I fish a 3 acre farm pond in N Ga. About 10-12yrs ago all the lily pads/cattails were removed (not by me). The pond fished good and was easily accessible from the bank. Now lily pads have taken root and gone crazy. They grow all the way around the bank, 5-15ft thick. It's pretty much impossible to fish from the bank during the summer, and (other than crappie, which have boomed, some really big crappie plus a TON of little dinks) it doesn't seem to really be helping the fish population much (particularly bluegills). I'm thinking maybe the lilies caused the crappie boom, which has put a hurtin' on the bream,which leaves the cats/bass with less food. Would it be wise to remove some/all of the lilies? What would be the best way? I intend to keep some crappie this spring to "thin the herd". I expect that to help the fish population problems some, but it still doesn't solve the bank fishing situation.

Thanks,
Sam

Practice makes bad habits. Learning from practice makes perfect.