I live on a private lake which is managed by my Home Owners Association. If you guys know anything about these HOA's is that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Since I've moved here (1 year ago) I was able to find out who sprays for the Hydrila and how to get them out here when it gets bad. I want to manage my lake with the help (funds) of my HOA but I don't know much about this. Has anyone ever managed a small body of water or do you know of any good books that will help me have a very health lake? Below is an aerial view of the lake (it's the one that zig zags and my house is where the yellow square is). On the bottom section you will see a marsh area which has recently been over grown with weeds. Thanks for the help.

I have been studying up on pond/lake management as well. The best sourcr of information that I have found was my state conservation dept. They had a whole section that I could download pertaining to different varieties of aquatic plantlife, how to get rid of nuisance plantlife, selective harvesting, and so on and so forth. Very informative. Below are some links are some articles I found helpful. I don't know where you are from or if it will make a difference when it comes to vertain tactics in these articles. It may not be a bad idea to check your state's conservation dept. website as well. Good Luck!

http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/applications/MDCLibrary/MDCLibrary2.aspx?NodeID=133

http://www.mdc.mo.gov/fish/improve.htm

Thank you so much. I was just reading through a few article and this is just what I'm looking for. I'm going to see if I can find something for Florida. Once again, thanks.

the state conservation department is a great suggestion...

another good source of information is any college that has naturalist/forestry/agricultural/land management type of cirriculum ( Southern Illinios University maybe?)...even if they do not know, a professor there will surely be able to lead in the right direction.

I find the state is usually the most "common sense" and implementational approach...some of the people involved in naturalism etc are way too green peacy for my liking. Anyway...I have called the Indiana DNR several times with questions and looking for Information and have found the people there very helpful and very informative. I had a question about the condition of Potato Creek once...A naturalist and a DNR officers met us there our next tournament and talked with us....took water smaples...took fish samples...they were out there all day...

it was a fantastic response...

I read about a mechanical method of controlling hydrilla in a small private lake recently that has promise. They used an air nozzle that was aimed at the botom to keep the water muddy for several weeks, shading out vegetation. Fish are not affected. You treat a small area at a time, keeping some weeds healthy while opening up fishing lanes.

Jim