BIRCHWOOD, Tenn. — Some things never change. It was well-proven Tuesday evening during a public meeting hosted by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) in Birchwood to seek public comment on the Tennessee Black Bass Management Plan (2027 – 2036). It was one five such meetings being held across the state.
As it has been for more than 40 years, the number one topic of conversation was angler complaints about the spraying and efforts to kill aquatic vegetation in Chickamauga Lake.
The intended purpose of the gathering was to give fishermen an opportunity to provide comments and feedback on TWRA’s proposed 10-year-plan for managing bass and bass fishing in Tennessee. About 30 fishermen and other interested parties were on hand, including Jacob Wheeler, currently ranked as the best professional bass fisherman in the world. State Representative Greg Vital was also in attendance as well as Dennis Tumlin with the Tennessee Dept. of Tourism. The audience was nearly outnumbered by a huge number of TWRA biologists, technicians and wildlife officers on hand to listen to angler concerns.
I told several participants that I could pull up articles I wrote in the mid-1980’s, simply change a few names and republish the exact same words I’ve listened to since 1985.
A NEVER-ENDING BATTLE
It was the mid-1980’s when the earliest battles over aquatic vegetation began to rage on Chickamauga Lake, and other TVA lakes. Fishermen, and biologists, love many varieties of aquatic vegetation because it provides excellent habitat for game fish, especially largemouth bass, and has proven to dramatically improve fishing.
Meanwhile boaters and lakeshore landowners despise the vegetation because it invades their docks and boating areas, often causing an unsightly mess and navigation difficulties…