Aquatic Weeds booth at PSC

[jwilliams]

Did anyone here visit the booth? I walked up on a couple of guys giving Mr. Page down the country....

I stopped and talked with him for about 20 minutes and shared my views. I have a feeling next time they might prefer to set up a booth at a boaters show for pontoon boats and water skiiers.. not outdoorsmen

[HuntinCosta]

I walked up there right after speaking with Trad. I was shocked to see the booth, and I simply said "I bet ya'll have been getting pounded"

[santee11]

I hope yall gave them a hard time.

[jwilliams]

lol....He said, "People think We are the bad guys" He was a very nice guy, btw.

While at the PSC, reading on the hatchery systems, I noticed there was none listed for largemouth bass... I also asked about this, and he told me that a lake the size of S-C is thought to be self sufficient.

If it is self sufficient, why did we lose our white bass? Why has the largemouth population taken such a beating? Oh, it has only declined by 5-10%...

Read the results for the Bassmaster weekend series...

1.29+ lbs
2.21+ lbs
3.12+ lbs


Seriously, 12+lbs for 3rd? End of March....Look how many boats zeroed....unbelievable..

[BOGSTER]

Chris seems genuine towards the aquatic plants on the S-C lakes.
I have spoken with him a few times.
We were talking about the transplanting of vallisneria that is to take place this summer,
I asked the question "well, why wasn't any of this done over the last decade?"
I get the general feeling that those above him at that time felt it wasn't really priority.
From conversations with him, I feel he is for progress.
We will see how the transplanting efforts unfold this summer.

[jwilliams]

You bet Bog. He seemed like an affable fellow to me also. More interested to see if the vegetation established gets crushed by the carp or not.

[BOGSTER]

More interested to see if the vegetation established gets crushed by the carp or not.

This weighs heavy on my mind as well.
I do know that two of the species I want to see thick on the lakes are not top priority as a food source for carp. Coontail and Vallisneria.
I am not one to believe a carp "will swim past the native stuff to get to hydrilla."
I know that the fish will feed on the hydrilla until it is gone.......BUT after that I fear the newly established natives will start to take a hit.
I HOPE this isn't the case.
I cannot see the need (nor can I get a clear answer as to why)for 20k fish to control 800 acres of hydrilla.
It doesn't seem to be known how long it will take for these fish to knock hydrilla back.
Certainly it can't take that long.
This past september I witnessed 2 dozen carp mow a 30 acre slough of coontail and elodea down within a few weeks. Thats serious.
I am open-minded to see what will become of this.
One thing that is certain...there ARE folks with DNR and Santee Cooper that want a healthy population of aquatic vegetation.
For a long time I allowed myself to think that the Big ole mean power company told DNR what to do, and all of them were for the eradication of all aquatic vegetation.
This is not the case.
I sought out the truth and got to the bottom of 80% of my questions regarding this issue.
My answers came from face to face meetings or phone conversations.
I am happy to look forward towards progress and let the issue about WHY restoration hasn't taken place in the past go.
We are here now, and we plan to start in May.
The transplanting will done under the supervision of S-C and SCDNR, but we will seriously need help from volunteers to transplant enough of these plants to have a chance at establishing them.
It will be work...in the heat of summer. Luckily you will be standing in 2-3 feet of water.
When I have more information, I will post it.

[jwilliams]

Please do Boggy. Here is the other concern...when the "800" acres of hydrilla becomes 400 because of a drought the next year or two...or this summer...They really don't have a contingency for this. I asked "face to face" saturday.

I agree, carp will eat coontail and elodea when there isn't hydrilla. That is not agreed upon by the "council" though...their belief is a carp will not eat coontail period.

On another good note-Chris told me that he felt that the elodea isn't as invasive as it once was thought...He also said the max coverage that we ever had was 30% in the early 90's...That took be by surprise.

[BOGSTER]

regarding a drought, you are right.
Usually I am all for dry summers that draw the lakes down. This is good for Emergent vegetation.
But since we are trying to establish SAVs we will need the water.
Also, if the water drops and kills the hydrilla in the hatchery, you can bet those newly stocked carp WILL find another food source. When these fish are young, they are literally like a puppy. They will eat and eat and eat......these are the fish I fear.
The older, 20lb fish you see cruising the shallows are really only eating what they need to survive. They aren't the ones mowing 30 acres sloughs down.

I only disagree with the APMC about coontail because I have witnessed it first hand.
I do know that because of the pharyngeal teeth of the fish, coontail is hard for them to break down before entering the stomach for digestion. Coontail is coarse and not really palatable for these fish.
However, If these fish are hungry, they have proven to me, that will eat damn near anything that produces chlorophyll.

I had heard that about elodea as well. However, due to its visual similiarities to hydrilla and its ability to clog the water column, I don't think it will be allowed.
I spoke briefly about it with S-C and I got the feeling they want nothing to do with it.
The visual similiarities of hydrilla and elodea may cause hydrilla to grow within elodea patches and therefore go unseen for quite some time. It could spread rapidly and take over vast areas under the cover of the elodea. Once it was discovered, we may have another 1995 on our hands and another 3/4 of a million fish dumped. I am willing to sacrifice elodea for the safety of that not happening.

[Mergie Master]

That is not agreed upon by the "council" though...their belief is a carp will not eat coontail period.

BS! I've seen those beasts in action, if it's green they will eat it and they will eat all of it, not just some.

We have Roundup Ready Corn, now we need carp ready coontail.

[BOGSTER]

oh there's no doubt they will eat the coontail, The APMC is blowing smoke with that call.
However, from all of the folks in the aquatic plant management biz from all over the southeast say that if there is a desirable plant around they will eat those plants foremost.
I fear that we don't have enough hydrilla to keep 20k fish fed long enough to allow the natives to take hold.
its a shame that southern naiad is near the top of the preferred list...

[jwilliams]

I will tell you this Bog...the hydrilla I found earlier this year is no longer there. It is still in the 112-18" water, but not the 3-4' area. How is it gone already? wow.