BlackJack 9-15-16

Sep 16 2016

Bradley Grulke

Fry

Member Since :
2001
Number of Posts :
11

Had a good trip to BlackJack on Thursday with a friend. Beautiful day with very little wind. Caught 25 fish or so, largest was around 4 pounds, harvested 12. Mainly on the fly (streamers), curly tailed grubs and senkos.

Steve: Wondering about the lack of grass currently? Used to be thick and you could target edges but it seems to be completely devoid of grass now so targeting shorelines and the brush piles or casting blind to open water… curious if this is just a natural process (grass die-off) or was something added to water? Thanks!

Posted By: Bradley Grulke

Sep 16 2016

Steve Alexander

Admin

Member Since :
2002
Number of Posts :
1171

Nice Picture.

Nothing has been added to reduce the grass. Grass is usually at its peak in September and begins to die back as the water cools. Ideally you would like aquatic vegetation to be 10 to 20% of a lake. 20% to 40% is still OK for the fish, but harder on the fisherman. Anything above 50% than it can be hard for the bass to feed and of course hard for an angler to target the bass. Any guess on what percent of the lake had aquatic vegetation? When we were there in June, the lake was about 20% full of aquatic vegetation. Near perfect.

Steve

Sep 17 2016

Bradley Grulke

Fry

Member Since :
2001
Number of Posts :
11

Thanks Steve, that's what I assumed. The lake has pretty much zero aquatic vegetation right now which is what I thought was so strange. Nothing visible to the eye and nothing getting hung up on baits subsurface.

Sep 18 2016

Ron Dupree

Fingerling

Member Since :
2015
Number of Posts :
75

Just wanted to add that John and I were there Friday and had the same observations on the grass. In fact i have been there 4 or 5 times this year staring in early July and have not seen grass like it was last year. John said he saw some earlier in the year but i have not seen any since i have been going starting in July.

Sep 18 2016

Steve Alexander

Admin

Member Since :
2002
Number of Posts :
1171

I don't have an explanation why the grass is not there.

Sep 19 2016

John Shepard

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2015
Number of Posts :
182

I have noticed the same lack of aquatic vegetation.  I think that I have fished there every month this year except May and June.  In March, the vegetation was spotty and not very dense but was growing.  In April, the vegetation was vigorous and getting thick.  Photos from then show vegetation breaking the surface around much of the pond in a thick belt. By July, most was gone.  I'd estimate 5% coverage now and most of that is algae in the shallow end rather than grass or other plants.

I've also noticed that Post oak Lake in Bryan has very little submerged vegetation.  The owner told us that carp had been added.

Sep 30 2016

Michael Lynds

Fry

Member Since :
2013
Number of Posts :
18

Post Oak definitely has carp.  I have seen many and saw a nice show where about 5 of them started breaking the surface in some sort of frenzy near the damn at Post Oak.  It actually scared me as they were splashing and it lasted about 60 seconds.  They were huge.  So the carp at Post Oak have taken the grass down significantly over the last year.