Well, mostly gone—I’m guessing that 75 to 80 percent of the water hyacinths have bit the dust due to Patti’s special home brew.  My buddy and I fished in places that haven’t been accessible for years, and it sure was nice not to have to worry about hyacinths fouling the prop or the lure!

The water is murky, the murkiest I’ve ever known at Melody. Visibility only about a foot.  Most of it is silt from recent heavy rains, some is decaying hyacinths giving back all those nutrients they’d sucked out.  Fish don’t seem to mind much, we caught about 30 in about 9 hours of dusk & dawn fishing and had at least as many more on.  Unfortunately, my friend apparently bought his line from the bargain basket at Odd Lots, he must have had 10 or 12 breakoffs.

The murk hurt small finesse baits a bit due to reduced visibility, but the topwater fishing at dusk was explosive.  Bigger, louder baits seemed to be preferred, or at least the fish could find them more easily.

Added fertility is a good thing, of course, and the murk has retarded submergent weed growth somewhat, making for easier fishing. 

Most fish were in 1 to 3 lb range, with just a few dinks.  Average weight seems to be up a bit, fewer skinny guys.  We kept 18 below 15 inches, bringing our total kept this year to nearly 70.  I think the selective harvest is helping.

I lost one in the 4 to 5 lb range on a jump, but later hooked a monster in the back bay.  Like the Energizer Bunny, it kept going and going until we had to run the motor to keep from being spooled.  Sadly, the hook pulled out after about 3 very tense minutes.  It had taken 25-30 yards (not feet, YARDS) of line, and it would have been more if we hadn’t chased. 

We never saw it, but it was huge.  Maybe next time!

Oh yeah, one more thing: if you throw topwaters over the old dam at dusk, hold on to your rod…