Big Green Lake Fishing Report, 4/26/2020 – Here Comes the Snot

A Snot Grass (filamentous algae)bloom

Not much of a fishing report. I was on the lake with my youngest daughter looking for panfish…. and I stress the looking. We only fished for a few hours.

We only found a few very small sunfish in the shallows. We did see some decent sized pike in the shallows, and some 2-3 lb bass. Both the bass and the pike were very skittish. We didn’t see any baitfish in the shallows.

HERE COMES THE SNOT

What we did find in the shallows is the start of a huge snot grass (filamentous algae) bloom. Big Green Lake is several years into spraying the lake for invasive weeds, which has the side effect of killing off the native weeds too. Weeds in the water do absorb nitrates. In a normal healthy lake, there are plenty of native weeds to absorb nitrates.

The problem right now is the lack of weeds in the lake, natural or invasive. Without any weeds, the snot grass is growing exponentially and some shallow locations are about to be covered in snot grass. We are ahead of last years spring snot grass bloom.

CONDITIONS

Sunny
5-10 mph winds
Mid 50’s air temp
43 degree main lake temps, 53 degrees in the backs of shallow bays
Water clarity in the main lake was easily 12’+
Snot grass all over the sheltered secluded areas. Beyer’s Cove was better than most.

PATTERNS

We were bobber fishing for panfish. ‘Nuff said.

Vincent Wondra

Obsessed with fishing since a child. Vince loves to share his knowledge of the sport, while helping encourage selective harvest and protection of the resource. He shares fishing reports, tips, tricks, and more during his never ending quest to be a better fisherman. PRACTICE CPR: Catch. Picture. Release.