Weeds and chemical use

[MarkPace]

I've heard and seen several posts about excessive weed killing over the past year in the area. I'm an outdoors reporter and am looking into the issue.

Have others experienced the same thing? Is there considerably less plant life this year than years prior?

I'd really like to hear back from as many of you as possible about whether or not you've seen or experienced this. Please email me at mpace@timesfreepress.com.

 

[wetaline]

Excessive wouldn't be harsh enough. When you fish here all the time, you perspective is different. I have a friend in town right now prefishing a tournament. He has been looking forward to coming back here since he last fished it three years ago. He told me tonight that after this tournament, he will not be back. He is a diehard fisherman and said they have decimated this lake. I have noticed less grass, but he told what they have done this year made him sick to his stomach. I'll be working on an extensive email about this

 

[MarkPace]

Thank you. I'll keep an eye out for it. Anytime before Tuesday afternoon would be great.

 

[fishinvol]

They aren't spraying anymore then they usually do . The grass is growing . It's behind because of a mild summer , tons of rain and clouds . Last year we had a major drought ,excessive heat through September and because of that , we had more grass than we've had since the 80's.

 

[churly]

I found a lot of new grass on the lower end yesterday. I'm still convinced that mama nature is to blame for the lack of

 

[Blue76]

Did they spray around Patton island? Lots of dead slimy grass in that area. Even dead vegetation on the bank ... can that stuff blow up on land if they spray in the wind? Looks like someone sprayed roundup on the bank in a few areas of the island.

 

[porthos33]

I've found a lot of good grass matted and deeper. I really think we are just behind. I took a couple pictures of it but actually found way better and bigger mats later on yesterday. Fished a lot around patton island a couple days ago and the grass is definitely behind more there. But I did catch a couple gooduns in there.

Just throw that Jig Greg! lol

 

[gobigorange]

There are docks I like to fish mid lake and was told by the dock owners they had the area sprayed twice earlier in the year. Now there is some signs of grass trying to grow back but it was treated around may or june. This area when there is grass will produce unbelievable amounts of bass but since they treated it catching a limit can be a struggle.

 

[FishingwithRusty]

after all discussion had earlier about the spraying and my trip to gville, i reached back out to Brett Hartis, Aquatic Plant Management Program manager. he still contends that TVA only sprays around the ramps they maintain and public fishing docks. He went on to explain that most of what is topped out at gville is milfoil but hydrilla is coming up. says he has seen some milfoil on chick and that there is hydrilla its just behind last year because of the weather and water conditions.

he did say the hydrilla will continue to grow til about mid september so there is still time for it to get up and with the normal schedule of the lake dropping......MATS are on the way!!!! YAY!!!! wont have to drive to gville to frog fish

 

[mjwendorf]

Didn't tva blame the grass kill in the 80's on drought? Now it's because of to much rain?

 

[Hook1]

I fished two nights again this weekend. Found some newer grass the other night but the whole top of it was dead, black slimy goo. That's not Mother Nature. Above highway 60 looks like another world compared to the lower end.

 

[Tn bullet]

Starting to thinks just is a spokes person for tva! I find it very hard to. Elieve that all the surrounding lakes and ponds very near the chick all have grass! Must be the ozone and specific weather just over the chick! Nah wake up people tva has partnered with the aquatic spraying and has killed the lake! It will be back to the Dead Sea if they do t leave it alone

 

[Creekrunner6]

MarkPace - 8/12/2017 6:19 PM

I've heard and seen several posts about excessive weed killing over the past year in the area. I'm an outdoors reporter and am looking into the issue.

Have others experienced the same thing? Is there considerably less plant life this year than years prior?

I'd really like to hear back from as many of you as possible about whether or not you've seen or experienced this. Please email me at mpace@timesfreepress.com.

Ive lived on this lake for 35 years and ive got mixed feelings on this years lack of weeds. At first I thought it was only weather related but Im starting to doubt that when surrounding bodies of water are full of weeds. There are main lake flats that normally have grass topped out from 10-12 feet deep that don't have a weed on them. Ive found some areas with new grass growing but others areas where its dead. Either way its way behind. Tva says they haven't killed it but my concern is the contractors the dock owners are using. What are they spraying? is it washing downstream, killing everything in its path? Is it safe for our drinking water? Are they being regulated?
Below is another thread on this message board with a lot of info.
http://chattanoogafishingforum.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=92784&posts=144&start=1

 

[churly]

Tn bullet - 8/14/2017 12:18 PM

Starting to thinks just is a spokes person for tva! I find it very hard to. Elieve that all the surrounding lakes and ponds very near the chick all have grass! Must be the ozone and specific weather just over the chick! Nah wake up people tva has partnered with the aquatic spraying and has killed the lake! It will be back to the Dead Sea if they do t leave it alone

Go above 60 bridge. From Hiwassee down its pretty bare compared to this time the past few years. Above there, theres plenty. Makes me wonder about the Hiwasee influence...?


