The Bass Magic of Milfoil

Drop the term "EURASIAN MILFOIL" among a group of anglers, boaters and waterfront property owners and watch the feathers fly!

 Some will protect this grass like a firstborn child, while others will treat it like a colony of termites.

 Milfoil can polarize even anglers themselves — biologists, too.

 See enough milfoil lakes, and you will likely harbor mixed feelings, knowing its potential benefits yet understanding the real meaning of the phrase "too much of a good thing."

 Indeed, "too much" is the issue in a nutshell when it comes to milfoil. It can dominate shallow, fertile waters in as little as two years, clogging navigation paths and forming thick mats that prevent sunlight from reaching native vegetation. Yet it often boosts a lake's bass base big time!

 "Without exception, the best lakes in the country have milfoil, hydrilla, or some other aquatic vegetation that some folks won't like," says Alton Jones, an Elite Series angler who has notched impressive bass totals from milfoil-filled waters from the Deep South to the Great Lakes. "Vegetation allows a lake to support a lot more life."

 Curt Lytle, Bassmaster Classic runner-up in 2003, credits milfoil with adding heft to Potomac River bass near Washington, D.C., and beyond in the 1980s.

 Tim Lesmeister, Minneapolis-area tournament pro and angling "communicator" has fished famed Lake Minnetonka for 30 years. "But the bass fishing has gotten a lot better since the milfoil took hold in the 1980s."

"In the initial stages, Eurasian milfoil is good," says John Madsen, assistant professor of research and extension at Mississippi State University and an acknowledged authority on the invasive plant. "It attracts fish. They cruise the edges hunting for fish. But when it becomes a total monoculture, there's no place left to roam. Under it may be little vegetation. You end up with stunted forage fish and slower growing bass."

Eurasian milfoil — there's a native North American milfoil, too, that is much less prolific — grows thick and fast and, in some areas, nearly year-round. Its stalks rise and spread from a central core in tree-like fashion, forming a thick canopy at the surface.

"On a lake like Guntersville, milfoil only grows at certain depths, maybe 7 to 8 feet," explains Jones. "On Lake Champlain (New York), it's completely different. With clearer water, milfoil may grow as deep as 15 feet, even more."

In the best of all possible worlds, milfoil would attain an ever-pleasing not-too-much, not-too-little balance and stay that way. "But Eurasian milfoil doesn't like to stay at an intermediate level of cover," Madsen notes.

Unlocking the milfoil code begins with getting an edge.
"You're almost always looking for edges because fish like to travel along the weedline," says Jones. "Sometimes you're looking for an inside shallow edge. Other times it's deeper."

Milfoil tends to have a filtering and clarifying effect on the waters it takes root in. This makes hunting easier for sight feeders like bass, and ironically, helps other aquatic plants to thrive in deeper water.
Lake Minnetonka near Minneapolis is a case in point.

"A lot of us who have fished Minnetonka a lot are now seeing the demise of milfoil on main lake structures — an amazing turn of events," says Mark Fisher, national promotions director for Normark Corp. "Now coontail is growing in 26 feet of water. The milfoil helped clear up the lake. The bass are using the edges of the coontail, which roughly correspond in some areas to the edge created by the milfoil canopy."

 Buzzbaits and spinnerbaits are other obvious choices. Work the tops of the vegetation and the edges, and don't miss pockets. Jones swims plastic worms over milfoil tops and finds the presentation very effective. But conditions may favor other presentations, as well.
The Zell Pop, designed by pro Zell Rowland for chugging and popping, is often the bait du jour on the Alton Jones postspawn bass menu. He likens its action to shad working the surface. "It's always a good postspawn lure on good grass lakes," says Jones. "May is a good time. You can see the grass growing. You look for holes in the grass. They may be the size of a trash can lid or the size of a car. But the usual key is depths of 3 to 5 feet."