The grass on Athens is already being spot treated but they will eventually spray/treat the whole lake.

What has been your experience on other lakes when they have been treated?

Oxygen levels affected?

Fishing?

etc...?

Two words. Lake Conroe. Grass carp. Invasives spraying. Well, that's six but you get the point.

Too much grass of the wrong kind is a bad thing. Robs the lake of nutrients. Plus, it produces CO2 at night. So you can run into oxygen problems with too much grass, especially at night in the heat of summer.

Too little grass is a bad thing, as well. Loss of habitat for rearing fry of all species is the most significant impact. Not to mention lakes void of vegetation are typically stained or worse. Ideal coverage would be 20-25% of a water body. I wish our TPWD guys would manage for that rather than all or nothing.

As for oxygen problems associated with spraying. Not to worry, those guys know exactly what they're doing. They treat in phases and specific areas, so as not to have too much dying, decaying aquatic vegetation in a given area. While this decay returns fertile nutrients to the lake bed, it can also cause oxygen depravation if done in too large an area.

No, I'm not a biologist. Just an informed sportsman and steward of our resources.

I would climb to the highest mountain and scream at the top of my lungs!!! They DO NOT need to kill that grass. I dont understand why the heck they can't leave it alone. Rick Ott is one of the main culprits in the "kill grass" campaign. Best thing for us is for him to retire!!! If it's not his doing, oh well, the other person needs to retire. As Fouzman stated, i am not a biologist, but I spend over 250 days a year on the water and have for the past 6 years mostly on East Texas lakes and a lot of them have been sprayed and I have seen 1st hand how it affects a lake, and trust me it's NOT good!!!

I know it is not good.....selfishly, I am just looking to be ahead of the learning curve as fishing changes!

Ask the guys that have fished recent Okeechobee events whether they consider the spraying to be beneficial or detrimental to that fishery. What we saw on TV and On-stage weigh-ins sounded great. Do a little asking around and you will find that the second largest natural lake within the US fishes about the size of Fork, if that right now.

If its a good fishery now, the short term impact will be improved fishing as the cover disappears and the fish congregate on the remaining structure. Long term, it will suck...big time.

Ronnie could not have said it better. All I have to add is look at Cypress Springs. Greatness in the mid 90's and just now coming back. Took ten years to come back.

When the grass is gone, there will be a period of 6 months where lots of BIG fish are caught. It's all downhill after that.

In the most recent program at Conroe about three or four years ago, the LCHOA or whatever they are called, went on a spraying campaign for hydrilla and other "invasives" that were choking off docks and some shallow water access locations around the lake. The result was the lake record falling, several times over a very short period. Plus the contribution of 3 or 4, 14+ SAL's. Why? No place to hide. The docks were all that was left and the giants in those same areas got picked off in a hurry. 5 years prior to, it took 35 pounds to win any one day tourney on the lake. After the spraying, it went to 16-18 pounds. There are still lots of good sacks and giants in the lake, but they live offshore for the most part. And they don't take kindly to pressure, as far as spots replenishing.

It amazes me that in the poor economy we are in how they can justify wasting our tax dollars on spraying grass on our lakes. Can that money not be spent on something more useful, or how about not spent at all maybe save a little money. Mother nature will keep the grass in all our lakes in check.

The grass carp will eat it but the spray turns it to slime. It Sufis!!!!!!

Actually, ma nature can't keep the grass in check, big mike. she needs our help.

The problem is this, at least I believe it is. Monies are appropriated for control of invasive aquatic species statewide, each year. TPWD in conjunction with the local controlling authority, SRA, SJRA, etc and private, expert contractors use those monies to target infestations. Here's where the problem exists.

Due to lack of funding, the number of staff and "experts" available to perform the job+ all the travel required to do the job, as it should be done, simply do not exist. So, this team is left to spend those funds in a more localized fashion. The result is over-treatment of areas and no treatment of others. Otherwise, the "team" loses funding all together if they don't utilize the grant(s).

All of the above may be fiction. Based upon what I know and have witnessed, if it is fictional, then it's barely so.

This. ^^^^^ Have y'all fished Jacksonville a few years ago and now? WTF gets into these people in charge?

SE Kansas grass grower

just look at jacksonville and now tyler, no grass, no hiding spots for fry, low spawn survival, thats the bottom line. Leave it alone, if you need to remove some, do it by hand not by chemicals or grass eating fish

i agree mostly as a fisherman. BUT i have a close friend that lost his son on lake jacksonville because of the grass, and i think he goes the other way. But what was said earlier. Spray in certain areas and leave the rest alone.

They are more concerned with the complaints from home owners that are recreational water users. Not fishermen.