Guys, how far is winter draw down on Gunny or Nick? Not much. Ours can fluctuate 7-8 ft. If you have watched the grass grow over the past few years, the hydrilla actually starts out deep where water is durring winter draw down. So chickamauga grass is always behind Nick and Gunny. I mean guntersville literally has mats year round in some areas. This past winter was so mild that there were mats when I went down in February. Last year we had many fires within the drainage of this part of the TN river. Well when it finally started raining we had alot of extra turbidity in our water. I remember haing conversations with my partner about the water being an off color this spring, some folks said it was "turning over". Also, look at the temp. Its was 81 when we blasted off Saturday morning. Thats way below average for this time of year, like 10 degrees.

Hydrilla does not like cold murky water. TVA does not give a crap about the grass in channel and the non public areas. Why havent they killed it all above 60 bridge? And like big foot, why havent we got a pic of a sprayboat anywhere other than close to the docks, ramps, and other public places?

 

[fishinvol]

I purposely drove around for an hour today checking coves ( popular ones that a lot of the pleasure boaters use) just to see . Found tons of hydrilla nearly topped out in most places . From 8ft to 2 ft .

 

[HunterDuck25]

Drove around Guntersville all weeekend, saw a ton of grass, but there were quite a few spots(on the lower end) that normally have mats this time of year that haven't topped out yet.

 

[porthos33]

churly - 8/14/2017 6:55 PM

Tn bullet - 8/14/2017 12:18 PM Starting to thinks just is a spokes person for tva! I find it very hard to. Elieve that all the surrounding lakes and ponds very near the chick all have grass! Must be the ozone and specific weather just over the chick! Nah wake up people tva has partnered with the aquatic spraying and has killed the lake! It will be back to the Dead Sea if they do t leave it alone

Go above 60 bridge. From Hiwassee down its pretty bare compared to this time the past few years. Above there, theres plenty. Makes me wonder about the Hiwasee influence...? Guys, how far is winter draw down on Gunny or Nick? Not much. Ours can fluctuate 7-8 ft. If you have watched the grass grow over the past few years, the hydrilla actually starts out deep where water is durring winter draw down. So chickamauga grass is always behind Nick and Gunny. I mean guntersville literally has mats year round in some areas. This past winter was so mild that there were mats when I went down in February. Last year we had many fires within the drainage of this part of the TN river. Well when it finally started raining we had alot of extra turbidity in our water. I remember haing conversations with my partner about the water being an off color this spring, some folks said it was "turning over". Also, look at the temp. Its was 81 when we blasted off Saturday morning. Thats way below average for this time of year, like 10 degrees. Hydrilla does not like cold murky water. TVA does not give a crap about the grass in channel and the non public areas. Why havent they killed it all above 60 bridge? And like big foot, why havent we got a pic of a sprayboat anywhere other than close to the docks, ramps, and other public places?

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I don't think the Hiwassee is doing anything to the grass unless Wacker is contributing. There are mats where they always are and these pics aren't even that close to the Island. But on a side note, If guys are saying they don't ever want to came back b/c of them killing all the grass, then that is great and we should just go with the spraying conspiracy!

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[churly]

Drive over 60 bridge during a flood period. You will see the water that comes out of the Hiwasee during high flows is cooler and much more turbid. I know about the grass around the island, but what about the grass from the bridge down. I wonder if the water coming out of the Hiwasee was cool enough and muddy enough to cause such a difference in growth in two areas within sight of each other?? Just a hypothesis

 

[Aries 181]

Plenty of grass in Dallas bay if you open your eyes and not just duck weed.

Bill

 

[SlabDog]

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I know the spraying is happening. I've seen the air boat with 1,000 gallons of weed killer on the way to the lake 2 times this year. The liquid is dispersed from the back of the boat and down into the water via a hose system. But, I don't think it's TVA at all. The lake front property owners organized April 28th, 2011 and are called TENNESSEE RIVER PROPERTY OWNERS' AQUATIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION INC. There's a separate group for four TVA reservoirs on the Tennessee River - Chickamauga, Nickajack, Kentucky and Pickwick within this Corporation of lake front property owners. We all know these people have a lot of money by looking at there palaces on the rivers edge. They have pooled their money to destroy the evil grass on these lakes. Notice they are a Non-Profit Corporation. All the money goes into making the bottom of these lakes slick and smooth. https://www.bizapedia.com/tn/tennes...atic-resource-management-association-inc.html They want it all killed, not just the area around their docks. I'm sure it's expensive to spray this stuff, so they want to do it one time and be done with it for another 25 years, not spray their docks every year. They couldn't get a permit to apply herbicide to the river until 2014 due to a previous TDEC lapse in applying for the permits. Here's an article from 2011 that explains it all: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/news/story/2011/may/31/waging-war-water-weeds/50893/ Our old friend Troy Goldsby is a very popular guy with these folks and is mentioned in this article. Also mentioned is TVA and TDEC's lies about a flood pulling up the grass back in the 80's that sent all the grass "into the deep". That's TOTAL BS. Because I remember very well the helicopters and boats spraying pellets everywhere back then. That's what killed the grass and Chickamauga fishing for what, 25 years? 12 - 15 lbs would win the CBA during those years. Ya'll keep thinking it's the weather folks. That's what this organization of lake front property owners are hoping you'll do just like TVA was hoping we'd swallow the flood story back in the 80's. Those of us old guys that were fishing back then know the truth.</p>

To Mr Mark Pace: If you want your article to tell the truth, follow the trail of spraying back to it's source. It should be easy since I gave you the pieces above.</p>

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