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Highlands Today

Largemouth Bass Spawn Starts Early

ISTOKPOGA ANGLERS SHOULD BE AWARE

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By DAVE DOUGLASS

Highlands Today

Published: December 7, 2008

Because of the first-quarter moon phase, the early-morning bite is "on."

However, the winds will be changing daily, making the work of establishing a reliable fishing pattern more challenging. The good news is that the weather prediction for the next three days is moderate wind speeds, so the daily change in direction should not have too great of impact on anglers.

The early-morning bite session starts at safe-light and ends at 10:30 a.m. The intensity and duration will increase daily as water temperatures climb from the low 50s to the upper fifties throughout this week — hopefully.

The late-evening bite should be as good as the morning bite, but only because of the warmest water temperatures of the day causing fish to feed more aggressively. However, it happens to also be the high-wind part of the day at the same time.

The full moon will arrive this Friday at 4:37 p.m. along with the perigee of the moon (closest part of the moon's 28-day cycle to the earth), which makes this week the best week of the month to plan a fishing trip.

Fishing Facts

Because of a very abnormally cold November, the Florida largemouth bass spawn season has started early. Combine this fact with the normal lunar full-moon events and you should be able to locate and boat some of the largest "spawners" in the lake.

Remember to use great care when catching a spawning bass — please don't kill her — bring a camera instead to preserve the event. Release her carefully back where you caught her as soon as possible. Your responsible action on behalf of your favorite prize fish will enable many more moments of similar experience, for all lake users throughout the years.

Fishing Flash

Anglers planning to spend time and money using Lake Istokpoga this month should be aware of the numerous aquatic plant treated areas. All hydrilla north of Big Island and Bumblebee Island was recently treated and is currently in a state of plant decay which causes high turbidity and lower oxygen levels resulting in fish moving up wind out of those areas in search of cleaner water and healthy vegetative cover.

Torpedo grass was the targeted plant type last week and will be this week as well. Traveling clock-wise around the lake starting at about the middle of the West Wall area and continuing all the way to Istokpoga Canal area, the thicker torpedo grass areas will be treated.

The FWC nor Highlands County weed managers did not provide exact daily location information, nor did they mark-out the treated areas, nor did they provide treatment location maps in the boat-ramp kiosks — small realtor-type kiosks within a few feet of the ramp are sitting there empty.

SOS Florida Lakes, a Florida non-profit organization of which I am president, for the last two years did provide enhanced mapping information, aquatic plant treatment information maps, and treatment scheduling information, and up-dated lake contour maps. However, due to lack of financial support, combined with a heavy decline in new and renewed memberships, the organization could no longer fund the provision of such important lake-user information.

Lake Istokpoga currently has a dozen large areas (which happen to all be very popular fishing holes for all anglers) which area all experiencing aquatic plant decomposition and in high winds cause very turbid waters. As I traveled around the lake this past week I stopped to inform many anglers that they were sitting in a recently treated area.

The answer from all anglers was the same, "No wonder I wasn't getting any bites, I thought something drastic happened, but I just figured it was the cold weather or something." I assured them it wasn't the "cold weather or something" but was in fact weed-management agency "lake-enhancement affect" — a necessary temporal affect which ultimately provides a positive, long-lasting, aquatic plant and wildlife habitat."

But the bottom line on this is that lake users of all types have no idea that aquatic plant treatments did happen recently, and will happen today or sometime within the next week or two. Weed management agencies do very good work, however they noticeably fail when they do not inform the people they work for concerning the good work they do.

Lake users have a right to know the current state and the scheduled future state of the lakes in general and more specifically, areas within their favorite lakes, which have been treated or scheduled to be within the next days and weeks.

All lake users fund lake management agencies, and they fund local businesses, and thirdly invest in their families by using lakes in Highlands County. They have paid-in-full their lake management bill, and should get in return the highest level of lake management product, which starts with accurate, current, information at the boat ramps where they can easily access it when they back their boat into the lake.

Nothing I hate to see more than lake users unknowingly using a recently chemical treated area to spend their hard-earned money, when if they had only been informed, would have made the necessary adjustments and enjoyed the most for their buck.

If lake management agency employees want the praise they deserve, they should readjust their priorities by providing the public--before they act on their behalf regarding lake management work—with detailed maps and information not just the day or day after the scheduled treatment event, but throughout the entire treatment-event affect, which lasts for weeks if not a month.

Your Lake Manager's Contact Information:
Clell Ford - Lakes Management Specialist - Highlands County, 4434 George Blvd, Sebring, Florida 33875. Phone: 863-402 6545, E-mail: Cford@hcbcc.org
Vicki Pontius Parks and Recreation Director - Highlands County, 4344 George Blvd. Sebring, Florida 33875. Phone: 863-402-6812, E-mail: VPONTIUS@hcbcc.org
Steven Gornak, Biological Scientist IV, Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Sub-Section, Division of Habitat and Species Conservation, 3991 SE 27th Court, Okeechobee, FL 34974. Phone: 863-462-5190 (SunCom 761-5190), Fax: 863-462-5194 (SunCom 761-5194), Mobile: 863-697-6256, E-mail: steven.gornak@myfwc.com

Fishing Tournaments

The Wednesday Morning Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public. Next event is Dec. 3 on Crooked Lake. Time: 7:30 a.m. to noon. Pay at ramp — entry fee $30.00 per boat. One person may fish alone if you do not have a partner. For information, contact Paul Tardiff at 863-385-8007 (home) or 863-446-1310 (cell), email bassbutchie60@aol.com or call Dwight Ameling at 863-471-3305.

Dave Douglass is a bass-fishing guide and bass tournament angler and CEO of S.O.S.-Florida Lakes, Inc. He can be reached at 863-381-8474, or e-mail him at davedouglass@sos-floridalakes.org.

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