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Florida's Ecological Disaster


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I fished the 10,000 Islands out of Chokoloskee on Saturday and I know at least a dozen people who also did. One group of 6 or 8 guys camped down near Turkey Key. They are all experienced fishermen. The caught one Red between them. I did not catch a Red nor a Snook. Another friend had no Reds or Snook. Even worse, the guys who were camping Friday through today saw many dead fish and other wildlife, especially up into the Lostman's River (pelicans, turtles, numerous fish--even catfish that are normally very tolerant of dirty water). I am quite concerned about the affects of the Lake Okeechobee runoff. The conditions near Stuart on the St. Lucie and on the west coast at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River and to the South are terrible--huge losses of gr*** flats. The St. Lucie River Estuary and the Indian River Lagoon are in critical condition due to large discharges of polluted freshwater from Lake Okeechobee and the agricultural canals. These estuaries and coastal ecosystems are habitat for over 4,300 species of plants and animals, including 33 endangered and threatened species, the most bio-diverse ecosystem in North America.

Now I am growing more concerned about the impact to the waters of the Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. Have others seen the changes? Please make sure you are active in organizations like the Coastal Conservation ***ociation and call and write your legislators. Let them know of your concerns and tell them this is not just a "fishing issue" or a "tourism related issue", but a serious health hazard that deserves the utmost urgency.

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I have not seen the effects down in the park **yet** but usually fish a touch North of you. My fishing buddy was out today in the area and crushed the Reds.

I would think that the run-off to the South is far less insulting than that crap flowing wide open out of the Caloosahatchee to the North since it is coming via a more natural alluvial plume. Fingers crossed.

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DonH and I fished the same areas as Big Dave...saw him at the docks as well....

We CRUSHED the REDS, SNOOK, and TROUT....15 Reds, 10 Snook, and Limit on Trout.......Oh, that was 5 years ago with Capt DonH and myself :(

We too have begun to see the effects of "something"....

Either we totally $ucK as fisherman, or something is different.....we've been a rusty hook for the past year in Chokoloskee....

We've been hitting the same "spots" we've fished back in 2009-2010 that always produced..but, something is different....can't say..

But, this weekend, not a RED was caught and only a few small snook in the back.....this was according to what "John" the ranger said....

The guides struck out on reds and the fly guys were skunked on poling and searching...spoke to 3-4 guys who fished the back and front.

Two weeks ago, they said it was devasting and this weekend, while we did not see any dead fish or wildlife...we did not catch the target species..

We loaded up on the trout out front and one nice black drum that made it home...but, reds were not part of the mix....

DC

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I'm certainly not arguing what you both say, but I personally polled a friend around all day last weekend and saw redfish on every bank we pushed. I also saw some of the biggest snook I have seen in years. None of them we saw were interested in anything, but I think one winked at me. Perhaps it is the area you are all fishing.

I have not spoke with Andy since he went yesterday, but I did see the pictures. Lots of Reds and some were really big.

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Spoke with Steve Huff and Glenn Populo yesterday and they have been having some very good results on snook, in the back and along the coast.Glenn is a live baiter and Steve Huff on fly. Everybody is slamming the trout. Steve reported that he pulled up on a bight which was loaded with red fish. Few days later they were gone.

Remains a mystery for us. Keep looking.

dh

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I camped over in CIP 2 weekends ago and fished 2 days and we caught a hand full of jacks, 2 ladyfish, 2 small trout and 1 small mac. The fishing was horrible and I didn't see anybody at the ramp with fish either. We fished down by Turkey the first day and up by Indian the second day. I have "spots" that seem to always produce something and even those spots were dead. Saw a hand full of dead catfish. From what I'm hearing its worse south than it is north. My friend went this past weekend and fished his usual spots up by Indian and caught some nice snook. 1 @ 37" and another in slot. caught and pompano and possibly a permit but I couldn't tell from the pic. Hopefully it will pick up. I have heard mixed reports. Everyone needs to do what they can to stop the madness before the ENP becomes no more and we all have to start b*** fishing. LOL.

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