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Big G

Posted By: Snuffy

Big G - 10/15/20 11:49 PM

You boys ain’t gonna like this.😳
https://whnt.com/news/tva-workers-treat-invasive-aquatic-species-on-lake-guntersville/
Posted By: metalmuncher

Re: Big G - 10/16/20 12:09 AM

It doesn't bother me when they get rid of invasive species but I wish they would leave the native stuff alone.
Posted By: gman

Re: Big G - 10/16/20 12:20 AM

Thats just means every blade of grass, both good and bad, will die in wheeler.
Posted By: Bar270

Re: Big G - 10/16/20 01:14 AM

Kill that crap
Posted By: Clem

Re: Big G - 10/16/20 01:49 PM


I was there yesterday for this and asked a few things.

Eelgrass is native to the river, but we just haven't had it in the river until the last 20ish years. It's here to stay. Eelgrass also is in Wheeler and Pickwick, which is good for Wheeler. I didn't know it was (is) native but that's a good thing.

The salvinia is truly a bad plant. So far they've found it in Short Creek (a bunch), some coves in midlake and around Buck Island, and on the river side of Brown's Creek. They're trying to get ahead of it before winter with the herbicide. A little bit has been found in Wheeler and Pickwick, too, but they're ahead of it with spraying.

They also found hyacinth last year. Not a lot of it in midlake but enough to be concerning and apply herbicides. The majority was in Sublett Cove upstream (I think that's right) and was quite a lot.

I talked with the TVA guys yesterday about what was done decades ago and what is done now, as far as herbicide applications. The "kill everything!" ways of yesteryear are not done anymore, despite what people continue to believe. They physically (and financially) cannot kill 20,000 acres in a 67,000-plus acre lake. It would be impossible. So the cries of "They killing everything!" are silly. But they do kill invasives like these, and in areas of public access.

TVA doesn't always get it right but they are on this salvinia and hyacinth.
Posted By: Dixiepatriot

Re: Big G - 10/16/20 07:58 PM

How did it get here?
Posted By: Clem

Re: Big G - 10/16/20 10:59 PM


No way to tell, Dixie. Could've been a blob of it on someone's boat trailer bunks or somewhere else. Someone could've dumped it in after cleaning up a yard pond or aquarium. It could've been snagged on someone's kayak. Although I think it's a stretch, one of the guys said it could've been snagged on a heron's legs.


The majority of the salvinia is rafted in Short Creek. We were in a little spot at Buck Island where all this was rafted up. I don't know what it looks like at Brown's It doesn't look like much but it multiplies insanely fast. And one of the worst problems is a handful-sized clump (or less) that gets pushed out by the wind can blow in somewhere else, or on a mat of eelgrass or hydrilla out on a flat or off the channel, and begin reproducing there.

I asked what would happen if I took a handful of it and put it in a 3-4 acre farm pond. They said it would cover the pond quicker than I could imagine and someone would need to beat me.

Caddo Lake in Texas and Bistineau Lake in Louisiana have monster issues with salvinia. Here's a story about Caddo:

https://tylerpaper.com/texas_all_ou...877ec78-4c55-11e9-9be7-93e34f6ae8e3.html

Some kind of gnat-like insect can bore into the stem and help kill it, but the bug doesn't survive winter here. I also asked about putting in a boom, like for an oil slick, and scooping it up. Even with small areas the amount of weight with the vegetation, especially with the hyacinth, makes that prohibitive. Spraying it is most effective.
Posted By: metalmuncher

Re: Big G - 10/17/20 01:50 AM

Thanks for the info Clem.
Posted By: FurFlyin

Re: Big G - 10/17/20 12:38 PM

Clem, we do a fair amount of work on the TVA boats and every time they come in I quiz them a good bit. I took a 10 year or so break from fishing and started back 4 years ago. Before I stopped fishing I had never seen any eelgrass. Now it's everywhere and the uprooted grass floats everywhere making fishing difficult at times. I had no idea it was a native and had been around forever because I had never seen it. The guys that I talked to said it had always been contained to spots along the river ledges, primarily upstream above Scottsboro. Then it just exploded and started growing everywhere. They have no idea what caused it to do that. They're definitely not going to kill it. No matter how many times I beg them to. LOL I like the hydrilla and coontail, but I hate that freaking eelgrass with a passion.
Posted By: Snuffy

Re: Big G - 10/17/20 03:13 PM

TVA ruined fishing on Wheeler when they killed all the millfoil. It’s coming back now. I’m sure they will kill it again. Fish and waterfowl love the millfoil.
Posted By: Clem

Re: Big G - 10/17/20 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by FurFlyin
Clem, we do a fair amount of work on the TVA boats and every time they come in I quiz them a good bit. I took a 10 year or so break from fishing and started back 4 years ago. Before I stopped fishing I had never seen any eelgrass. Now it's everywhere and the uprooted grass floats everywhere making fishing difficult at times. I had no idea it was a native and had been around forever because I had never seen it. The guys that I talked to said it had always been contained to spots along the river ledges, primarily upstream above Scottsboro. Then it just exploded and started growing everywhere. They have no idea what caused it to do that. They're definitely not going to kill it. No matter how many times I beg them to. LOL I like the hydrilla and coontail, but I hate that freaking eelgrass with a passion.


