"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 20:20:51 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

NY State and private organizations are ready to try almost anything. What
actually happens depends on who's got the most influence. On Waneta &
Lamoka
lakes (which nobody's heard of, but anyway), bass & pike fisherman want
the
weeds left alone. These two lakes generate pretty much zero tourist
dollars,
so residents have a hard time convincing the DEC to permit the use of
chemicals to limit the weed.

Herbicides are not the sole answer. Harvesting and mat bedding can
help and if the waterfront owners are that concerned, they can hand
harvest and dispose if it bothers them that much.

The other issue is that fisherman love the stuff because it does
provide solid cover for a lot of sport fish - pike/bass/muskie, etc.

Too much milfoil though and the free oxygen levels drop and there goes
the fish.

It's a combination issue - you need on the one hand to harvest and
dispose and on the other hand, maintain some for a really good healthy
lake.

The funny thing about this is that when milfoil finally showed up at a
local pond, the stocked tiger muksie and pike suddenly got huge - in
two seasons, they exploded almost doubling their mature size.
Apparently the cover helped out by cooling the lake, providing ambush
sites, etc.

Then when the milfoil became a issue, all of a sudden the pike started
to down size again, There was a harvest cycle and the size went up
again.

I'm telling you, good weed management is the only answer - not killing
all the weeds. They are beneficial if kept under control.

Indeed as the weeds provide cover for a variety of fish.

Ohio's solution is mechanical control. Not a problem in Lake Erie but
perhaps some inland lakes.