The committee hopes all had a wonderful summer on your private lake. We certainly were happy to see the water levels return to normal pool. We have worked on several water quality issues. First is to get rid of/control the Brittle Naiad in the lake. This is important for several reasons: 1) Safety compromise due to large chunks of this floating out into the lake. (One skier took a hard fall with face injury when skis hit a floating patch of this), 2) Potential damage to lower end units, props and impellers (Naiad fibers are dense
and strong-ropelike), 3) Overtaking normal vegetation which impairs oxygen levels, water clarity, and fish habitat and 4) Overgrowth of shoreline areas making swimming and dock use less enjoyable. This weed tends to exponentially increase in amount year to year and would be significantly worse next year if not treated this year. Please be aware that you all can help prevent this problem from getting worse by only using fertilizers approved for use around lake shorelines. There are several organic fertilizers that work well and are environmentally friendly. Staying 15’ or more from shore when applying helps prevent
runoff into the lake. Also, it is better to apply lawn fertilizer in the fall as there will be better absorption into the soil over the winter versus during heavy spring rains where it is washed off into the lake. We are treating the areas immediately around the ramps and beach monthly with a contact herbicide to control these areas, thus improve access in those areas. Treatments are done at the beginning of the week and chemicals used are safe for human contact, essentially gone in 24 hours.
The Moma C Memorial Kids’ Tournament was held on June 29. Another great success, thanks to Darla and Pauli Turner, their team, and many members of Chris Wenzel’s family (see photo). Numerous others helped weigh and filet fish, provide/set up food, register kids and record fishing harvests. Nick Kuhn volunteered to fry several hundred filets—please thank him when you see him. Over 100 kids fished and approx. 90 rods were given away (thank you Scott Steinkritz). It was a great day for all and our community spirit.
Fish Stocking: We placed another 10,000 redear sunfish. Again, these eat the snails (controls swimmers’ itch) and other crustaceans and parasites in the lake. They are a good food source for the other fish species in the lake that otherwise be not utilized. We plan additional stocking of walleye, perch and redears in the fall.
Habitat work continues, guided by our consultants at Aquatic Controls with board/manager approval. Sites picked for optimal placement regarding effectiveness and safety. Optimal lake management would be improved by creating a bathymetric map of the lake bottom. This map will help us understand the lake bottom more completely (especially post-dredging) and guide future management decisions. We will pursue completing this with donations. Printed maps can be available for sale. The data will be given for boat electronics.
The Fall Bass Tournament will be Sept. 28 with rules and entry forms in this issue and available at the office. We will also organize a fish fry (9/28, 6-8pm) that evening at the clubhouse with Nick frying the fish provided by anglers along with sides of fries and slaw for a free will donation. Bar-bill will be your responsibility. The money raised that evening will augment our ability to provide the above-mentioned map and further management of the lake. We hope to see as many as possible that night. Additional surprises to follow for this.
Thanks for reading. Doug Massop, for the committee. Email: fishcmte@sunvalleylake.com