Lake Guntersville, what a mess! And I don't mean mess of fish

Most of yall already know I got back into fishing last fall, so granted I haven't been on the lake in the summer in 7-8 years, but what in the heck is responsible for the water on Lake Guntersville looking like a bush hogged field? Every part of the lake that I went to this afternoon had so much eelgrass and hydrilla pieces floating on top (mostly eelgrass) that it was impossible to throw a bait with a treble hook on it without getting fouled up with grass. We were fishing for schooling stripe and were fishing close to, and on the main river channel and I gave up after 20 minutes. I ran up to Short creek and it looked exactly the same way. From Pole Cat hollow to the big river bridge, to the big bend above the bridge on Short Creek was just one big mess.

This was vegetation anywhere from 2" long to a foot long. Millions of pieces of it. All floating, not attached to anything. It was so thick out in the river channel that it showed up from the surface to the bottom on side scan in some spots. For those of you who have a Helix and know what it looks like when you cross a wake, that's what the screen looked like from top to bottom of the entire water column.


What in the world causes this?

It’s summertime go out tomorrow and you will see ! They will be those on all types of water craft starting at first light and not just on the week end ! it amazes me that we don’t have more accidents than we do! A lot of folks just don’t understand how shallow a lot of our water is and they just run every where ! I was out last week and watched a big boat come up the river and they were right on the river bank in less than 3’ of water :yikes and you know what grows their this time of year ! Then the way they push and pull water and how that grass washes into other grass mats and hangs around until it gets washed on! That is why I usually don’t fish our lake after the end of May until late fall ! Also take note of all the coots that’s congerated up in the grass Matt’s stop and watch what they are doing . But their are plenty other lakes to fish and that’s part of the reason why I have put 20,000 miles on my truck in less than a year fishing Ky,Tn,Ms,Al

Boat traffic may be all that caused it Mitch. They were sure out in force yesterday afternoon. I have already ruled out Saturday fishing. Guess I'm gonna have to rule out Friday afternoon fishing too. I know everybody has the same right to be on the lake that I do but it's hard to comprehend the lack of consideration many of those pleasure boaters have for fishermen. I was smack dab in the middle of the big river bridge trying to fish at one point yesterday and had one of those big cruisers come about 50 yards from me and then cross in front of me. You'd think since they were turning, they could have at least went behind me, but apparently their plans are more important than mine.

I guess I'm gonna have to load up the boat and go pester Glenn and Cowboys lake. :)

Stay where you are.


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Originally Posted by CrappieFlopper

Stay where you are.


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Love you too. LOL

That was the same way I described it a couple Fridays ago, like someone mowed every yard on the lake and blew the clippings in the lake. This was on a Friday and not much boat traffic. Luckily I was just there goofing off with the kids and 3o mins of pulling grass off was enough for me.

The eel grass is a new comer showing up the last 7 to 5 years. I am sure some industrious bass club or angler decided they needed a new grass for the lake since TVA was waging war on the hydrilla and milfoil. If TVA would pull consistently it would clear up some areas but given the chopping of it up by all the boats it is going to be a mess. In the fall after a big front has blown thru with strong winds out of the north I have seen what amounts to small bales of the stuff washed up on the banks under the bridges, I have used it to cushion where I was standing . To bad the stuff cant go up the intake of the water crickets and burn their engines up :biggrin

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Originally Posted by FurFlyin

Boat traffic may be all that caused it Mitch. They were sure out in force yesterday afternoon. I have already ruled out Saturday fishing. Guess I'm gonna have to rule out Friday afternoon fishing too. I know everybody has the same right to be on the lake that I do but it's hard to comprehend the lack of consideration many of those pleasure boaters have for fishermen. I was smack dab in the middle of the big river bridge trying to fish at one point yesterday and had one of those big cruisers come about 50 yards from me and then cross in front of me. You'd think since they were turning, they could have at least went behind me, but apparently their plans are more important than mine.

I guess I'm gonna have to load up the boat and go pester Glenn and Cowboys lake. :)

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This is why I fish at night after the Spring. We need more Marine Police in the waterways, especially the more popular lakes. They don't obey the idle only speed. I hate fishing at first light and here comes the bass boats rocking the boat and we are tied off under a bridge.

I can tell you the reason why there are so many boats. 9ne bank in town was going 17y on boats a few years ago. Everyone can buy a boat like that. Now they my pay $100000.00 for a $20000.00 boat but hay.

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Originally Posted by lowe175

I can tell you the reason why there are so many boats. 9ne bank in town was going 17y on boats a few years ago. Everyone can buy a boat like that. Now they my pay $100000.00 for a $20000.00 boat but hay.

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I’ll likely tick off some folks on here, but the truth is the truth. It is financially reckless, at best, to finance any rapidly depreciating asset such as a boat for 17 years. You’d be upside down, no pun intended, in that boat the day you bought it.

I tried to say that as nicely as possible. If I said what first came to mind it might get deleted

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Originally Posted by FurFlyin

I’ll likely tick off some folks on here, but the truth is the truth. It is financially reckless, at best, to finance any rapidly depreciating asset such as a boat for 17 years. You’d be upside down, no pun intended, in that boat the day you bought it.

I tried to say that as nicely as possible. If I said what first came to mind it might get deleted

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Glenn we are on the same page.


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I was only pointing out why there's some many boats not trying to hurt any feelings. We've all made bad decisions before that's just one I see a lot

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