Roberds

[Dag_1979]

I'm heading up to Roberds with the family for a weekend of fishing. Anyone know if the crappies are up shallow yet?

[Dag_1979]

Weather was terrible, but we did alright. A lot of small slimers. Located some nice crappies and gills while being blown all over the lake.

Took the old man over 10 minutes to land the Musky over the lunch hour.

[zepman]

Never knew Roberds had muskies in it...nice work!

[Dag_1979]

We were surprised to see a Musky on the line as well! The day before Dad caught this Musky and in the same area, I had a really nice Northern or Musky snap my line about 10 feet from the boat.

[Rubber Ducky]

You guys that are fishing Roberds, watch what you eat out their they sprayed again for weeds on Wednesday. they say not to eat any fish out of their for seven days.

What happened to just removing the weeds with old school cutters they use on other lakes.

Does anyone know how this affects the fish in the lakes?

They say its not bad but it sure sounds like a load of dump to me!!

Such a good lake to be pumping chemicals in just to swim.

[JosMN]

I agree with RD here. Why spend all that money on chemicals? We all know what the water is going to look like out there come mid July-August regardless.

[smeese]

Muskies have migrated over from French in times of high waters. I have heard quite a few reports of them coming out of there. Good to hear!

[bigsam]

Yeah, every year they seem to do that....pour in some dump to kill the weeds....take away the hiding places for minnows and scatter the fish.

Stupid! Bad thing was that it usually coincides with the walleye bite heating up.

[Yooperguy]

Yep, if you guys want to put a stop to it call the dnr regional office and tell them to stop writing permits for this.

[Matt C]

Nice Musky! Yes, there are quite a few in there. The panfish bite is usually pretty good there as well. Walleyes seem to be more of a winter fish in that lake.

[zepman]

I always thought the Lake Associations were responsible for the $$$ on the weed control.

Lake Washington does it all the time as well.

[Yooperguy]

They are but they still need permits for the area's they spray. But some get grants too, I know the WLA gets them for Tetonka and Sakata.

[bigsam]

The Waterville office has been emailed. Hopefully they listen!

[Yooperguy]

The one you want to contact is in New Ulm. Jack Lauer 507-359-6026. But I'm glad you sent the e -mail also! They need to hear that fishermen are sick and tired of lake associations poisoning OUR lakes. The poison they dump in to kill curly leaf also kills the other weeds then there is nothing to take up nutriants and this makes our lakes even more green. Let alone killing vital fish habitat during a very critical time of year.

[Rubber Ducky]

I just emailed as well. I will post what they say!

[Rubber Ducky]

Well hot off the press we as anglers have no rights to change this.

This is what the DNR said about my email to them.

I received a similar complaint from another angler this morning. I passed along those complaints to the Invasive Species Specialist that handles Aquatic Plant Management (APM) permitting in our area (including Rice county), Mr. Nick Brown. Nick responded as follows:

“Each lakeshore owner or lake association has the ability to apply for a permit to remove nuisance aquatic plants, whether they are aquatic invasive plants, like curly-leaf pondweed or Eurasian watermilfoil, or native plants, like coontail or northern watermilfoil. When issuing permits, we take many factors into account, including 1) the presence of aquatic plants or nuisances that are interfering with a permit applicant’s ability to use watercraft, swim, or engage in other traditional recreation uses; 2) the habitat, water quality, and erosion control value of the aquatic plants subject to the proposed permit; and 3) the presence of invasive aquatic plants in the proposed permit area, among other factors, as outlined in M.R. 6280.0250 Subp. 3a.

According to M.R. 6280.0350 Subp. 1a, “Submersed aquatic plant control restrictions for riparian property owners and lessees. The commissioner may issue an APM (Aquatic Plant Management) permit to a person who is an owner, lessee, or easement holder of land adjacent to a public water or to the anent of the owner, lessee, or easement holder to control submersed aquatic plants…” M.R. 6280.0350, Subp. 4.A. states “pesticide control of aquatic plants in public waters may not exceed 15 percent of the littoral area…” (defined as the area of a lake less than 15’ deep).

