Is chara generally considered good or bad in a pond? I have no vegetation, other than FA. Perhaps several kinds of algae, but no chara. It sounds like chara could provide much needed shelter for my forage species, if it's not likely to take over my pond.
There's a small lake I used to fish in Ohio that had lots of chara. The disadvantage was that that after the water warmed, the shallow areas were hard to fish. But the advantage was that it cleared the water and gave smaller fish a place to hide, which of course drew the bigger fish.
I caught many a nice bass out of the chara, and fewer in areas where it did not exist. The very best spots were deep weedbeds, down to about six feet in depth -- I didnt find chara growing much deeper than that.
When some grass carp were put into the lake to control the chara, the fishing definitely worsened and the water became much murkier.
If you don't have deeper water, say more than six feet, chara can be a real pain in the rear. But if you do, it can be a plus. Besides, it crowds out worse things like FA.
