After this recent warm-up and the following cool down of the last week, many may have noticed the significant algae bloom occurring on many of the area lakes. This is normal, and may occur again as we cool down, look to warm back up, and cool down again. Nature knows what it needs to do to adjust to seasonal changes.
Our quest is to be able to adapt to these cycles and seasonal changes. The bloom can be very thick, especially in areas that the wind blows it to some concentration, or slack, still water areas. It will stick to everything from anchor ropes to boat hulls and trailers.
You will need to wipe your boat down after loading if you notice some of the scum on your boat. If you let it dry before removing, it gets like cement and can be difficult to get off the boat.
If it is already too late and you have some coating the lower side of your boat’s paint job, soap and water may not be enough without scrubbing until you have tennis elbow. There are some products out there that can help clean the green off. Simple Green and JBB are two very proven products, but an easy product that will stink just a little more, but works like a charm, is white vinegar. You can go with the 50/50 mix with warm water but if it is really bad and stubborn, you may need to go with straight vinegar on a rag.
One benefit to the cooling water temperatures and the algae bloom is fish, walleyes in particular, will come to shallow water and feed on the young of the year perch. They can stay shallow for long periods of time as the algae significantly reduces the amount of light penetrating the lake. Walleyes are low light feeders, and one advantage over their prey is their ability to see in dim light.
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Surface feeding fish like bass and musky can easily pick up on surface disturbances, so surface baits can be very good when faced with our current situation.
Because the algae bloom is a dark stain on the water, the very top surface of the water will warm more quickly, but don’t be fooled by the quick rise on the immediate top layer, these cool nights and shortened daylight hours are cooling the lakes down. You will notice now that it may take until noon or later to warm for the day, and then starts to cool again by about 7 p.m. now. From June through August we have 14 to 18 hours of daylight, nights were warm, and the heat of the day could arrive by 10 a.m. and stay hot until dusk or dark at 10 at night. Now we have 12 hours of daylight, cool nights, slow warm up, and early cool down.
Water temperatures on the lakes that had been up to 80 degrees in mid-August, dropped to the mid to high 60 degree range during that weird couple weeks of September we had in August, climbed back to the mid 70 degree range during the August weather we had this early September, and is now dropping again that we are back to our regular seasonal weather pattern. Look for some ups and downs with the scattered hot days we will have, but overall we are on the slide to fall lake conditions.
Musky anglers are getting excited now as we are just a couple of weeks away from the start of the big sucker bite of the fall that will last through the end of October. Fall walleye anglers are looking forward to the more stable conditions of the October fall bite.
Be careful launching and loading as we have very low water again this fall. This time of year is not only great weather wise, but no bugs! We also have less traffic on the lakes and this can make for some very peaceful lake outings. For some of the ice nuts, fall lasts to long!
(Laabs runs Brad Laabs’ Guide Service in Detroit Lakes.)
