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Location: Hayward, WI | I've been trying to figure out what sandgrass is for a while. Is the stuff in the first two pictures the stuff everyone talks about? This is Scott Kieper's description of sandgrass from his Deep Greens and Submarines article: "It’s certainly nothing special. Whispy. Frail. Thin. Indiscernible leaves. By all accounts, junk visually. Most of it lives so deep it appears chlorophyll deficient and only light green. Sometimes it’s so thin the graph can’t detect it physically."
It was growing deep too. Mostly found it around 25 feet deep, but as shallow as 21 and as deep as 27. In some places, it looked to be growing about 5-6 feet high.
I've read about it and looked up pictures of it on the internet, but it just doesn't seem like the internet info is talking about the same sandgrass/chara. What the net seems to talk about is stuff that grows in only inches of water down to just a couple feet. What the fishermen seem to talk about is the stuff that grows 18-28 feet deep?
That's a Pounder for size reference.
Does anybody know what the other, green weed in the bottom picture is? It looks a little more like what the pictures of sandgrass on the internet look like (but still not quite). I usually just seem to see this stuff floating, or maybe snag a small, short piece on a bait now and then.
curleytail
Edited by curleytail 8/26/2009 11:55 PM
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 sandgrass1.jpg (129KB - 209 downloads)
sandgrass2.jpg (73KB - 193 downloads)
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| yup, you got it..that is sandgrass...put an underwater camera down in it and you might be surprised what you see.... ; ) |
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Posts: 2686
Location: Hayward, WI | Thanks Brad. Certainly not the prettiest weed! Sounds like the fish like it though. I'll be taking my underwater camera with me next time to do some more thorough scouting. I'd like to see what the stuff looks like down there, and maybe see what's living in it!
curleytail
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| Can be a real fish holder ! I love it --my fishing partner hates it ! I've seen it growing 8-10 feet tall in 25 ft of water. MD |
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Location: Ontario | That dawg is a winning colour, I didn't realize it came in a Pounder too (I have it in shallow mag). The stuff gunked up on the hooks looks a lot like mossy algae. We get that a lot and its messy to fish thru..gobs onto everything. It's almost jet black and boy does it stink and take time to clean off. The second pic looks more like sandgrass/chara to me. Either way, you're on a good spot! |
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| Nope, not sand grass.
Sand grass in a common name so I guess you could call anything sandgrass. The first picture is filamentous algae and the third picture appears to be a thin-leaved pondweed, I'm guessing Small Pondweed. Sandgrass will have a musk smell and is actually an algae, not a rooted plant. Put Chara spp. into the Google and you'll see sandgrass. Nitella spp. will also grow down there, but doesn't smell and is very limp/frail as opposed to the stiff nature of Chara. |
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| tfoot is technically right. I think the stuff we are calling sandgrass may not be technically sandgrass. the stuff that grows up off bottom 1-5 feet is good and holds fish. If you look at it w/ a camera you will often see at least 2 different kinds of weeds mixed in. most of the time when we drag a dawg thru it it comes back with mostly the stuff like you have on yours...but there are other weeds mixed in, or so it looks. guess I don't really care what it is technically and will continue to call it sandgrass..fish of all species love to hang out in and over the stuff on any lake you can find it.... |
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Location: Madtown, WI | Well there are two qeustions here, one is the acedemic question, of what technically is sand grass. Then the second question is, the plants in the picture, do they resemble what us common fisherman call "sandgrass." The most important question, do the plants in the picture hold fish!!!
Looks like Tfoot answered the college botany question....And as others have said, that stuff in your pics is what a lot of us call "sandgrass", and yes it holds fish!!!! 
So fish it!
Cory
Edited by C.Painter 8/27/2009 8:15 AM
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| So, for clarification, the first two pics are what fishermen call "sandgrass" and what biologists call Nitella spp.? And the bottom, whispy plant is Chara spp.? I think I've had those two flipped around. As an FYI, Robert Strand found muskies spawned over Chara spp. (~3-6') in Leech Lake... |
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Posts: 258
Location: Mayville, WI | First two pics are of filamentous algae, not sandgrass
Last pic is of small pondweed - not sandgrass
What people on the board are calling sandgrass is Chara - muskgrass http://www.elkhartlake.org/images/muskgrass.jpg
I'm sure there's different names for different plants depending on your area. I've also hear Nitella, very similar in appearance to chara, called sandgrass.
sc |
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| well the stuff that I've seen on the camera I don't think looks like the stuff in the link you provided above to musky grass....
in any case...as stated...whatever it is, or isn't...it holds fish...
many lakes in WI can have it...I fish one lake it grows in 8-9 feet of water as the water is stained..and another it is as deep as 26...
