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Highlands Today

Progressing early bite looks fine by the weekend

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By DAVE DOUGLASS

Highlands Today

Published: May 13, 2009

Updated: 05/13/2009 10:36 am

There is really only one major feeding migration during the daylight hours for the rest of this week, and it occurs from 4-8 p.m. and works well with aquatic plant oxygen production and wind-produced oxygenation of surface water.

So find lake areas that have a little of each plus a short route to deeper water and you should do well.

There is a progressing early-morning bite that will be very good by the weekend. Right now both bite periods rate a 6 on the 1-10 Scale and both will slowly climb over the next five days.

Fishing Flash

Lake Istokpoga's level is 37.70 feet above sea level (ASL) which is just three inches above the low-level minimum and six below the high-level maximum for the hurricane/rainy season, as long as Lake Okeechobee's water level is above 10 feet.

If the big lake drops below 10.2 feet, the two pumping stations - which supply the farmers between Istokpoga and Okeechobee with water - stop operating, which means Istokpoga is the only source of water left and therefore becomes the main agricultural water supply until Okeechobee's level rises above 10.2 feet.

As of today, Okeechobee is at 10.7 feet and factoring the current monthly rate of the lake-level-drop of six inches per month, and a mid-June start or later of the rainy season, or a below-normal June rainy season, means the pumps for the second time in many years will be shut down sometime around the second week of June.

This presents a very complicated problem for South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) in supplying water permit holders with the reduced allotment of water they have already been forced to operate under for the past few years due to the on-going drought.

Once Istokpoga arrives at the 37.50 feet ASL, low-pool minimum of the current lake level management schedule - Zone C Regulation, Okeechobee Pumps Operational - there can be no more water releases until SFWMD applies and receives a Lake Istokpoga Basin Water Control Temporary Planned Deviation from the Jacksonville district headquarters of the Army Corp of Engineers.

This process has happened twice due to the current drought, once in 2007 and in 2008 and does not happen overnight and usually takes two to three months for all the studies by the various lake management agencies - county, state, and federal - to submit their reports and opinions.

These findings are based on how low the lake will go naturally over the next three to six months "if" the projected weather forecast of the National Weather Service is anywhere near accurate, and how much lower it would drop "if" water-permit users were allowed their water allotments regulated by a increased-graduated cut-back water-release-schedule percentage that is based on several indicators that establish "total availability of water."

If this sounds complicated, that's because it is.

To accurately determine a combination of known variables like how much water is needed and used, the current status of an upper and lower aquifer, the rate of natural water evaporation in the lakes - plus the unknown variable, the ever-infamous, weather-forecast-probability factor (which is really the largest determining factor of them all) - is a responsibility not too many people want.

Now throw into the mix a State of Florida/Sovereign Seminole Nation treaty that provides the Brighton Indian Reservation with 10 percent of "available water" first - both Istokpoga and Okeechobee are the combined freshwater-body source of the "available water."

As you can see, we as water-users and lake-users have plenty to consider when attempting to understand how and why our lakes are managed the way they are. From what I have seen in the past five years, SFWMD has done a fine job of balancing all things essential to provide the people with lakes to use and water to drink during a 1-in-100-year drought that still won't go away.

Here it is, May of 2009, and it seems that SFWMD is on top of the situation and rolling the dice on whether or not the rainy season will start on time - June 1 at 1 a.m.

Let's all hope they are that lucky, since we all need them to win this game.

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

Tournament News

The Monday Morning Lake Josephine Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public and launches every Monday morning at 8 a.m. with weigh-in at 1 p.m. Entry fee is $10 per boat with a "winner-take-all" payout. One person or two per boat, three legal (more than 14 inches) bass per boat, and one bass over 22 inches per angler. For information, call Paul Tardiff at 863-385-8007 (home) or 863-273-4062 (cell).

The Wednesday Morning Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public. Next event is today at Lake Anthorpe from 7:30 a.m. to noon. Pay at ramp - entry fee is $30 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 863-273-4062 (cell), e-mail bassbutchie60@aol.com or call Dwight Ameling at 863-471-3305.

Dave Douglass is a bass-fishing guide and Secretary of the Florida Freshwater Fishing Coalition (FLFFC.org). He can be reached at 863-381-8474, HighlandsBassAngler.com, or e-mail him at davidpdouglass@hotmail.com

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