Small amounts have been good habitat but it is starting to get out of control...

Hard to tell from those pictures. If you crush it in your hand does it smell like a skunk?

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plant-identification/alphabetical-index/muskgrass/

Small amounts have been good habitat but it is starting to get out of control...

I fish a small lake in Ohio that is infested with chara. Your picture looks the same as they have.

As you say, in moderation this can be helpful -- I've caught many a nice bass in the middle of the skunkweed. But eventually it tends to take over.

TennJeff - your weed sample looks like a mass of messy weeds. Some of that in the mess is not Chara due to evidence of sizable(1/4") stems. You might have Eurasian millfoil. If you want a good opinion of what weeds are creating your problem, get us some much better pictures. Read through this from our Archives for ideas and examples for getting good pictures of pond weeds.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=371748#Post371748

Thanks everyone! I will return with some more detailed pics in a day or so.

Now that warm weather is here, I can show some of the leaves as this starts to grow...





This stuff is really starting to take over. I'm guessing part of the problem is my water is really clear and allowing this stuff to get lots of sunlight even in deeper water.
I hate to dye my water, but I bet that's what you guys are going to suggest....

Crayfish my friend, you need crayfish, the more aggressive the better! They will chow down on the weeds, feed your bass, and when there is little to no weeds left they will stir up the bottom anyway and provide nature's natural sunlight filtration.

Of course you want balance in that vegetation control, but outside of chemicals, or raking, vegetation can be controlled with wildlife.

I'm ok with some crayfish. I do have several different waterlilies that I would prefer not get eaten though...

Some of that kinda looks like American Pondweed?

RC

I laughed or smiled to myself when CC responded with crawfish. I have no plants in my pond, even after planting some. The Red swamp crawfish will denude any plant that tries to get a start in my pond so far. Ponds are not a perfect world for me, they seem to let me take them in a direction the pond wants to go.

Tracy, LMB and SMB will control crayfish especially since you no longer have plants for them to hide in. However if they have rocks/rip/rap to hide in then it might balance out again.

I'd like to take some of your texas Red Swamps and pit them against our 'invasive' northern Rusty crayfish. Load a small forage tank up with 100 of each variety and at the end of the summer see which variety is tougher !

Plant leaves in your hand look smaller than those floating on the pond in the background, unless those in your hand are some of the newest smaller leaves. The plant is definitely one of the species of pondweed. Grass carp (GC) (triploid white amur) and or a lake rake can remove a lot of it. How big is the pond and amount of weeds (%coverage) will determine how many GC to stock?. One grass carp can eat 2000 lbs of wet weeds per year. It will be hard to establish crayfish if you already have an established bass population. With established LMbass, stock at least 12" or 12"+ GC; smaller ones become expensive bass food for 16"-18" bass.

Leaves in hand and ones on pond are the same size, optical effect of the camera I guess?

Will GC eat my water lilies also?

Pond is about an acre and slopes to 10-12' deep. I would say weed coverage is 15-20% and growing...

For what it's worth, it appears to be waterthread pondweed, aka Potamogeton diversifolius.
The Latin term for this species offers a clue about the plant's growth habit. Think "diversify". The leaf on the surface looks completely different from the plant's submerged leaf-structures.

I suggest you for the next few years remove some of the pondweed with a rake and add one or two grass carp. GC will only eat the lilies when all the other edible plants are gone. Stock only one GC and use the rake. Use the rake less as the GC grows and weeds become fewer. If after 2-3 yrs the pond weed amount increases add the 2nd GC. Keep using the rake each year to remove some weeds and use them as garden mulch.

i have the exact same plant. it started out as submerged only. it smells like garlic when crushed. months later it has the leaves on the surface. is it pond weed mixed in with chara?
i have an auto fish feeder so i have been advised against carp. supposedly they will hang around the feeder and wait for a hand out, right?

Thank you Bill!
That was exactly what I was thinking after researching GC a little over the last couple days.


Jeff-