I’ll not be doing any fishing this week at my favorite lake near Frostproof, Florida.  The state Division of Natural Resources is applying penoxsulam, a herbicide, to treat hydrilla–a verpy problematic  invasive aquatic weed that grows in most Florida lakes.  
                                                           
It can cause flooding, hamper boating and fishing and completely choke out native aquatic life.   It makes trolling for bass and drifting for speckled perch impossible.

There are literally dozens of exotic water plants now growing in Florida waters–exotic meaning they came from somewhere else–not native.  Those most troublesome where I like to wet a line besides hydrilla are cattails,
 American lotus and  a species of water lily.
                                                       
There are four basic groups of aquatic plants.   Algae, Floating, Submerged and Emergent.   The least is algae, some so small it can’t be seen, some resemble hair and some like little weeds with no roots. 

The floating variety are not attached to the lake bottom such as the small duckweed and the larger water hyacinth.  Their roots simply dangle in the water.  Some homeowners like to take hyacinth to their backyard goldfish ponds but beware, it spreads rapidly and will quickly overwhelm any size pond.

The submerged plants such as the numberous varieties of water lilies are firmly rooted to the lake bottom but have flaccid stems so that the leaves float just beneath the surface of the water.

Emergent plants are also firmly rooted such as the more familiar cattail.  You may be interested to learn that every part of the cattail except the leaf is edible.

The plants  spread so rapidly and have the potential to cause so much damage that it is illegal to transport them in this state.  A fisherman who accidentally transfers an exotic weed from one lake to another by not detaching it from his boat before launching is liable for a heavy fine.

Spraying of herbicides, however, is done judiciously because some of the plants mentioned are beneficial to both native and migratory wildlife, birds in particular, and should not be totally eradicated.