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I know this is a very late notification, but I just got a call from a friend in Rhea County and he said that a bunch of people have a meeting with TVA at the Town Hall in Spring City this afternoon at 6:00 PM to discuss the spraying and killing of the grass in Watts Bar. He was asking for help in getting the word out. Chickamauga would be next if they are successful in killing the grass in Watts Bar.
I have never fished Watts Bar, nor have I fished the Chic so idk how bad the grass is. My question is do the people who fish these waters want the grass to be sprayed? The little bit I've seen of grass being sprayed it has a terrible effect on the fishing! They sprayed some pads on Reelfoot one year near Kirby Pocket, it was like the fish just disappeared, the fishing was terrible for dang near 2 years in that area, for me anyhow.
Grass has helped make The Chick great again as well as management by our head of fisheries Mike Jolley and his folks The grass is not a favorite of lakehome and dock owners for their interests are swimming and other sports. It's TVA job to make everyone happy so as usual they are asking for input. Funny thing is most of the time the fishing folks find out after it's too late to come voice their opinion. JMHO
Will_P, I believe that spraying relocates where the fish hang out and most people don't know where or how to find them. I could be wrong, but I haven't seen any big fish kills shortly after spraying around docks and ramps has been done.
We had great stands of hydrilla and other grass several years ago here on the northend of KY Lake. TVA said they would not spray it all the time the air boat with 30' boom was spraying it daily. My wife and I had a friend who ran the boat. We had to leave a bay one day while they sprayed.
That grass accelerated the growth of our redear population and made bass and crappie populations explode. Now one is lucky to find any aquatic growth in any of the bays on the north end.
I would not trust TVA to do anything to help fisheries. They spend too much time kissing politicians' butts and catering to rich waterfront and marina owners.
I couldn't agree more! That grass allows the fry to hide better than any log or fish habitat out there. My uncle has a pond that is loaded with largemouth. So much that you hardly every catch anything small other than LM. All the crappie are big and the bluegill big too. Over the course of 2 years coontail took it over, the crappie and bluegill rebounded quickly and you were able to catch small ones. The bass you would catch during that time were paper thin and starving to death. It looked like nature was going to take care of itself. Then he done the unthinkable, he put 40, 10lb grass carp in it and in a matter of about 8 months, every stitch of coontail was gone. Now there are no small bluegill or crappie. That grass does a lot more good than harm. I do understand if it's choking a place out to clean it up a bit, but don't wipe it out completely!Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdux