If you don't fishing in algae, get your licks in now!

[Pikebreath]

Early spring/ ice out,,,, no spring recharge contributing to lower than normal water levels,,, warm temperatures,,,, no cooling rains etc. all add up to early and massive algae blooms this year. It could be a pretty short window for fishing clear water this year.

We need rain and lots of it along with cooler weather, the sooner the better to put out fires and recharge the lakes to slow down the inevitable algae blooms.

[EZM]

Early spring/ ice out,,,, no spring recharge contributing to lower than normal water levels,,, warm temperatures,,,, no cooling rains etc. all add up to early and massive algae blooms this year. It could be a pretty short window for fishing clear water this year.

We need rain and lots of it along with cooler weather, the sooner the better to put out fires and recharge the lakes to slow down the inevitable algae blooms.

The largest contributing factor to algae blooms are spring rains - not the temperatures.

Water temperature will move up to 65-70 degrees even in cool springs and summers.

If you don't want an early bloom - pray for no rain.

Rain washes nutrients off agricultural fields and raises the nutrient levels in the watershed causing blooms.

[oilngas]

Pikebreath; it's interesting you should bring this up, we fished Crawling Valley on opening day (May 8) in the wind, cold, 2' chop, etc. I did notice that the bouncers were encountering the dreaded green slime. We were getting bounced around (pun intended) in the wind n waves pretty good, I just passed it off as stuff we picked up when I got the boat in too shallow.

While I have not fished that early with any earnest before, it does seem a little early for that slime. The surface water temp was 50 - 52 degrees F.

[Pikebreath]

The largest contributing factor to algae blooms are spring rains - not the temperatures.

Water temperature will move up to 65-70 degrees even in cool springs and summers.

If you don't want an early bloom - pray for no rain.

Rain washes nutrients off agricultural fields and raises the nutrient levels in the watershed causing blooms.

Excuse me but the severity of algae blooms are a function of several factors,,, Algae has been with us a long time,,, the nutrient load is there already naturally in any eutrophic body of water and yes it is enhanced by sewage, fertilizer, manure runoff etc.,,, all that said, algae loves warm stagnant water, low water with seasonally above average temperatures is the prime trigger for severe algae blooms to start earlier, last longer and be more severe.

[smitty9]

The largest contributing factor to algae blooms are spring rains - not the temperatures.

Water temperature will move up to 65-70 degrees even in cool springs and summers.

If you don't want an early bloom - pray for no rain.

Rain washes nutrients off agricultural fields and raises the nutrient levels in the watershed causing blooms.

Yes, that's one factor. But don't you have it backwards? Instead of praying for no rain, shouldn't be focus more on better agricultural practices that could prevent or lessen the artificial fertilization of lakes.

Regardless if we that debate on that specific issue, the bottom line is that the province needs rain. Full stop.

Good fishing,
Smitty

[TROLLER]

Fished CV going back to the Gerrard Bow days.


Never yet seen an algae bloom. I am wondering if the slime you saw was not the remnants of the lake spring turnover.

[EZM]

Excuse me but the severity of algae blooms are a function of several factors,,, Algae has been with us a long time,,, the nutrient load is there already naturally in any eutrophic body of water and yes it is enhanced by sewage, fertilizer, manure runoff etc.,,, all that said, algae loves warm stagnant water, low water with seasonally above average temperatures is the prime trigger for severe algae blooms to start earlier, last longer and be more severe.

Yes, that's one factor. But don't you have it backwards? Instead of praying for no rain, shouldn't be focus more on better agricultural practices that could prevent or lessen the artificial fertilization of lakes.

Regardless if we that debate on that specific issue, the bottom line is that the province needs rain. Full stop.

Good fishing,
Smitty

Pike Breath - No worries - I don't disagree - but my point was nutrients are the main contributing factor here - temps are going up anyways. That we can't stop. It's the nutrients we should try to control or really worry about.

While in university we did numerous studies to measure the impact of what variations of water temp to nutrients did and how severe/dense/quickly blooms appeared and measured the duration and impact on 02 levels.

These experiments focused on varying the water temperature (and using controlled loading of nutrients) and visa/versa.

Nutrients rapidly introduced into a watershed (like spring rains and runoff) disproportionately contribute to the severity and rapid increase (timeline) of algae blooms.

A sudden Catalyst - like a quick introduction of nutrients (like a big heavy rain) triggers a massive bloom, whereas, a slower release allows the cycles to happen (bloom and die) more often with less overall impact.

A big spring rain washing all the fertilizer and pig poop into the watersheds is going to be bad.

Smitty,

Agreed - we need to either create larger areas of filtration (like swamps and wetlands) or reduce nutrient introduction so early and directly into the watersheds.

It's not likely we will be able to legislate nutrient reductions - so we will need to reestablish wetlands and buffers as much as possible around key entry points into larger lakes. This will slow down the catalyst effect and essentially cause a "slow release" of these nutrients.

That would be better.

If we need rain (which we do) it's better to get more days of light rain instead of a few big downpours (when it comes to algae blooms in lakes).

[Pikebreath]

"Dilution is the solution to pollution...''

Right now I will take rain any way it wants to come... Dry cycles typically need a major precipitation event to break. Any way you want to cut it, an extended drought is not good for flora, fauna, fowl, fish, fires, crops, grass, and the list goes on!!!

[schmedlap]

While I hate seeing those conditions with huge mats of algae on the lake ...

I've run into it twice in recent years, both times in August, once at Sturgeon Lake and once at Beaver Lake. And 30C, still, and clear, as well. No one catching much of anything, by any means, in the "usual" spots. Just the worst possible conditions for fishing. So, "think like a fish" ...? Where are they going to go.

As relatively disgusting and annoying as a thick algae mat might be, if it blows into some bays and coves with 12-20 feet of water, then go fish right through and under it. The bigger fish, and the mass of fish, will go there simply because the water underneath is cooler and darker. We had an absolutely epic afternoon at Sturgeon in such conditions just a few years back - the only boat fishing a bay on the North side which was covered with a very thick mat (the worst I have ever seen) of algae. Trolling cranks we caught about 30-40 Walleye and Pike, and some very good ones ( a few Walleye up to 4-5 pounds, and a couple of Pike in the 12-15 lb. range included). We could barely get started trolling again after releasing (some doubles and one triple) when we would have to stop and reel in the next catch. We were more than happy, despite the mess of algae that we had to clean out of the boat after.

After a very frustrating day at Beaver in similar conditions, we determined that the main algae mat was right in front of the cottages and docks at the East (very "civilized") end of the lake, in late afternoon, and found pretty fair action under the mat, when the rest of the lake was a futile endeavour.

[3blade]

^ yep. Been doing that for years, other guys run away from it, even my grandpa said it's too dirty...all I said was "watch this" dropped a jig and pulled up a 4 lb walleye.

Not good for the overall health of the lake, but a silver lining to take advantage of.

[58thecat]

And we got got all this fluff floating around, property looks like snow fell for the last few days, great stuff that gets caught on your line when trolling and bundles up ....:(
Oh well you get the cards your dealt and make your play from there.