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Posts: 147
Location: Milwaukee, WI | This is directed at our senior members who remember the northern lakes as they were 25+ years ago. I remember Big Lake on the Cisco Chain in the 80's having large beds of green broadleaf cabbage, particularly on her southern shore. Then the rusty crawfish came and the cabbage was devoured. It has slowly returned, but the milfoil overtook many spots first. I doubt it will ever be the same. Today, I think you could fill several railroad hopper cars with all the milfoil thats just in Cisco Lake.
Were the weedbeds able to sustain more fish/acre when they were filled with cabbage ?
Did the fish grow larger in a shorter time frame back then ?
What other effects (water flow ?) have the milfoil invasion made to our lake environments ?
I recently read an article by Greg Thomas and he wrote that milfoil are "barrier weeds" whereas the cabbage weeds are not. Water currents and fish can flow through cabbage weeds easier than milfoil because the milfoil is more dense. This got me thinking about how the milfoil invasion has changed our lake environments. These types of changes come slowly, so its hard to notice them from year to year. Its also a good way to remind everyone about keeping their trailer clean when the day is done. |
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Posts: 2515
Location: Waukesha & Land O Lakes, WI | Big Lake has never been close to being the same it was 25 years ago. There's some spotty weeds, but the "cabbage honey holes" I hammered 10 years ago are nothing but a sand flats now. Its not the Milfoil that's the threat on the Cisco, the Rustys are, but it sure doesn't help that Milfoil is being seen taking the place of natural weeds and cabbage.
No matter how many adviseries, enforcement efforts or awareness bulletins are passed out, Milfoil will come. Ive read and heard reports of it on the ERC, LVD, Three Lakes Chain and many other popular systems in Vilas county...it's coming and it really can't be stopped.
The bonus of Milfoil? Musky don't seem to have a problem living with it. Pewaukee and Okauchee lakes are prime examples of how good the fishing can be on Milfoil lakes.
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| You guys should put up a banner and say 'welcome Milfoil"!!! if you guys want a testimony to milfoil come to the MPLS' metro,,we have 200-300 acre lakes that are producing multiple 50's each year and its not all 'higher size limits or leech lake strain" because the bass fishing is better now too,,,Milfoil saved Minnetonka look at the results of the pmtt when they have an event there and also the B,A,S,S, tournaments, the southern famous bass pros that you see on TV marvel at how healthy the tonka bass are,,,Can anybody come up with an example of the "fish" being worse off because of milfoil??? the fishing will be harder because you have to switch tactics but I cant remember any examples of the actual fishery suffering,,, If our metro lakes didnt have milfoil the muskies would be suffering bigtime because with all the imigrants that we have now with a 'harvest mentality" there would be muskies kept left and right by shore anglers milfoil makes it hard for shore fishermen or eliminates them,,I know that sounds selfish but its true |
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Posts: 1916
Location: Greenfield, WI | I fish Pewaukee quite a bit. The fish are there. There a number of locations on the lake that produce cabbage patches that are fishable for the first couple of weeks of the season in May before the milfoil over runs them. Once milfoil gets into a lake it is, for all intents and purposes, impossible to eradicate. The "weedage" will be forever changed.
I would prefer not to fish milfoil, but it is a better option than to fish sand or mud flats. |
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Posts: 335
Location: Pulaski, WI | So any tips on how to fish milfoil? |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | As a member of a lakes board of directors and a fisherman, I'd say any positives are ruled out because of the negatives.. Yeah, fishing can be ok... but it was better on my lake before the milfoil and curly leaf started taking over... of course zebra mussels aren't helping either... its growing deeper then ever before.. I don't have the info handy, but have somewhere what the costs to treat it are...... a lot for a 800 acre lake chain in indiana... when you can't ;eave your dock because of milfoil, thats not good
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Posts: 1168
| The majority of my time is spent on milfoil waters. It's what I have quickest access to and the amount of this stuff in those waters is ridiculous. So my feelings on milfoil progressed as follows : hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it....wait a second, this isn't so bad, this actually can be figured out, now I try and look for it no matter where I go.
1st tip for fishing this stuff is to know the difference between Eurasian Milfoil and the native American Milfoil. If there are vast beds of the Eurasian stuff around and a small bed of American stuff there....stick with the American stuff. It kicks out more oxygen and is a fish magnet. There are visual things to tell them apart but since I'm out alot at night I rely on scent. The American stuff doesn't make you gag when you smell it, the Eurasian stuff does. It's a little more pungeant. Wow, there's so many jokes in that comment but I'll let them pass...anyway
As for casting to it I look at it as an island or a "solid" piece of structure and fish it accordingly. I'll pick apart milfoil edges just as I would rocks. If there's a point on a milfoil bed I'll work it like I would a hard point. When I experimented with this approach it signified the moment I stopped hating it because the numbers of fish I was contacting this way was unbelievable.
