Cataouatche 2008-2010

[lakebouef5]

I myself...believe everyone has a little bit of the truth of what happened to the grass. The opening of the diversion for 90 days in 2010 for the oil spill did not help. The project where the Corp came in and dug cuts into the back Rice pond was truly bad. I saw them push barge after barge of rocks in the winter that year, coming in from Lafitte, and they took a different route along the lake each time. They pushed up mud the entire time....the barge and the tug was dragging bottom....with only about 2,5 feet of water in many places. Plus, I posted some pics of water coming out that back pond on a north wind before this project, and after. That back pond kept that side of the lake clear...no matter what they were doing with the diversion. Then in the spring...the grass started and spread out into the lake as it grew and cleared the water. The water clarity is not even close anymore since they cut into the back ponds. When the grass was down to only around 20% coverage in the entire lake....I was told ...by at least two dozen people...they saw the Corp spray boats out there hitting it heavy. I do not think the apple snails are the problem in the Cat....they seem to like ponds and bayous, and do not seem to lake big waves and disturbance....but quiet water.

[bass_prodigy75]

Seeing spray boats can start rumors, if spray boats were in the area spraying with a hand gun they were not managing submersed aquatic plants, most likely they were spraying water hyacinth, giant salvinia, or some other floating/emergent plant that was in the area. When you manage submersed aquatic plants (hydrilla, milfoil, coontail, etc) herbicide is applied beneath the water surface with trailing hoses directly into the water column, typically at a concentration as low as 10 ppb or as high as 1 ppm (for reference the EPA allowable limit for chlorine in tap water is 4 parts per million (ppm)). Also, there are 14 herbicides registered for use in aquatics, and effectiveness varies with the species you are targeting..products that are typically used to control milfoil dont work on hydrilla. Products that work good on hydrilla won't work to good for milfoil, but there are some products that will control both species well but can be expensive ($2000.00 a gallon) and they need to be in contact with the target plant for a minimum of 30 days, which is not applicable in open systems like the Cat. Also, glyphosate is often used for controlling floating plants bc its effective and cheap, but it is only effective when applied directly to plant foliage, if you tried to use glyphosate to control any plant growing submersed under water you would have wasted your money bc it cannot be taken up by the plant as an in water application. Alot of use patterns, etc. are researched for controlling aquatic weeds.. its pretty difficult and different from agriculture, if your a soybean farmer and you got weeds you would want to kill all the weeds and but not kill the beans, well in aquatics it is the complete opposite, the goal is to control a SINGLE aggressive invasive species and not injury or reduce the populations of co-occurring desirable native species. This makes things more difficult for sure.

[jcdogfish]

I can't explain why there hasn't been grass in the Cat in the past 4-5 years but there is certainly a good amount growing there as of now. It's mostly in the tank ponds but it looks healthy. The one thing I am almost certain of is that the corp of engineers or the DWLF are not efficient enough to have killed the grass the way it was killed in the Cat. They have never been that successful at anything so I write them off as the reason the grass died.

I gotta agree there, they did too good of a job to be done by any Govt. agency

[lakebouef5]

Seeing spray boats can start rumors, if spray boats were in the area spraying with a hand gun they were not managing submersed aquatic plants, most likely they were spraying water hyacinth, giant salvinia, or some other floating/emergent plant that was in the area. When you manage submersed aquatic plants (hydrilla, milfoil, coontail, etc) herbicide is applied beneath the water surface with trailing hoses directly into the water column, typically at a concentration as low as 10 ppb or as high as 1 ppm (for reference the EPA allowable limit for chlorine in tap water is 4 parts per million (ppm)). Also, there are 14 herbicides registered for use in aquatics, and effectiveness varies with the species you are targeting..products that are typically used to control milfoil dont work on hydrilla. Products that work good on hydrilla won't work to good for milfoil, but there are some products that will control both species well but can be expensive ($2000.00 a gallon) and they need to be in contact with the target plant for a minimum of 30 days, which is not applicable in open systems like the Cat. Also, glyphosate is often used for controlling floating plants bc its effective and cheap, but it is only effective when applied directly to plant foliage, if you tried to use glyphosate to control any plant growing submersed under water you would have wasted your money bc it cannot be taken up by the plant as an in water application. Alot of use patterns, etc. are researched for controlling aquatic weeds.. its pretty difficult and different from agriculture, if your a soybean farmer and you got weeds you would want to kill all the weeds and but not kill the beans, well in aquatics it is the complete opposite, the goal is to control a SINGLE aggressive invasive species and not injury or reduce the populations of co-occurring desirable native species. This makes things more difficult for sure.

I do not know what they were using, or what their "target" plant was...I only know that after...the results were ...good.

[lakebouef5]

[QUOTE=jcdogfish;8155937]I gotta agree there, they did too good of a job to be done by any Govt. agency[/QUOTE

When this occurred, the grass was already retreating and stressed...and not a whole lot left. Who knows if this was the final straw....or merely a show.

