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Another tough day, but we may have found one of the reasons. We hit Beaver at about 9 AM in the fog. Very calm and beautiful morning with the sun shining through the fog. Once we got enough light we noticed the water was very murky. Blaming it on the recent rains we just kept plugging along.

Nada for most of the day as we worked our way around the East side of the lake in the fog and only picked up a few small fish. As we about finished our circuit of the lake when my son said, "Holy Crap!" I looked over and he was pointing at the shore on the west side. There, where there is usually a nice bunch of lily pads along the road, was a HUGE section of the floating mat that surrounds much of the lake. I'm talking a section of mat full of 8' cattails, and even some small trees about 100 yds long and 50 yards wide that had broken loose from the North end of the lake (probably in the recent high winds) and been driven across the lake and against the shore. If it had travelled an additional 100 yards it would have totally blocked off the launch ramp.

Anyhow, that's where a bunch of the murky, muddy water came from and most likely screwed up local bass behaviour for awhile. I've attached a picture--the mat came somewhere from the far back of the picture.

bothellbassman

10/10/2016 3:12:00 AM

Wow! That is a big chunk of mat! Hope it doesn't get blown in front of the launch...

dutchman2858

10/10/2016 8:18:00 AM

Me too! My son did a bit more research and pulled up the Google Earth "before" picture. I was wrong--it looks like the mat came from the SE side of the lake--to the right of the launch. I tried to attach a photo, but it doesn't seem like it's allowed in the report section. I'll probably post it in the chat forum.

AJ's Dad

10/11/2016 6:51:00 AM

I have seen this happen on one of the chain lakes in Idaho. The mat you refer to was always referred to as a bog. I showed up one day at the lake and thought I was in the wrong place. The "Bog" had cat tails and trees like you mentioned. There was deep water up to 20 feet right next to it, and back under it as well. When I asked a local fisherman what was going on, he said over the years the bog would sometimes just break away and float off in pieces. It created an entirely different shoreline where it broke away and in the new locations where the pieces landed. In my opinion it has made for more good places to fish. It dispersed around the lake creating several outcroppings and places for fish to hold. It took a year or so but it made the fishing there a little better.

Jamesb

10/11/2016 7:57:00 PM

Seen same thing at Chain lake last few years islands of reeds/mud that float around in different places...thought some new home owners had been cutting up the reeds but maybe it got loose on its own after a storm. Now have about 3-4 of these that have moved around the lake over past few years. Have caught some fish in front on them though so they are worth fishing.

Jamesb

10/11/2016 7:57:00 PM

Seen same thing at Chain lake last few years islands of reeds/mud that float around in different places...thought some new home owners had been cutting up the reeds but maybe it got loose on its own after a storm. Now have about 3-4 of these that have moved around the lake over past few years. Have caught some fish in front on them though so they are worth fishing.

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