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Location: New Hope MN | Here is what the DNR says; |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | Got an error...
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Muskgrass.jpg (273KB - 196 downloads)
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Location: Hayward, WI | Well, I'm MOST interested if the stuff I found is what most fishermen, and articles refer to as sandgrass. Just wanted to see if I found the stuff that seems to be "all the rage" these days. If it's filamentous algae, but it has muskies on it, fine by me! Just wanted to know if I was talking apples to apples.
JBush, that Pounder is a custom show color. I bought it at the MN Musky show last spring. I know that Aaron at Musky Tackle Online had some Pounders in that color. Not sure if he has any left. I like how it looks in clear water.
curleytail
Edited by curleytail 8/27/2009 10:54 AM
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| scmuskies - 8/27/2009 9:12 AM
First two pics are of filamentous algae, not sandgrass Last pic is of small pondweed - not sandgrass What people on the board are calling sandgrass is Chara - muskgrass http://www.elkhartlake.org/images/muskgrass.jpg I'm sure there's different names for different plants depending on your area. I've also hear Nitella, very similar in appearance to chara, called sandgrass. sc
Bingo! That there is "sandgrass" It does have a skunky scent and is crisp and has a "sandy," gritty texture.
Edited by MuskyStalker 8/27/2009 1:27 PM
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Location: Gilberts IL/Rhinelander WI | not sandgrass! |
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Location: Minnesota | It has already been said but the first 2 pictures are filamentous algae and the bottom picture looks like a narrow leaf pondweed - Potemogeton sp. Same family as what most fishermen call cabbage.
I have never understood what the articles were talking about specifically - I think there are people out there that are talking about different weeds and calling them all sandgrass. Why don't we all just call Chara what it is so we don't have to have these questions anymore? Like others said - Chara smells like a skunk, feels gritty, and is prime musky spawning habitat. |
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Location: Kronenwetter, WI | So what's the bottom line? If you're marking low growing weeds in 17-25 fow it is likely worth fishing no matter what you call it? |
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Location: Hayward, WI | Here's an update. I dropped my camera down in the area where I found that "filamentous algae." WALLEYES!!!!!!! I've never seen so many walleyes. My Lowrance was solid yellow from three feet off the bottom to the bottom. There weren't a ton of them actually over the weeds, but a lot a few yards out from the weed. I had at least 5 on the camera screen the whole time. Had to be hundreds, maybe thousands down there. Didn't catch any muskies off the spot, but there was lots of musky food. Must be something to that weed. I looked around a lot more, in a lot more places, and only saw one smallie on the screen. Something about those weeds was holding a lot of walleyes.
I also dredged up this new weed with my camera. THIS, I'm pretty sure is chara/sandgrass. It felt crispy, and I noticed the smell as soon as it cleared the water. Unfortunately, in quite a bit of looking, I only found this one stalk...and I ripped it off the bottom, lol. How do you guys find this stuff? I trolled for about two hours in 18-30 feet of water, and didn't find anything that looked too promising for either that algae stuff, or actual chara. I also spent quite a bit of time peering into the camera, and only found that one stalk that way too.
I'd like to find a few fishable sized areas of both/either that algae, or the chara. Looks like it might take lots of time idling around the lake. This lake I'm studying is Grindstone in Sawyer county by the way. If anybody needs a really good walleye spot, I know where you can find one...for a price. 
Here's a picture of what I'm pretty sure is chara.
curleytail
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chara.jpg (87KB - 228 downloads)
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Location: north central wisconsin | SC muskies has it. It is the Chara that has long been known as sandgrass by the old time walleye and musky guides(at least in northern WI and parts of MN). But all versions of 'sandgrass' hold fish and it might even be a regional thing, for not all of the above species grow at every latitude. Guess I still view what my profs and uncle(who could drink more Pabst than almost any woman from Langlade county) reffered loosely to as the sand grass, Chara, which grows to 30+' in some instances.
http://books.google.com/books?id=DnAbO7XxTCoC&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107&dq...