[BStrick]

It has nothing to do with the bottom being muck. You cannot get any muckier than Gulf Canal, and the grass grows all over in there each year. I will tell you this...the grass will come back again...it may take 5, 6, 8, 12, 20 years...but it will come back when water clarity, really low salinity, and early warm weather are all present. I even predict....it may be this year. Do not ask me how I know....

I've been saying this about belle river and verret since a couple years after hurricane Andrew (24 years?)

[BStrick]

Seeing spray boats can start rumors, if spray boats were in the area spraying with a hand gun they were not managing submersed aquatic plants, most likely they were spraying water hyacinth, giant salvinia, or some other floating/emergent plant that was in the area. When you manage submersed aquatic plants (hydrilla, milfoil, coontail, etc) herbicide is applied beneath the water surface with trailing hoses directly into the water column, typically at a concentration as low as 10 ppb or as high as 1 ppm (for reference the EPA allowable limit for chlorine in tap water is 4 parts per million (ppm)). Also, there are 14 herbicides registered for use in aquatics, and effectiveness varies with the species you are targeting..products that are typically used to control milfoil dont work on hydrilla. Products that work good on hydrilla won't work to good for milfoil, but there are some products that will control both species well but can be expensive ($2000.00 a gallon) and they need to be in contact with the target plant for a minimum of 30 days, which is not applicable in open systems like the Cat. Also, glyphosate is often used for controlling floating plants bc its effective and cheap, but it is only effective when applied directly to plant foliage, if you tried to use glyphosate to control any plant growing submersed under water you would have wasted your money bc it cannot be taken up by the plant as an in water application. Alot of use patterns, etc. are researched for controlling aquatic weeds.. its pretty difficult and different from agriculture, if your a soybean farmer and you got weeds you would want to kill all the weeds and but not kill the beans, well in aquatics it is the complete opposite, the goal is to control a SINGLE aggressive invasive species and not injury or reduce the populations of co-occurring desirable native species. This makes things more difficult for sure.

the same stuff they used to spray the salvania on the bend killed all the grass and hay grass. Apparently it does a better job than studies suggest ..


Also i don't understand why ldwf spends tons of money spraying hydrilla in places like verret basin. Just bc its non native doesn't mean it wouldn't help the area when the native veg isn't there anymore

[lakebouef5]

the same stuff they used to spray the salvania on the bend killed all the grass and hay grass. Apparently it does a better job than studies suggest ..


Also i don't understand why ldwf spends tons of money spraying hydrilla in places like verret basin. Just bc its non native doesn't mean it wouldn't help the area when the native veg isn't there anymore

Both the Corp and the LDW&F have a aquatic weed program. They employ people, and these agencies tend to either want to grow....or at least maintain the same. If their budget is lowered...they tend not to get the same funding the next year. Once...and I saw this myself....a spray boat with two men had the hose stuck in the water, going around in a large circle...just using up their day's chemical. This was in the Cat. Later...I saw them parked under an overhanging tree in Bayou Verret, ( Pier 90 canal)....taking a nap. I would say they overdosed this big area nicely.

[bass_prodigy75]

Probably cleaning out their tank..(in reference to the guys going around in circles) and at toledo bend they probably used a glyphosate + diquat tank mix for the salvinia, which are not selective herbicides (broadspectrum control most any plant) this is currently the best option for managing salvinia. also salvinia floats and inter mixes with the torpedo grass and other plants in the area.. Because of the giant salvinia being so aggressive the benefits of treating the entire area were salvinia can hide outweighs sparing the other associated species it is intermingled with. A few people at several lakes in the state are almost to the point of asking for removal of cypress trees so they can try to get the salvinia under control.

[KLSU]

've been saying this about belle river and verret since a couple years after hurricane Andrew (24 years?)

I grew up fishing Verret myself (Uncle has a camp on Attakapas) and know what you saying. I actually thought about 3-4 years ago the grass was coming back pretty well. I would fish all the normal areas (Chermie, Sherman, Crackerhead, main lake) and it was loaded with grass(Even good coontail in some areas) and we caught fish. It seems like over the past few years there is less and less again so I am not sure what is going on now. I was there 2 weeks ago and hardly any grass in the canals I fish.

[jlsch1]

I know man years ago they had grass beds at the end of Lake Verret that held a lot of wing wongers.
I think this guy that did a thesis might know some stuff.
All I know is back in the early 1990's they had a lot of grass there.
I remember I just bought a new Travis Boating Center Sprint boat with 115 hp Johnson.
Then I went to Kmart to get some spinnerbaits to fish this area.
Bought a new Ambassador 1000C a few days before with a browning pistol grip rod.
oh, yeah still rock that setup and changed the bushings to ceramic bearings!
Man the first place I ran that boat was Lake Verret and fished this spot.
Now it's not the same.

[Hogghuntin]

Good Post interesting