I've had success (maybe more like luck) during cold fronts fishing this stuff by pounding jerkbaits into the tops of it along the outside edges. My thinking is that those fish are burrowed up next to it using it as almost a blanket and by disturbing this blanket I've had fish come unglued wanting to kill anything that is bothering the area. This tactic works great when you've got a seiche effect going blowing the top of the milfoil bed over so you've got an undercut much like you would on the bend of a trout stream. Or if you work a glide bait underneath the undercut and there's a fish there you'll get bit.
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Posts: 4266
| Alot depends on the lake. Big Sand in Vilas couty is choked with milfoil. Has been since the 70's. It used to have cabbage growing on some flats and areas where milfoil was shallow and the cabbage deeper, now it's all milfoil and it pops out big fish every year.
I fish another lake that is near there that is 100' deep, steep rocky breaks everywhere, and scattered cabbage that held all sorts of fish during the year. When milfoilf started to show up 5 or so years ago, they lake assn panicked and started spraying all over the lake in an attempt to kill off the milfoilf before it took hold. All the idiots accomplished was killing off the broadleaf cabbage that grew there in a two year period. Now the milfoil has spread all over the lake, and the fishing is great. Because of the makeup of the lake, there is an inside edge and an outside edge out to 15' that runs around most of the lake. Steep breaks with a ribbon of weeds, that isn't such a bad thing. No weed choked flats or bays. In this case the milfoil added something good to the ecosystem. There is more cover, more weed beds, more ambush points. I'd rather have seen the cabbage take off like the milfoil did, but the lake association took care of that when they sprayed. They killed the more fragile native species and left the milfoil to flourish.
Beav |
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Posts: 2515
Location: Waukesha & Land O Lakes, WI | JLR....I've been experimenting with Milfoil and so far here's what I've seen that works well...saftey pin spinners like the Slop Master and Grinder, Slammer, Crane and Big Game Tackle twitchers that don't dive deep and can be worked over the top but rise nice on the pause and slow sinking gliders like Musky Magic Instigators and Cobbs Countdowns.
The real key is trying to work pockets and keeping your baits above the mess. Fast sinking stuff gets foiled in the Milfoil. |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | in Indiana you can only treat nonnative vegetation and navigation channels. Also limited to how many lbs of spray can be used in a year. Where I am at we had the first year of nonnative irradication in 2005. So were alowed to do a heavy treatment. They think it will take 4 years to get the lake back to normal so native vegetation will start to flourish again. The treatment did affect the water clearity, but then the drought and low water conditions also had a affect. Did fishing suffer because of the treatment? I'd say no. It will have an effect of some sort of course, but positives of milfoil irradication out weigh the positives of leaving it. As someone who has involvement with both sides of this issue, Lake Property owner and fisherman, I will say this: Make sure when leaving the landing you clean any weeds off your boat, whether milfoil or whatever. Zebra Mussels cling to weeds and are not good for the lakes, and transporting weeds lake to lake are not good either. |
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Posts: 4266
| I love working the edges and the fringe weeds out from them, Sometimes spinnerbaits, sometimes gliders, it all depends on the depth of the fringe weeds. I also always have a rod rigged up to flip extra large jig/plastic combos into the holes and pockets. The battle is never intense, it's sort of...feel thump/set hook/reel like nuts/put trolling motor on high and try to get as close to the mess as possible, and then haul in a mass of weeds with a fish in there somewhere. Some times you have to resort to hand over hand just to get the whole mass close to the boat. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Beav is dead on about Big Sand. I use to hate fishing there because of the milfoil, but eventually learned how to cope with it. I now love the stuff because of that ribbon that Beav had mentioned. I have never seen fish stack up on one structure like they do on milfoil. They can't go through it (well, without any effort anyhow), so they stack up at the edge of it. I find fish anywhere from the 20's to high 40's (inches that is) using the stuff. Bass, panfish, and suckers love the stuff, so the muskies will be there. Learn how to fish it properly, and you will be into fish for sure. I love the milfoil walls that go from 0' to 20' in a heartbeat!
I find fishing the base of the milfoil edge is the most productive. I don't even mess with fishing the foot or two of water above it. Find spots where the milfoil is fringed by cabbage, and you have a goldmine! A lot of lakes that have milfoil still have some stragler cabbage stalks groing on the deep side of the milfoil, and these are the best spots to fish.
In my opinion those whom are trying to get rid of the milfoil have done more harm than good. Harvesting (cutting) only spreads the stuff because any little piece that isn't contained takes root. A lot of fish are also pulled up into the harvesting machines. Big Sand was treated with chemicals several times, and it did nothing more than kill cabbage and fish. I have never seen so many panfish and bass dead at the landings when they treated lakes with a chemical. I say just let the ecosystem take its own course. |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | had no dead fish where i am at, native weeds seemed mostly unaffected, did more good then harm.. I could go on..
Harvesters are absolute worst thing that could be used for milfoil... i agree on that. letting it take its own course is not the right way by any means..
Edited by kevin 12/22/2005 9:24 PM
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