I like the hydrilla, milfoil and coontail as well. Not so much with the eelgrass. It's been here at least 20+ years. I remember back in the late 90s a friend of mine practicing for a tournament telling me about finding it up above BB Comer Bridge. He and his partner were shocked that it was eelgrass and that it was growing so well, thick, lush, etc. They caught bass out of it, too.

I mentioned that to the TVA guys and they agreed that 20-25 years was about when they started seeing it above BBC bridge. I don't know how far upstream from the bridge that was or the exact location, but they agreed on that timeline.


Also, I really like their Diamondback airboats. Being on it gave me the itch to go bowfishing.


Originally Posted by Snuffy
TVA ruined fishing on Wheeler when they killed all the millfoil. It’s coming back now. I’m sure they will kill it again. Fish and waterfowl love the millfoil.


I agree, and believe it was a combo of whatever sh*t they were putting into the lake along with whatever was being pumped into the lake -- legally or otherwise -- by the plants. When I fished over there more regularly years ago, the fish, muck, grass, mud and anything else on the bottom along the channel and in the flats smelled like the pet food mill. I talked with some mussel divers who said the bottom in a lot of that stretch looked like oily sludge and was pretty much devoid of much aquatic life.

One of the TVA guys said the flats have eelgrass on them now. I haven't fished or hunted over there in quite a while so I don't know. I certainly would rather see milfoil or hydrilla.
Posted By: FurFlyin

Re: Big G - 10/17/20 07:01 PM

Originally Posted by Clem


Also, I really like their Diamondback airboats. Being on it gave me the itch to go bowfishing.




We've done some modifications to two of their airboats. We just worked on one of their big vegetation choppers. It's propelled by two large paddle wheels. That's pretty cool. It uses 3 sicklebar cutters just like an old hay mower to cut the vegetation. The whole boat is made from steel. There's no telling what it weighs.
Posted By: klay

Re: Big G - 10/17/20 11:26 PM

Originally Posted by FurFlyin
Originally Posted by Clem


Also, I really like their Diamondback airboats. Being on it gave me the itch to go bowfishing.




We've done some modifications to two of their airboats. We just worked on one of their big vegetation choppers. It's propelled by two large paddle wheels. That's pretty cool. It uses 3 sicklebar cutters just like an old hay mower to cut the vegetation. The whole boat is made from steel. There's no telling what it weighs.


I ran that boat for two years after high school.
Posted By: FurFlyin

Re: Big G - 10/18/20 12:46 AM

Originally Posted by klay
Originally Posted by FurFlyin
Originally Posted by Clem


Also, I really like their Diamondback airboats. Being on it gave me the itch to go bowfishing.




We've done some modifications to two of their airboats. We just worked on one of their big vegetation choppers. It's propelled by two large paddle wheels. That's pretty cool. It uses 3 sicklebar cutters just like an old hay mower to cut the vegetation. The whole boat is made from steel. There's no telling what it weighs.


I ran that boat for two years after high school.


I bet you didn't go anywhere fast...
Posted By: klay

Re: Big G - 10/18/20 02:15 AM

Originally Posted by FurFlyin
Originally Posted by klay
Originally Posted by FurFlyin
Originally Posted by Clem


Also, I really like their Diamondback airboats. Being on it gave me the itch to go bowfishing.




We've done some modifications to two of their airboats. We just worked on one of their big vegetation choppers. It's propelled by two large paddle wheels. That's pretty cool. It uses 3 sicklebar cutters just like an old hay mower to cut the vegetation. The whole boat is made from steel. There's no telling what it weighs.


I ran that boat for two years after high school.


I bet you didn't go anywhere fast...


No. 6 mph. When you left one site headed for another it was a long day. I had some good times and made a life long friend from that job. Couldn't beat it for that time of my life. On the water every day, worked 4 10 hour days, and paid dang good. I met a lot of good people. David Brewster, David Webb, and a guy named Pete (can't remember his last name) still work for them. I stop and aggravate them every chance I get. The guy I worked with name was Alton. He's around 80 now and had retired from TVA and came back to work for something to do in the summer. We still go fishing together. I talk to him about 3 times a week. Learned a lot about fishing from him.
Posted By: FurFlyin

Re: Big G - 10/18/20 10:23 AM

Heck yeah, sounds like an awesome summer / interim job. I bet it was fun.
Posted By: Clem

Re: Big G - 10/19/20 05:27 PM


Ran across another story about the salvinia, from Arkansas. This lake is overrun with it.

http://www.magnoliareporter.com/sports/outdoors/article_5104d71a-0f4e-11eb-a2b7-c3e4d1b8f538.html
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