PENHOOK — Don Pollock faces an invasion.

A fast-growing aquatic weed is choking the life out of his quiet cove and quickly making the waters around his home at Smith Mountain Lake unnavigable by boat.

“This has grown probably two feet in the last few weeks,” Pollock said of a patch of hydrilla surrounding the dock at his lakefront home.

Pollock and many other residents have noticed the invader’s return this year after it virtually disappeared from Smith Mountain Lake in 2013 following the introduction of sterile grass carp.

But as the carp reach the end of their lifespan with no ability to reproduce, fewer fish to feed on hydrilla means the pesky plant is surging once again.

Kristina Sage, executive director of TLAC, the Tri-County Lakes Administrative Commission — which oversees Smit

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