Further, M.S. 103G.615 Supd. 3a outlines the criteria for issuing Invasive Aquatic Plant Management (IAPM) permits, to which I believe you are referring. Subd. 3a states “ (IAPM) means an aquatic plant management permit as defined in the rules of the Department of Natural Resources that authorizes the selective plant control of invasive aquatic plants at a scale to cause a significant lakewide or baywide reduction in the abundance of the invasive aquatic plant,” or, in the case of Roberds Lake, curly-leaf pondweed.

When it comes to pesticides that are used in Minnesotas’ waters, according to M.R. 6280.0600, “pesticides must be labeled for use in aquatic sites. Pesticides used to control aquatic plants or algae in public waters must be registered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), including pesticides registered pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).” Also, “Instructions and precautions of pesticides must be followed. Pesticides must be applied according to the label and labeling provided by the manufacturer and other water use restrictions imposed by the department or MDA. Pesticide-treated areas must be posted with signs provided or approved by the commissioner bearing the permit number; the name of pesticide used; the date of treatment; and dates on which water from the treated area may be safely used for swimming, fishing, and other uses, as specified on the product label or by the department. The department, in consultation with the MDA, may require water use restrictions in addition to those on the product label. The permittee or agent is responsible for the placement and removal of required signs. The treatment area must be posted in such a way that people entering from any direction can see the signs, or as otherwise prescribed in the permit. The treatment area must be posted for at least 24 hours or the length of time of the longest water use restriction on the pesticide label, whichever is greater.”

In the case of the Roberds Lake curly-leaf pondweed chemical application, all rules and regulations were followed. A permit (no. 13W-4021) was issued to the Roberds Lake Club on April 18, 2013 and the treatment was conducted on May 22, 2013, according to the terms of the permit, including singage of the treated area. As you stated in your message, mechanical control is an option, though the permittee opted for chemical control as is allowed by Minnesota law. The pesticide that was used in the treatment, endothall, or more specifically Aquathol K, was applied at a rate of 0.75 – 1.0 ppm. According to the material safety data sheet (MSDS), this rate is well below what would cause problems for swimming or fishing, so no setbacks are set in place for either activity.

We appreciate your concern for our natural resources. If you have additional questions or comments, please contact me. Nick Brown, 320-234-2550 x238, [email protected] ”

Just to add to what Nick said, the spraying is contracted and done by a private vendor, not by DNR. We’ve been monitoring the fish community here at the Waterville DNR Fisheries office and haven’t seen any downward trends in fish populations. Later this summer Roberds will be surveyed with trap nets and gill nets and we expect to see similar results. Friday I was also on Roberds but our crew was sampling largemouth bass with electrofishing equipment. I saw the orange signs where treatment was done at respective riparian landowners’ homes, but didn’t detect the smell.

Lastly comes the question of how do you stop this practice. Curlyleaf is the dominant vegetation type in Roberds year round. It’s important fish habitat, especially for fish that are obligate vegetation spawners in the spring and early summer (although it should be noted that the total amount and percentage of lake area treated is very small; there is still a lot of curlyleaf that is untreated so it wouldn’t be fair to characterize Roberds lake treatment as being significant/large enough to threaten fish spawning) as well as providing a useful nursery area for fry and young fish. Curlyleaf pondweed is dense in May and June but is not problematic the remainder of the year. It’s a big issue in southern Minnesota where our waters are so hypereutrophic and curlyleaf represents in many cases the only plant in any abundance within a lake. Going back to Nick’s response above, the way to put an end to these types of individual and lakewide treatments is to stop it legislatively by changing the laws. To do so, you’ll need to contact your local representatives.

Thanks for writing. I appreciate your concern for local fish and fisheries.

Best regards,

Scott

[Dag_1979]

Scott, I believe my Dad and I were just dumping his Alumacraft in the lake when you guys were loading up your boat. We only caught 1 bass all weekend, about 3 lbs.