Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

A week or two ago I reached out to a NJF&W north jersey regional biologist about the problem, a week later I recieve an email back from him thanking me for reaching out and that he attempted to call the township to discuss treating the weeds and will continue to reach out until he has an answer. I also sent him pictures of the condition there.

I also brought up with him the possibility of the state stocking a species like grass carp that can naturally control the aquatic vegetation, before the fish kill I believe the pond had a fair population of common carp that got in from the hackensack river.

If you also wish to reach out and put more pressure for the state to clean the pond up his email is Justin.Rozema@dep.nj.gov

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

The lake was in great shape prior to that kill off. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to them.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

Received an email from the regional biologist a few weeks back regarding the situation at Indian Lake.

The email below
"Hi there,



I spoke with Little Ferry’s DPW and am glad to report they have heard anglers’ suggestions and are already currently taking steps towards hiring an aquatic consultant to begin treating the weeds in Indian Lake next year. They are still in the early stages of the process, so they were unable to provide me with a more detailed plan as to when or how the weeds will be treated yet."

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

AWESOME NEWS!!!

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

That is great news..was a good local pond back when and it needs to be put back into a "fishing" pond.
Overgrowth gotta go!!!

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

DPW was using a backhoe and digging up the weeds/reeds or whatever they are along the banks yesterday. Hopefully its a start to keeping it clear.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

DPW has done an amazing job so far with removing all this plant life. Hoping there is more work to be done in terms of adding fish or some kind of waterlife safe herbicide to the lake to combat this stuff long term.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

Be careful what you wish for, and I think that a "safe Herbicide" may be an oxymoron, at least from what I've seen over the years. Eco systems can be complex, and a band aid approach may be all you get for such a small body of water. Back in the 70's, I worked a few minutes away and would sometimes go at lunchtime for a few casts, usually during trout season. As I recall it's connected to the river and killies were in there. Keep in mind that when the weeds die, they will decay, and the herbicides don't always discriminate between the good and bad weeds even when you are told they do. I hope that you are right with your optimism because it was once pretty good years ago for the area.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

I spoke to the regional biologist about what they were and apparently they're those meadowland weeds. I forgot the exact name but it begins with a P. Also asked him about the possibility of the DPW stocking grass carp to control the hydrilla but apparently the carp wouldn't be good for the pond because they would only eat the plants and the algea blooms would be really bad. I think they're probably gonna use aquatic herbicides or something along those lines. What they really need to do is just rip all those weeds put by the roots or draw down the pond in the winter so it dies off naturally from the cold.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

After the fish kill those pipes that connected it to the hackensack river were closed off by the ground dirt or plants. At least on the side of the pond where the H mart is. After fishing it again for a year I haven't seen any river fish like eels or white perch and even carp. So far the pond seems to be only filled with stocked trout in the spring, bass and catfish and sunnies. We used to catch crazy stuff in there back in the day. Used to be big pet kois were dumped in there.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

The lake was disconnected from the river a long time ago. People called me crazy when i said the lake was basically a tidal lake lol. It rose a little and dropped a little with the tides. It had blue claw crabs in it and whatever else lived in the river. Was great fishing.

The DPW hasn't done any more to the lake since i last updated. Still plenty of large area's of those reeds or whatever the hell they're called. Woulda been pretty cool if they lowered that lake.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

Are grass carp what are in the hackensack river? Those carp never caused an issue with algae blooming more.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

No, as to the carp in the river. The grass carp are supposed to be sterile so that they can't reproduce, but it's not 100% and they will eat anything green as the food source dwindles. I've seen them eat grass clippings off the surface of a pond, grass from the banks, debris that falls from trees into a lake in the Spring. They don't distinguish between oxygen producing weeds, indigenous and other types. I saw a 100 acre lake go from a great bass fishery to one I don't fish any more in 15 years, in fact my avatar is from there with a 5lb. SM. With no cover for the fry and with the influx of cormorants, it's not surprising the lake has really gone down hill.



Some grass carp pictures, 1st May 2014 on a Rapala: 2nd late Dec. 2015; 3rd in the Spring of 2011, these are the only ones that I have pics of. Besides catching them on different lures they were accidently snagged either early or late in the season.



Attachment 163085

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Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

Stopped by the lake again this weekend and made a couple of casts, no bites but I walked around and enjoyed the nice weather, it seems that the little ferry DPW just left all the ripped reeds in the water after they removed them in some spots, and there's some tire marks from the backhoe or other equipment they used along the walking trail with some dirt holes. DPW needs to come back and clean up their mess haha. Also bunch of green algae where the grass used to be next to the dock, besides that the lake looks good, water is nice and clear and I saw some sunnies near the dock.

Hopefully it's a good season! Can't wait for opening day of trout!

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

There was lots of debris floating when they were doing the work. The geese and ducks were having a field day with it. The algae around the dock is just downright ridiculous.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

Living right up the road from the lake this season is the most i've seen people fishing it in a very long time. Some of the reeds or whatever they are are starting to grow back in areas that im guessing weren't dug deep enough for removal. It's also the earliest i've seen this much floating algae forming too.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

Drove by the pond this weekend and walked around, wasn't able to fish but it looks great! All 4 fountains running and open water clear of algae and weeds, there's a sign on the dock that says "pesticide treated water" by black lagoon pond management. Water clarity has been redcued a bit but that usually happpens during weed treatments. So happy though the pond is back to normal. :)

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

Thats great to hear. Haven't walked around the park this season. But those reeds or whatever they are along the shore are starting to grow back quickly. You can see all the new off shoots and groupings popping out of the water.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

Has anyone gone fishing lately? What's the fishing been like since the algae treatment?

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

I've went there recently and it was recently treated again with flumigard by a company called Black Lagoon Pond Management, if you ever take a walk around the lake there will be a sign posted on the far shallow side near the baseball diamonds, it was posted on 6/20/23

The fishing has definitely been tougher since the pond was treated, I typically don't like weed treatments but I feel like it was something that needed to be done for this lake. Also there's been about 4 to 3 cormorants still there lately and they're going to town on catfish, the state needs to get rid of them since they're constantly scaring/spooking the fish near you. I have one that follows me around the lake and it's annoying I wish I could hunt them or something! NJ really needs to control the cormorant problem because they're destroying local ponds/lakes like Indian Lake in Large Numbers.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

While driving past the lake a week or so ago, saw a kid raising his arms with a massive large mouth bass on the pathway.

Going to email the town soon and ask if they are going to be draining down the lake this winter to combat the reeds again. They are filling in the shoreline again very quickly.

Re: Indian Lake Little Ferry Report 5/19/19
 

DPW went to town again this fall clearing all the weeds and growth along the shoreline. They did a phenomenal job as the growth was getting bad in some spots causing rats to be scurrying around the walkway when doing walks. Hoping they redo the dock soon as it's getting rickity.