Grass (Conspiracy)??

[Blue76]

I haven't been but was told hydrilla was coming up good on watts bar. Anyone witness that? I would think it would have the same weather related issues at the chick.

 

[REELWORLD42]

If you believe that tva does not have the money to treat all of Chickamuga lake then you might believe that I caught a 30 pound large mouth bass today lol

 

[stockcarm14]

the grass is coming up good up river now near Dayton. I agree some places have been sprayed . that's not whatbis affecting the grass all over. it's from lack of sun and from the high flood waters we had back in the spring. with that much current no roots cam hold. it's about 2 months behind where it should be right now.

 

[Volfish]

You cannot spray grass that is under water-if they have done anything it is pellets. Does TVA have the money, of course. Do you know have how much money SNP generates in one day.

 

[Javelin33]

The strange thing is this year there's places that have had good grass in the past that have none what so ever. It seems the grass had declined some each year the last few years. There's usually grass topped out right now and all I can find is mostly clumps here and there. Don't know what causes it but it is very strange.

 

[Tn bullet]

I think we should start planting and bringing more grass in just in efforts to battle tva

 

[DaytonBoatDock]

Volfish- they do spray grass under the water. There are tubes that come off the back of their boat and the chemicals go into the water killing the grass. It doesn't have to be pellets if it's underwater.

 

[jenko157]

I feel that there is an unnatural interference with the grass this year. When the backwaters that never see current are void of grass, and the grass that was growing is now Brown and dying somethings definitely up.

 

[SlabDog]

If, and I do say if, they are killing it all, think of all the money TWRA wasted to manage Chickamauga to what it is today. The State record LM bass record holder. If true, it will go down like it did before.

 

[craazyboutbass]

I've been seeing lots of coontail, and a couple other grass species out there while the hydrilla has been non-existent. But I will say that my last couple trips out with this heat wave, I have been starting to see a few short strands of it starting to grow in some areas on the Chick. Hopefully it will get to growing and all will be ok. It can grow 2-4 inches per day when it gets going good. I fish Parksville as well and it has hydrilla, it is way behind there this year too. I'm just now starting to see some growth the last couple times I've been. At the same time, other grass species on the lake are showing up in decent amounts, just like on the Chick. On both lakes, the water temperatures took forever to finally get up in the mid 80s and higher. It seems like it's only been above 84-85 for just two or three weeks. Then you factor in all the rain, and current we've had all year. I think that gives us what we're seeing.. or not seeing.

 

[tndoe270]

I would agree with crazy for sure last year the chick has more grass than ever and it was due to extremely hot weather, 90's-100's and an extreme drought, combine those two you get phenominal grass growth, take what we had this year so far it's just recently last week or two got up in the 90's and rain almost daily. Compare mother nature last year to this year and it will all be OK, God made his fish and all animals too survive in extreme conditions. He's got all this under control where we will all life happy, with grass ??????????????????.

 

[weims]

I fished Nickajack Saturday and only found grass in 4" ft of water or less anything deeper than that was bare on the graph.

 

[REELWORLD42]

I know of a few places on Chickamauga lake that the grass is already to the top and has started to form a mat and these places has seen the same weather, current, and rain that the rest of the lake has so blaming lack of grass on mother nature or the elements don't make sense unless someone is fertilizing a few places with miracle grow.

 

[porthos33]

I agree (at this point and time) with Kevin and Churly on this one. I truely think we are behind. I have ran patterns up on the Hiwassee that typically don't stay good as long as they did this year b/c the water was cooler. There really isn't any grass to deal with up there so I don't think the chemicals have much effect in this part of the lake b/c it doesn't have to be sprayed. Now from sequoia down, it seems as though you can tell where they have sprayed b/c the grass you pull up is brown and dead. We can only hope that what they are using to spray does not kill the root system. That hydrilla, when it has all the right ingredients to thrive can really grow fast and is hard to contain when there are roots.

It will be interesting to see how the grass progresses over the next couple months. Twra was pretty confident last year, and they didn't even electrofish like they used to every year. Mike Jolley always called Chick the perfect storm and perfection is hard to keep up. It would be cool to hear Mike's opinion on the whole subject since he has put so much effort into making this fishery great.

 

[Hook1]

That's what's so upsetting about it all. Lots of money and effort were put into making Chickamauga great. Like Matt said above; why would sloughs and back water areas that don't see current because they're way off of the river be void of grass? It seems to me that it was all targeted. I'm now having to try to remember how and where I caught good fish before I got grass fever.

 

[Blue76]

I haven't been on the lake in a few weeks. I had found a few places with thick grass last couple of times out... Not topped out and not large areas. Just isolated heavy patches. Caught fish in all of them. Going to try and go this week and see if that grass is still there or is gone like others have said was happening in this thread. I haven't been fishing the Chick but about three or four seasons. No doubt the grass is way behind previous years.

Greg

 

[jb366]

I keep hearing how great the grass was last year but the spots I always fished midlake had next to none last year as well.
Caught fish in and around it in the may cba and the next week it was pretty much gone

 

[churly]

Hook1 - 7/24/2017 8:03 PM

That's what's so upsetting about it all. Lots of money and effort were put into making Chickamauga great. Like Matt said above; why would sloughs and back water areas that don't see current because they're way off of the river be void of grass? It seems to me that it was all targeted. I'm now having to try to remember how and where I caught good fish before I got grass fever.

It's not just current but water clarity and temp. By far the longest it has took to get the river temp to 85 degrees in all the years I have fished. The last 5-6 years, we have been into the 80s by may. We were in the 70s until the second week of July. Them pulling 47k+ keeps the water cool. The current didn't wash the grass but kept the water cool, even in back water. If someone can show me a pic of a spray boat spraying in the. Win river, I will kiss your bass

 

[churly]

Hook1 - 7/24/2017 8:03 PM

That's what's so upsetting about it all. Lots of money and effort were put into making Chickamauga great. Like Matt said above; why would sloughs and back water areas that don't see current because they're way off of the river be void of grass? It seems to me that it was all targeted. I'm now having to try to remember how and where I caught good fish before I got grass fever.

It's not just current but water clarity and temp. By far the longest it has took to get the river temp to 85 degrees in all the years I have fished. The last 5-6 years, we have been into the 80s by may. We were in the 70s until the second week of July. Them pulling 47k+ keeps the water cool. The current didn't wash the grass but kept the water cool, even in back water. If someone can show me a pic of a spray boat spraying in the main river, I will kiss your bass

 

[stockcarm14]

Hook1 - 7/24/2017 5:03 PM

That's what's so upsetting about it all. Lots of money and effort were put into making Chickamauga great. Like Matt said above; why would sloughs and back water areas that don't see current because they're way off of the river be void of grass? It seems to me that it was all targeted. I'm now having to try to remember how and where I caught good fish before I got grass fever.

all of those back waters had a ton of current flowing the Sunday it rained so much and flooded everything some of you just don't understand how much all the creeks that feed those sloughs were flowing that day I was on the river it was bad we were literally jumping whole trees trying to get back in Richland creek. with my boat in gear and idoling I was going backwards from the current every slough coming back up river looked this way except for Mitchell's branch. this washed what grass was coming up already away then with the lack of sunshine and cooler temperature it hasn't been able to recover until now. all the grass killing that is un natural has been don't in commercial areas and areas that individuals have paid to have sprayed such as around their personal docks and such. this is nothing new been going on for years why would it all of a sudden be different? it's not .... the weather is ....