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| I am an avid Indiana Musky Hunter for over the last decade, and is wondering what is up with all the weed kills the past couple years and this year. I am not complaining about it become harder to catch muskies here, but I am worried about the water quality and the life it supports. I went out on Webster yesterday and you can not even see six inches down. Last year after they did a weed kill on Webster the water never really cleared up all year long. After Webster I went to the Barbie Chain and Kuhn which is one of the clearest lakes you could see the effect on the cabbage weeds, where they were down and the leafs were turning yellow. I am just worried that after all the work the DNR did to make a good fishery we may lose it. Thanks, Al |
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Posts: 1887
Location: syracuse indiana | well , Al , you are not the only one. all of us hoosier boys are worried about it too, i did go out to webby the other day and i could not believe how bad it has gotten. i have been spending almost all year on tippy, thats where clients and myself have been hanging out. barbee is a little better than webby but closely behind it.. the Lake Association has dumped alot of money into webby and killed it. now this has happened along time ago and it took it years to get good again. fish are being caught but if you are casting you will not see the fish or your bait for that matter. it sucks. but they are there! the fish havent left, but they have changed from everything that they were. and there is not a single zebra mussels i n site, and no weeds. i dropped the camera down on saturday and even on the flats had dead weeds on the bottom.. maybee in a few years it will be back to where it should be.. and i agree, the DNR should have never let them do this , but its done and now we all have to live with it.. just do like i do fish all the other lakes and leave webby alone....bill |
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Posts: 20219
Location: oswego, il | I remember 10 years ago when they did not kill the weeds. We used to zombie cast the holes because the flats were choked with millfoil. The Fox Chain was the same way back then too and they kill most of the weeds there too. |
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Posts: 1080
| Webster's water clarity and quality is a train wreck due to the weed kills. I haven't even bothered to get up there to do any fishing since Father's Day weekend back in June...knowing the water temps were way too hot due to how dark the water has been and due to no weeds and no oxygen. My boat has made it out of the garage a whopping 4 times all year this year and I'm not even the slightest bit interested in getting it back out any time soon knowing things are still so bad up there. Has the water temps even come back down out of the 90s up there yet? If so...is it even anywhere near lower 80s yet? I'm guessing that water is hot all the way down the water column still.
It's truly sad to see what's happened to Webster. I realize that it's a tough balancing act between having way too many weeds to the point of choking off areas of the lake to having no weeds to speak of. Seems it's one extreme to the other. At least this coming Fall...we won't have to wear heavy leather gloves again to remove the piers and boat lifts again due to no Zebra mussels covering the equipment...just like last Fall...everything was extremely clean coming out of the lake.
I'm really surprised that there hasn't been a huge fish kill as a result of this massive weed kill due to lack of oxygen and extremely high water temps. There's not a lot of flow into that lake to create current and fresh oxygenated water. There's not been a whole lot of rain this Summer. Thankfully it's a spring-fed lake and with all of the homes and cabins around the lake having their wells overflow into the lake. (not to be confused with sewer....no...I'm talking their wells providing well water) |
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| Mack, a small group of us Webster property owners who are upset over this move of weed kill and not weed control are currently trying make our group larger and try to get enough clout around the lake to see that this WEED KILL never happens again. Nothing wrong with weed control. We have to get big enough to be heard. On the brighter side, water temps are mid 70's.
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Location: oswego, il | Another thing affecting water quality is the runoff from rain. It is the only place I can go that if there is a good rain, you get nasty brown water and floating mats of algae. Whatever the regs are sewer or farm manure gets into those lakes pretty easy.
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Posts: 1080
| R Swain - 8/31/2011 10:02 AM
Mack, a small group of us Webster property owners who are upset over this move of weed kill and not weed control are currently trying make our group larger and try to get enough clout around the lake to see that this WEED KILL never happens again. Nothing wrong with weed control. We have to get big enough to be heard. On the brighter side, water temps are mid 70's.
Yeah...I remember you saying that in another thread a while back Rick when talking of Webster's condition. I know a lot of panfishermen up there that are peeved at all of what has happened too. I totally realize that is a fine line balance between weed control and weed kill.
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Posts: 1080
| ToddM - 8/31/2011 10:52 AM
Another thing affecting water quality is the runoff from rain. It is the only place I can go that if there is a good rain, you get nasty brown water and floating mats of algae. Whatever the regs are sewer or farm manure gets into those lakes pretty easy.
Yes...the massive Springs rains/floods didn't help matters at all there as well.
Seems the new "norm" for weather patterns here in the Midwest is that when the snow melts...it rains non-stop till mid-May, then stops raining altogether until Sept or October rolls around. Or so it seems.... (I realize I'm exaggerating there quite a bit...but...you get the gist of what I'm saying.)  |
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Location: The desert | Mack.....wave action from wind and boats creates oxygenated water. The things you listed do as well, but don't forget wave action. |
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Posts: 1080
| Pointer,
Yes. I do realize that too. But with Webster being so small....a glorified pond more or less...it doesn't see that much wave action that often. Or often enough to really help make a difference in the O2 content. Not like what rain or a large feed creek or river would do. It's a lake that was created by daming up three smaller bodies of water. Man made. Sure...there's enough natural elements helping keep that lake alive, but killing off that many weeds, that drastically, with the few natural elements still working in it's favor in such hot, dry Summer months.....really has surprised me that there hasn't been a larger, more detrimental, result of the weed kill. Obviously...Mother Nature is still doing enough with the few natural elements to keep things in check and keep things going. Hopefully the balance hasn't been upset too much to do too much long-term damage there. Only time will tell.
I'll be really curious to see how many years it'll take till the invasive weeds and Zebras re-appear with as many people moving boats from different bodies of water and going into and out of Webster. Sure. They're gone now. But...
Edited by MACK 8/31/2011 3:21 PM
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Location: oswego, il | Mack part of my point was when it rains alot in inidiana the algae and nasty looking water result. I don't see that kind of water deterioration in similar states. |
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Posts: 1080
| ToddM - 8/31/2011 4:05 PM
Mack part of my point was when it rains alot in inidiana the algae and nasty looking water result. I don't see that kind of water deterioration in similar states.
Yes. I understand that too. Lots of run-off from surrounding fields. And when it floods...flood water rise up into the neighbors lawns, into their sheds and barns and get into fuel and oil cans. I remember back in May during the Classic...right after all the big, heavy rains and floods...I was fishing a portion of Big Barbee that looked like the Exxon Valdez wrecked there was such a huge oil slick out there.
Algae is a big issue with hot water temps, no rain, low oxygen and no Zebra Mussels. |
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| Never fear guys---those corn-fed skis should be able to see baits again by January! Besides---they have that awesome lateral line runnin' down they're sides to FEEL your big ol' baits blasting through the water. Rick got that pig 48.5". They're just keeping us on our toes---do those figure 8's boys/girls! After all---it's REALLY hard to water ski through all those emergent weedbeds that USED to exist on Webby----we don't want those comin' back now, do we?---Jobu |
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| I caught a big one, but I have about 30 fish less than last year. Webby needs weeds. |
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Weed Kills