The peak growth of sand grass is in summer when sunlight penetration is at its greatest. Sandgrass is unique in that it grows in deeper water more than any other aquatic plant and often is the only deep-water cover available in lakes. Many lakes with sand grass rear healthy populations of smallmouths, and fish in these waters quickly adapt with the available habitat for spawning, feeding and homing. It drives the ecosystem and provides food and cover for macroinvertibrates, forage species and predators, produces rich oxygen content for the entire biomass and is the epicenter of an entire lake’s food web. Chara and nitella is a promoter of water clarity and bottom stabilization, prevents sediment buildup and slows the aging process of lakes. In all lakes where it’s established, sandgrass is an integral component to the habitat and health of fisheries. Sandgrass is light green and yellow in color with stems and branches that are hollow with rough ends. Sand grass may grow upward into the water column, providing an even greater attraction and appeal for fish. These commonly blanket a lake’s basin in depths of 15 to 25 feet and are branched with no root system. Often mistaken for a plant, it’s a complex organism that continually photosynthesizes to the sun and grows into short thick mats year ‘round. Sandgrass, commonly referred to as “chara” or “nitella,” is the most advanced form of algae. On the bottom of lakes there is a complex organism serving as the lake’s cradle of life and provider of health and the fisheries’ well-being: sand grass. The fishery might be somewhat infertile, but the smallmouths could care less as they’ve adapted to look beyond the obvious for their living quarters. Rock habitat may be sparse, sand bottom can abound, and some artificial habitats such as fish cribs and laydowns may have been dropped because that lake might not feature much of anything else. The terrain of these lakes is mostly open-water basins of moderate depth with high consistency, little distinguishable underwater structure and poor contour. While every lake is comprised of unique characteristics, there are many waters dull in topography that lack ideal features. But in midsummer and fall it could be the exact opposite. The more topography and better habitat there is, the better the smallmouth fishing. Their attractiveness on maps and physical features aesthetically appeal to smallmouth fishermen, compelling anglers to fish them prominently. These waters are rich and plentiful with rock habitat and hard bottoms with fluctuating depths and deep underwater structure and are dominated by a biomass of crayfish forage and pelagic baitfish. Oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes are common in Wisconsin, and these have distinctive underwater terrain, topography and a food chain of forage suitable to smallmouths. Complex factors such as soil, topography, bottom composition and fertility all combine together to help determine the physical and chemical characteristics, which sets up a bass fishery. The diversity of lakes is so huge in terms of size, configuration, water chemistry and biota. From infertile, rocky, oligotrophic coldwater lakes to fertile habitat mesotrophic lakes to heavily vegetated, nutrient-rich eutrophic waters, the Northwoods has types for all bass fishermen and their preferred styles of angling. Clustered throughout northern Wisconsin’s wilderness landscape is a collection of inland freshwater lakes.