Canadian pond weed

[Guest wolf]

Hello Bretty and Keith

 

my local club ruined some famous tench and crucian carp waters in the same way! Nowadays their is neither clear water nor any weed left, but also the record tench are gone, the brilliant crucians all died (but you are able to catch half a dozen small carp now (3-5lbs)) ...

 

Hi Newt,

 

grass carp... Hm, I'm not so optimized about them. Most fishing manageries throughout europe stopped the stockings now, and even banned them. Their role as a weed-eater didn't come to exspectations. They will feed weed, that's true, but only during very high water temperatures, but then in a rush (as much as almost 100% bodyweight per day!).

So asked a specialist, please.

 

Greetings Wolf

[Guest Tim Kelly]

Thanks Newt, great link. Has anyone got experience of stocking grass carp over here? If we put triploided fish in and something went wrong at least they wouldn't be there for ever......

 

Tim

 

PS. The pit is about 40 acres, if that makes any difference.

[Guest RobStubbs]

Tim,

Grass carp will make no dent in it unless you chuck thousands in a pit that size - and that seems like a waste of money to me and I gather they aren't great at eating the stuff despite the 'adverts'. Try contacting the EA for advice or contact Bruno Broughton. I also seem to recall a club I fish was thinking of using clarisan (?) as recommended by the EA but it's damn expensive, for the amount you need.

 

Rob.

 

P.S. You may also find that grassies are classed as 'exotics' and cannot now be stocked - I don't know for sure though.

[Guest BUDGIE]

I agree with you Rob.Just how much weed do you think a Grass Carp eats Tim!Seriosly though Tim as a follow on to my previous post and as mentioned in others you should really be looking at just removing enough weed to allow fishing.When I had the same problem we just dragged out a wedge 5' wide tapering out slowly to 10'at a distance of about 30'.This was repeated in several places to form swims.The swim was then seeded with the Casoron.On a good year we only had to do it twice.This kept the water as natural as possible with out hindering anglers.There is no easy answer.Weed control is an ongoing task on many fisheries.Don't be tempted to try and get rid off it all as you could end up messing up your water.

[Guest Keith Finn]

Not much more I can say that has not already been said above, but do not remove too much of the weed. The fish like to be near and spawn in it, remove too much and the fishing will go right down the pan and will take years to recover.

One local club did the same thing, though not with Elodea, and the fishing downhill for years!.

The fish , ie the Carp and shoals of Bream, seemed to swim about aimlessly as though they were at a loss as to what happend to their home.

In the 7 years since it has been de-weeded to satisfy the match angling fraternity there has not been a single bit of weed growth or Lily patch since!.

Now they are going on about there not being enough weed cover for the fish to hide in. You just can't win can you!.

Keith

p.s. I am not anti match angler before anyone starts to shout at me, I was just relaying what has happened to one of my local waters.

[Guest 'eelfisher']

Hi Keith

Just to say that the weed killer named by Budgie is the stuff.

You have to select the areas you want sorting out and do the drop in calm conditions. Better to be less enthusiastic about it as well....slowly, slowly is the wording.

I am sure Bruno knows what you need and I believe that there is a special time of the year to do the bizz.

For the record Keith, I don't know if you are aware but Tim passed away last year. He is remembered at our syndicate water by the planting of a tree and the placing of a well versed plaque. A gentleman, superb Pike angler and a giver not a taker.

Steve.

[Guest mrtrup@truppington]

There is only one way to remove this impossible weed.THAT IS HARD GRAFT.Racking & more racking.Then to stop it returning.Is to introduce loads of bottom feeding fish.This was a bad problem on Upton Village 2.5 acre lake in West Yorkshire.The fish are keeping the water a dirty colour & is stopping the sunlight hitting the bottom that makes the weed grow.

There is a chemical solution which was used on the smaller lake(only.5 acre).But this can be costly and the chemical is very toxic and can be only used in small quantities.If you contact the Yorkshire E.V.A.in Leeds they should advise you of what to use.By the way the chemical has to be administered by liscensed holders only.

Best of luck.jondeeuk

 

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trup

[Guest Newt]

Originally posted by wolf:

Hi Newt, grass carp... Hm, I'm not so optimized about them. Most fishing manageries throughout europe stopped the stockings now, and even banned them. Their role as a weed-eater didn't come to exspectations. They will feed weed, that's true, but only during very high water temperatures, but then in a rush (as much as almost 100% bodyweight per day!).

So asked a specialist, please.

 

Wolf - asking a specialist is always a great idea. However, the grassies eat the most weed when it is growing the fastest which works out well. Plenty of weed cover for spawning and hiding places for the fry then less grass as the summer progresses.

 

Not sure how they would fare over there but in the US, they do a great job. Never kill off all the weed so they don't tend to ruin a venue.

 

A couple of other sources of info

[*]http://ext.msstate.edu/pubs/is1556.htm BTW - Mississippi is a warm Southern state which extends to the Gulf of Mexico so probably warmer than you are

[*]http://ext.msstate.edu/pubs/pub1894.htm

[*]http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/agdex/400/485_641_1.html and a Canadian source where the temp is rather cooler than yours.

 

Someone will have to really work to convince me that the various poisons are a better idea than a biological control. Possibly - if the weed infestation is really bad - you might need to use chemicals to knock it down a bit but then the grassies would seem to be a much better bet to maintain control while keeping the water fishable.

[Guest bobbyf]

Roundup Pro Biactive, a weedkiller if properly applied can help solve weed problem, only 10 per cent of area is advisable due to deoxygenating water by treated weed dying. Plan ares that you want to clear, advisable that weed is the food larder. Please email me if you need more info.

[Guest Bruno Broughton]

I've been out all day (on a fisheries management job in Kent), including nearly 11 hours driving, so 'scuse me if this is brief.

 

Tim: if you can to email me, I will send you one of my sets of briefing notes on controlling Canadian Pondweed.

 

Sorry to diagree with some of the postings (but I do this sort of thing for a living!).

 

Casoron-GSR is no longer manufactured. Casoron-G is, but it's expensive, and you will end up paying about £180/acre for materials alone. Also, it is persistent and targets most aquatic plants, so if you make a mistake there will be medium-term consequences.

 

Forget Roundup - it's not effective on Canadian Pondweed (but it's good for most water-lilies and marginal plants).

 

Grass carp - you need a lot, they are expensive and they won't eat anything much until the water gets to 15C (and won't really chomp until it's 20C). Cost? You're probably looking at £500-£700+ per acre!

 

Manual control - dragging and the like -is a no-no on 40 acres. If the weed is bad, even a huge metal hawser or old bedstead, towed by a tractor, will not do it. By the way, an acre's-worth of weed can weigh about 10-13 tons!

 

There are safe, effective chemical solutions, which will cost £25-£50/acre, depending on the water depth.

 

As I said, please email me for more info.

 

 

 

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Bruno