Canadian pond weed

[Guest Tim Kelly]

Does anyone know of a fairly easy and inexpensive way to control Canadian pond weed? A gravel pit which my club controls is only fishable for about the first six weeks of the season and then not again until the weed dies off in the winter (it still hasn't happened this year!). Do grass carp eat this stuff? Thanks for any help.

 

Tim

[Guest Rob Ward]

Is that the bright green stuff that blankets the surface?

[Guest Chris Shaw]

Its that stuff that has two or three tiny tiny leaves and a small root that hangs down.

 

You can watch the bloody stuff grow. I used to fish a small water many years ago, and the only answer we found was to get a rope across, and then drag the stuff to one end, but it would soon grow back to cover the whole place. Need I state the obvious and say you cannot do this on big waters.

 

In the summer we used cast out freelined floaters, homemade like a cake. The carp used to come up through he Canadian pond weed to get them. It used to look very strange to see the floater just sitting out there on top of the weed, but when a fish came through the weed for it, it did get you going.

 

Sorry, but we never did find a chemical answer.

 

Not sure about the grass carp either.

 

I posted because of the similar situation we was in, and we did fish in the summer with the floaters.

 

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Chris Shaw

[Guest Keith Truscott]

Hi Tim,

 

It's a few years since I came across this problem, But many years ago I belonged to a small club and we had a pit that developed the same problem and was literally smothered causing the same situation as yours, making fishing almost impossible unless you raked a swim beforehand, which for the majority of membership was not possible.

 

Back then TimColes was in charge of the Anglian Water fisheries section, we contacted him and he arranged for there people to come and do an inspection. They reccomended a granuled weed killer and the doseage that should be used which providing we stuck to there guidlnes was completely harmless to the fish. This was obtained and the pit treated. The effect was to kill the weed of completely and true to the manufactures word it was four years before any more weed growth appeared. I would reccomend that you contact the fisheries section of your Local EA for expert advice you will usually find them willing to help and make reccomendations.

 

A word of warning be very carefull, using this stuff had the desired effect, but as we were not told any different we treated the whole pit. This removed all the weed and allthough no weed appeared for four years the fishing suffered very badly, as well as did breeding, We consequently had to contact Tim again and they came and netted the pit on two seperate occasions to measure the Biomass and reccomend a stocking programme. It was fully six years before the fishing returned to it's former self.

 

I am sure Steve Burke or Bruno can advise you as to the best place to seek advice, but a cheap solution may cost you more in the long run unless you have it done professionaly.

 

Good luck

Keith

[Guest Rob Ward]

A club I used to belong to had this problem on a small pit, it was eased by building an overflow pipe that led off to a drain. They plugged the pipe up untill the water level rose above it and then removed the plug, the plughole effect sucked large areas of the surface weed down into the drain making the pit fishable albeit temporarily.

[Guest Chris Shaw]

Originally posted by Rob Ward:

A club I used to belong to had this problem on a small pit, it was eased by building an overflow pipe that led off to a drain. They plugged the pipe up untill the water level rose above it and then removed the plug, the plughole effect sucked large areas of the surface weed down into the drain making the pit fishable albeit temporarily.

 

We used to dream of an overflow pipe, we had to get to the lake 3 hours before starting to fish and rake it over the dam wall.

 

No, but that is how we used to get rid of the stuff, rope it down to the dam end then rake it over dam wall or onto the bank. You only have to leave one piece though and its all back next week.

 

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Chris Shaw

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by Chris Shaw (edited 24 January 2001).]

[Guest Newt]

According to what I read, this weed is a favorite of grass carp. Take a look at http://www.suttlefish.com/grass%20carp.htm

 

Granted, these folks are trying to sell grass carp but they do list Canadian Pond Weed as #1 dietary choice for grass carp.

[Guest Bretty]

My local lake had a weed killer put in to it a few years ago, The water went brown and now the lake is just a muddy hole with, horrible stinking silt every where, No where for the fish to spawn and loads of stunted fish as allot of natural food seemed to disappear with the weed.

 

May i advise you to be carefull with chemical controls. I don't know anything about it but I wish my local was clear and weedy again.

 

Another lake near me, when the weed gets bad in summer the weed is controlled with a massive rake which is dragged the whole length of the lake using a winch attached to a tree, and the baliff goes around with a speed boat and a long pole to cut back the weed beds.

 

Bretty the weed lover.

[Guest BUDGIE]

Casoron GSR. Made I believe by ICI.Check with an expert first though.

The weed has to be removed by hand then the area "sown" with the chemical. As the GSR suffix denotes it is a slow release granule which stops the weed growing back for a period of time.Has no adverse affects on fish.Last time I used it was about 88 so there might be some thing better out now.Never ever do any thing to your water with out an experts advice first though.

[Guest fishboy]

Originally posted by Chris Shaw:

Its that stuff that has two or three tiny tiny leaves and a small root that hangs down.

 

that sounds like duck weed (Lemna minor) to me. Cannadian pond weed (Elodea canadensis) is a submerged water plant with thickly leaved branched stems. three leaves in whorls, elongated egg shaped2-3mm wide and 5-10mm long.

 

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Fishboy

http://www.crawleyanglingsociety.co.uk