Edited by Reef Hawg 8/28/2009 8:57 AM
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I have shot tons of Ice video for IceFIRST in the short stuff out from the weedline. It's all sorts of weeds usually, not a single type, and all of it holds fish, especially walleyes and bass. Panfish actually hunker down in the stuff until sunset, then almost magically appear as they rise out of the stuff. During the day, just dorsals stick up once in awhile. Muskies cruise the stuff because it's great cover for all sorts of good food. Even see the muskies above the 'sandgrass' in the winter under the ice. |
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Location: Thief River Falls MN | Curley,
Coontail in the last pic. Chara in the MN lakes I fish usually is found in less than 12 fow. Sandgrass actually looks like grass and it does have a gritty texture.
Edited by toddb 8/27/2009 11:56 PM
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| Sorry to burst your bubble again Curley but that is coontail. The 'sandgrass' has not been as bountiful and noticeable this year due to the cooler than normal water temps and lack of a thermocline in some places. During 'regular' summers when water temps are hitting warmer temps and stabilizing in July, you will start to see the 'sandgrass' develop and it is easier to see on the graph during this time. |
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Posts: 2686
Location: Hayward, WI | I guess I should have been a biology, rather than business major! After searching Google a little that weed does look like coontail. The "coontail" top gives it away. The lakes I've fished previously have had a different looking coontail. It looked more like the picture attached here(stole this one off the net). It was more full, seemed t o have more branches, and had a softer feel rather than a crispy feel. Although, I'm beginning to question my knowledge of weeds and weed names here! Seems like what I thought I knew before was wrong.
I'll jus have to call weeds leafy, stringy, or grassy from now on. Can't really be wrong there can I?
I'm not too hung up on if what I am fishing is called chara, sandgrass, filamentous algae, or whatever. It would be nice to compare apples to apples what articles and other fishermen are talking about, but I'll get over it. For now, I'll just keep fishing what I can find, and hope it holds fish.
Todd, thanks for the tip on the Sandgrass not being well developed. I might be looking for something that isn't there, or at least not abundant enough to easily find.
One thing I learned - that deep algae in my first pictures deserves some attention. Whether rubber musky baits, or slip bobbers and leeches, I think I'll be back there before too long.
Maybe if I ever find some true sandgrass I'll put a picture of that up here too. Then you guys can tell me what it really is.
curleytail
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coontail.jpg (213KB - 211 downloads)
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Location: Minnesota | Curleytail - If I wanted to find chara in northern Minnesota, I would go to a musky spawning bay and look at the vegetation that is out there in about 3-5 feet of water. It will grow deeper but I know I would be able to see it plainly in the shallows. It forms a pretty dense mat in lots of places. I am not sure what it would look like at this time of year in those bays but if you get out there early in the year (before June 1), before all of the other vegetation gets too high you should be able to see huge areas of chara. |
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| Are people finding fish locating in Coontail? There is alot of it on a lake I spend time on but it never seems to hold fish and its all pretty shallow. I try to find cabbage instead. Am I making a mistake by passing by the coontail? Its great stuff for wrapping around your trolling motor prop. |
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| never been a big fan of coontail...though I have caught and moved some fish in it over the years it is not my fav...
cabbage and sandgrass are by far better options imo....
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| Cory can you post the pictures of the deck you redid on that tuffy lookin boat. I just picked up a 16' tuffy 1981 and am looking for ideas. Your help would be much apreciated. |
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Location: north central wisconsin | Tturn, that rebuild of Corys was very nice. I also posted some on here almost 10 years ago of my 1984 Ozark(esox mag style), a full rebuild top to bottom, with fiberglass. Now, to find the pics.
Edited by Reef Hawg 8/29/2009 9:39 AM
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Posts: 149
| The most common weeds we all fish are as follows in the format of: fishing name = common name (scientific name)
'Cabbage' = Bigleaf Pondweed (Potamogeton amplifolius)
'Sand Grass' / 'Musk Grass' = Chara (Chara spp.)
'Coontail' = Hornwart (Ceratophyllum demersum)
'Lily Pads' = Water Lily (Nymphaea spp.)
'Reeds' = Hardstem Bullrush (Scirpus acutus)
'Waterweed' = American Elodea (Elodea canadensis)
'Milfoil' = Northern Milfoil (Myriophyllum sibiricum) - NOT to be confused with Eurasian Water Milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum)
'Stonewart' = Nitella (Nitella spp.)
'Gunk' (pic at the start of this thread) = Filamentous Algae |
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