Many anglers are familiar with Eurasian watermilfoil and how it can be damaging to a body of water. If you are a fisherman and you are unaware of what exactly this plant is and what it can do, stick around. In the post, we will take a look at this invasive plant, its history, its origins, and what it is capable of doing to your favorite fishing lakes. 

Where Does It Come From?

Myriophyllum spicatum: Eurasian watermilfoil, also known as spiked watermilfoil is an aquatic plant that is native to the regions of Northern Europe and Asia but can now be found distributed across 97 different countries including Australia, and throughout North America. 

History as an Introduced Species 

The exact history as an introduced species to North America is for the most part a mystery. The plant was most likely introduced to the North American continent in the 1940s. By the 1970s, it had already spread throughout thousands of square miles in British Columbia and Ontario, Canada. It also spread into the Columbia River system, where it traveled downstream some 300 miles and started to establish itself in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. 

Today it can be found throughout the United States, from the East Coast, the Great Lakes to California, and everywhere in-between. 

Plant Biology 

Eurasian Milfoil is very difficult to control, and it has become apparent that once a body of water becomes infected with this invasive species that it is difficult to completely eradicate it. There are reasons for this difficulty, and it boils down to the plant’s biology. 

Eurasian Milfoil reproduces with seeds like many plants, but it has a trick up its sleeve that makes it incredibly difficult to manage and eradicate: it can reproduce and spread only needing fragments of the plant. 

The whorls of the plant or leaf-like structures are all that are needed to regrow a Eurasian milfoil plant. Boat props and other disturbances which break or cut off parts of the plant allow the plant to float away or be carried by wind and current and establish itself in a new area, seeds not required. 

Detrimental Effects on Native Waterways 

Eurasian Watermilfoil grows in very dense clumps and can completely choke out all native plant species, as well as being detrimental to recreational boat traffic, being so thick as to impede and bog down boat propellers. 

While it may seem like it has a positive effect by giving the small fish plenty of cover from predators, this positive effect is overshadowed by disrupting normal predator-prey feeding cycles by not allowing large predatory fish to swim through the vegetation freely in search of prey. 

It’s also detrimental to the small prey fish as well due to not creating suitable micro habitats for invertebrates that small fish feed on, making the areas that Eurasian Watermilfoil take over much less productive when it comes to food sources for all sizes and species of animals in the food chain. 

The very thick clumping and density can form a mat across shallow areas and completely block out the sunlight to native plants, which in turn kill off all native plants in the area, leaving only Eurasian watermilfoil present. 

Preventing the Spread of Eurasian Milfoil

The best way we as anglers can prevent the spread of Eurasian watermilfoil is to be sure to do thorough inspections of our boats, trailers, and fishing gear and equipment whenever we leave a body of water. 

The weeds will get caught on boat props and trailer axles with ease, and if not cleaned properly will transfer to your next favorite lake when you go fish it. Milfoil can last days out of the water, so even it is dried up from the previous days or weeks fishing session, it will still spread. 

Many lakes today in states across the United States have wash stations to spray off your boats and trailers to help prevent the spread, and many more have hired people to sit at boat landings and give inspections before allowing you to enter or leave a boat launch. 

While some anglers and boaters may see this as an inconvenience, they are the same people who are ill-informed on the detrimental impact of the plant and its ability to spread and reproduce rapidly. 

Conclusion 

It may seem like stopping the spread of Eurasian watermilfoil is an impossible goal. With boaters learning about the detrimental effects of the plant and ways to minimize transfer from bodies of water along with biological/chemical treatments, we can keep it in check to preserve our native water ecosystems to the best of our ability.

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