BASSTRACKER wrote:the state has always discharged sewage into the lake. as a matter pf f act before they moved the pipe underwater that point and the bays around the discharge were some of the best fishing on the lake.
Not always but close enough (dam built 1906, sewage dumping starting in 1928) but this discharge hasn't had a positive contribution to the lakes ecosystem. I can imagine the habitat being much more healthy without the dumping of sewage. I fished the lake since at least the early 70s. I used to fish right outside the "sewage waterfall" which used to flow into the stream directly from the treatment plant and always had a strong smell of chlorine. The tilapia loved that sewage flow and would literally mass in such number on the surface that they were practically a solid mass from shore to over twenty yards out. We would troll gold Rapala minnows just outside the tilapia mass and catch plenty LG Bass. This flow may have concentrated the fish in one location but I don't believe it added anything positive to the chemical balance of lake waters. I don't believe it had any positive effects on LG Bass reproduction. Now the discharge is 44 feet below the surface in same area but where are all the tilapia or bass in area like before? This sewage only helps the salvinia, and water hyacinth to grow out of control. Only the regular spraying of herbicides keeps these plants currently in check. Eliminate the sewage dumping and eliminate the need for herbicides which also has to be detrimental the water's health.
Every time the waters are released during times of heavy rain this nutrient rich water runs downstream and into Kaiaka Bay with negative effects. 2 million gallons of sewage dumped into any ecosystem is never good but especially so in a finite water system like Lake Wilson.