ORANGE LAKE Caught 2 diseased looking fish on fri. sores looked like chicken pox

[Manatee Mauler]

Caught one 3 pnd fish and a dink while practicing for a tx on Friday. I only post this to say both fish looked like they had spots all up and down them. The spots looked like if you took a cigarette and intentionally tried to burn a spot. The larger fish was covered with them and the dink had 4 or 5 raw looking spots. They spray Orange religiously, especially around the hard edges and Islands. I have seen this before on fish and it was always AFTER they sprayed. I've been fishing tx's on Orange (really all around the state) since I was 14 or 15. I'm Now 50 so you can see there is a little bit of history to draw from. The FWC cant say the spots are do to water temps either as it has been cool dating back to the last week of Sept. I do not have any doubts that the chemicals used to kill the vegetation have caused these these "lesions". Sores were (approx.) the size of the eraser on a #2 pencil. Only two I caught by the way on Fri.

[DAC244]

If I had to guess I would say some type of chemical burn.

[Firebone]

Dang Matt that's bad. I wonder what they are using. As far as i Know most floating weeds get hit with Rodeo, an aquatic version of Roundup. Some others such as salvinia require Diquat which is pretty nasty stuff. For submerged weeds i am not sure what flavor of herbicide they are using.

On another note, Ill have to admit my trips on Orange Lake were tough days.

[B-47]

I have caught multiple bass in Toho, East Lake Toho, Butler Chain and Lake Conway with ulcerated spots all over the body of the bass. I took pictures and had a marine biologist look at the pictures. He described the condition as Red Sore or LMBV disease. He said it was common in Florida lakes for panfish and bass to get the disease.

[1781ccT]

I’ve caught fish in Virginia and Tennessee that have had similar ulcerated spots on them. They don’t spray in those lakes