Mayo lake Pickerel help

[Dropdeadfred]

OK lurker but never posted.
I have heard bass guys not like this lake. Every comment said it was full of pickerel.
Ok I LIKE pickerel,,, and am actually chasing a state record. I went to this lake yesterday expecting to find grass and or pads based on the comments. What I found was a dead zone structure lake. Hand full of folks fishing seemed to be vertical jigging in 50 foot of water. Only found a couple coves with really shallow grass. Not the typical Chain pickerel lake I was looking for.
I also read an AUG 2020 Carolina magazine article. Talking about the grass lines and good pickerel fishing. Obviously the author hasnt visited the lake recently and was just making stuff up.
Acording to guys at the ramp Grass has been sprayed and killed, There is no grass, just lines of black muck. Former crystal clear water is pretty stained. Especially the southern end. Guys say lake is ruined.
So who to believe ? the big Chain Pickerel still there ? Lake is 2.5 hours away. Planned on renting a cabin for week in late fall or spring.
Any pointers from you bass guys on areas or things to try ? How long ago was the grass killed off ?

[kb_rn]

If the state of N.C. finds one blade of grass growing in any of our lakes they are going to make it their top priority to kill the grass and the fishery. I’ve only been to mayo once about 8 years ago but I wasn’t fishing. It appeared to be full of grass then and always heard good things about it. Doesn’t surprise me that the grass is all gone now. They’re doing the same thing to lake Higgins rught now. Every lake that this state touches goes to complete garbage. As for pickerel I have no idea. But I know they like grass as I used to catch tons of them in our lakes that used to have grass and down at the coast. Buggs island has a lot of pickerel in it and some big ones. I caught quite a few back in the spring there.

[Commanche20]

Did same thing to Shearon Harris, A holes

[Dropdeadfred]

well I saw a "We sprayed" sign at the ramp on roaknoke rapids lake, hope they dont kill that one off too.
Guess I got my answer about going back to mayo,, not worth the 2.5 hour drive for me. I thought the destroy the fishery thing was just a Florida issue, based on reading here.

[jag9624]

In March, i know i white spinnerbait and most moving baits will catch all the "jacks" or pickerel your heart desires.

[howard47]

There used to be millions of jacks in Mayo it seemed. They would destroy spinnerbaits and shallow crankbaits. Back in the mid 90’s I caught one that was longer than my leg and thick. Once I wrestled my spinnerbait back from it I let it go because it was starting to get the upper hand. Years later I caught some in ND that were about the same size and they said they were 10 pounds plus. I probably had the NC record and didn’t know it. Now the grass is gone probably the best places are gonna be around lay downs and little ones at that.

[Dropdeadfred]

If the state of N.C. finds one blade of grass growing in any of our lakes they are going to make it their top priority to kill the grass and the fishery. I’ve only been to mayo once about 8 years ago but I wasn’t fishing. It appeared to be full of grass then and always heard good things about it. Doesn’t surprise me that the grass is all gone now. They’re doing the same thing to lake Higgins rught now. Every lake that this state touches goes to complete garbage. As for pickerel I have no idea. But I know they like grass as I used to catch tons of them in our lakes that used to have grass and down at the coast. Buggs island has a lot of pickerel in it and some big ones. I caught quite a few back in the spring there.

Care to share areas on Buggs to look ? Not interested in your bass spots and I dont tourny fish. I know a little about the lake. I used to fish it back in the late 90's.

[hycoducks]

I call Mayo home and fish it a ton. They started spraying the hydrilla two years ago and have succeeded in killing 99% of it. There is a tiny bit left but it's not healthy like it used to be and it's short. The majority of the jacks were around that grass on the northern end of the lake but I'm not catching nearly as many of them as I used to. Whoever you talked to was correct--spraying has ruined the lake.

[Jaw62]

That sucks.

[kb_rn]

Care to share areas on Buggs to look ? Not interested in your bass spots and I dont tourny fish. I know a little about the lake. I used to fish it back in the late 90's.

most of them were caught in grassy creek. Caught them on a spinner bait and quite a few on a Texas rigged creature bait.

[jag9624]

I call Mayo home and fish it a ton. They started spraying the hydrilla two years ago and have succeeded in killing 99% of it. There is a tiny bit left but it's not healthy like it used to be and it's short. The majority of the jacks were around that grass on the northern end of the lake but I'm not catching nearly as many of them as I used to. Whoever you talked to was correct--spraying has ruined the lake.

Was at Mayo over the weekend and there was tons of submerged grass. Now Im no grass expert, but if it wasn't hydrilla what is it? I have also found it in Hyco in some areas.
Btw lake cammack in burlington has jacks in it as well.

[Dropdeadfred]

I dont think we are talking about the same lake then. Little to no grass to be found. I was there. Some south of the 49 bridge in fairly shallow water. Bout it. Saw lots of lines of black muck that used to be grass.
Will look at Cammack. not familiar with the area maybe too far.
Far as kerr, dont recall alot of grass in it from the 90's, so been 20 plus years since I fished it.

[jag9624]

You went to the wrong end of the lake. There is some submerged grass right before the 49 bridge i know bc i fished it. It goes out into 6-8ft of water. Most of the grass is right of the boat ramp toward the dam. (tons)

[65Stang]

Yeah the state killed almost all of the grass in Harris and now I am seeing cages with “grass restoration “ signs....talk about government work at its finest.🤬

[hoozier]

Mayo was one of my favorite lakes. Like others have said, there are areas of submergent grass towards the dam. Think long points, grass running parallel to islands ect.

[kb_rn]

Yeah the state killed almost all of the grass in Harris and now I am seeing cages with “grass restoration “ signs....talk about government work at its finest.郎

They have those areas on several lakes with the cages and signs. I’ve been watching those projects for years and not a single one of those grass patches has grown more than 5 feet outside of the caged area. If they would just leave the dang grass alone to begin they wouldn’t have to waste our tax dollars on bogus projects that are never going to work. Hydrilla is great for the bass, ducks, bait fish, the whole ecosystem. If they want to invest on how to get rid of something, they need to go to tuckertown and several other lakes and figure out how to kill the black snot algae. Why is it so easy to kill the stuff that we all love but so hard to kill what we all hate? But that’s the ncwrc for you. Idiots, all of them. They should be defunded for all of the great resources they have helped destroy in this state.

[hycoducks]

Not hydrilla. What you saw was coontail. The lake has always had coontail shallow but the hydrilla grew from 6-16ft deep. There was a hard line of hydrilla on every point at the dam at 16ft that would grow up to about 8-9ft below the surface. It’s not there anymore. That coontail isn’t crisp like the hydrilla and smells like onions when you pull it up.

[Zach201xl]

And it's about the most annoying grass on the planet.