, with 4 and 5 lb fish almost every trip and rarely a fish under 1.5 lbs.

I always wondered why the lake could be so rich in plankton yet have so few weeds. But I wish more lakes had that heavy phosphorus content. They make for great Run and Gun fishing.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

[Raul]

Is this fertilizer the same fertilizer used on agricultural lands? This fertilizer is usually rich in phosphorus which is used by plants. The phosphorus can lead to algae bloom (the pea soup that some may have observed). In many instances, too much phosphorus can lead to the eutrophication of a body of water, which causes the depletion of dissolved oxygen, limiting the growth of aquatic life in that body of water. Without knowing what goes on this body of water, th addition of phosphorus worries me (I am a wastewater engineer in Canada and phosphorus loading from wastetwater treatment plants is controlled heavily here). However, if done in a controlled way, it should be susstainable.

BrASSmonkey

Yup, it 's the same fertilizer used on agricultural lands cuz there 's a ton of ferilizers with an almost infinite amount of variations in the formulation of the contents of nitrogen, phosporus and potasium used depending upon specific needs according to the soil content of the place and crop to be fertilized.

When you go buy fertilizer for your crops you just don 't  purchase whatever formulation comes first into your mind, you purchase a specific formulation your crops need. The same applies to fertilizing a pond, you use the formulation you need to produce a certain effect.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

In my area of Palm Beach county they do the opposite, weed killer every few months and the fishing really tails off for a while.

The FWC just had their boat out on my lake today. We've been told in the past that they're spraying to control the hydrilla. Fishing usually stinks for a little while afterwards.  Unfortunately my lake isn't one of the lakes that borders public view, so there isn't the easement that some of the other lakes in my area have.  There are a few lakes around here in other private communities that have some areas that look ridiculously good for fishing because they must leave the natural landscape intact.