One of the consequences of extended flooding and muddy water in the Tennessee Valley Authority lakes stretching across north Alabama is the decimation of underwater vegetation, changing the areas where bait and bass gather.
Too much hydrilla and milfoil – both invasive species – is obviously a bad thing for boaters, anglers and fish because the stuff becomes so thick in some areas that no fish over 6 inches long can even navigate through it. But the right amount of weed cover is what makes a bass lake in the southeastern United States.
Florida’s Game & Fish Commission did a study a few years back and found lakes with about 10 to 20 percent hydrilla coverage produced more and bigger bass than those without it, or those with more than these percentages.