Well, they have Nuked another one. This time, Stick Marsh

[Chopper]

My son and I took a trip down to Stick Marsh this week only to find that our "wonderful" FWC has nuked the place. Not a blade of grass to be found. They have turned what once was one of the best fishery's in the state, (country?) into a barren wasteland. We caught two bass flipping the edge, and that was it. Nothing out in the lake though except for scattered stumps. No grass = No fish!

We spent most of the week at Headwaters Lake where they haven't nuked yet and caught around 75 to 100 fish in the 5 days we were there. Here's the bad news though....we saw one of the spray boats at the motel we were staying at so Headwaters may be the next place they will ruin. I sure hope not!

I wish we could get those people (hard headed idiots) to understand what they are doing to the fishing in Florida. They are well on their way to destroying the multi million dollar fishing industry in the state.

Who wants to travel to Florida and not catch any fish? At this point, its not worth the trip. Save your money and go to Texas or somewhere that they don't have a FWC like we are stuck with!!

[John_6788]

Im real worried about them killing Headewaters too... I live within 30 minutes of the lake and fish it at least weekly. Its filled with hydrilla and saw grass, pads and penny wart to name a few.... I cant imagine what it wold be like without any vegetation...

[Arethaz]

They have been spraying headwaters since before it opened unfortunately.
When the lake opened there was an entire section that they had nuked right before opening.
This spring one of the best areas of the lake that I had found was in great shape and a week later was devastated and dead.
This summer there was a video of a mile+ of hyacinth that had been sprayed along the west wall.
The entire north lake was clear and beautiful until some time around early last winter. They must have nuked the hydrilla because the way it died and the way the water color turned and still is only happens when they heavily kill hydrilla. This happened in another nearby lake which took 4-5 years for the area sprayed to get clean again.
At the moment the lake is still healthy but I do not think it will be for long.
Between the immense pressure and their "strategic" spraying and the guides that regularly guide on the lake advocating and making excuses for the spraying it will not be a mecca for long unfortunately.
Oh and the other interesting thing about the spraying on headwaters is that last year, when the main canal kept getting clogged they had a mechanical harvester on the lake that as I recall was purchased for the lake. I haven't seen it since they posted it all over Facebook.

[John_6788]

They have been spraying headwaters since before it opened unfortunately.
When the lake opened there was an entire section that they had nuked right before opening.
This spring one of the best areas of the lake that I had found was in great shape and a week later was devastated and dead.
This summer there was a video of a mile+ of hyacinth that had been sprayed along the west wall.
The entire north lake was clear and beautiful until some time around early last winter. They must have nuked the hydrilla because the way it died and the way the water color turned and still is only happens when they heavily kill hydrilla. This happened in another nearby lake which took 4-5 years for the area sprayed to get clean again.
At the moment the lake is still healthy but I do not think it will be for long.
Between the immense pressure and their "strategic" spraying and the guides that regularly guide on the lake advocating and making excuses for the spraying it will not be a mecca for long unfortunately.
Oh and the other interesting thing about the spraying on headwaters is that last year, when the main canal kept getting clogged they had a mechanical harvester on the lake that as I recall was purchased for the lake. I haven't seen it since they posted it all over Facebook.

I fished it this whole summer. The north end had tons and tons of hydrilla. The water was very clear... much of the north end is still clear. I see less hydrilla but I think thats the cold water/air temperatures. I saw the harvester machine in April last... but not since. Im thinking they must move that around from lake to lake. Ive seen allot of helicopter activity, but I havent seen any spray boats. Im there minimum 2-3 times per week. Ill be there a ton through December since Im off work this month.

[LuistLTZ]

It's disgusting to watch how they kill the fishing in this once amazing state! They did it to my home lake of Istokpoga not long ago! A 30lb + bag was not hard to come by there back in the day. Now I'm lucky to catch a few peanuts there if any at all!

[cg2fish]

I was talking to a game warden the other day and asked him about the spraying and how the fishing as diminished. He told me that the state as a whole has not lost any revenue from fishing organizations having bass tournaments or tourist coming here to fish so FWC feels they are doing the right thing. Also he said the boats on the lakes checking fish catches are not reporting anything out of the normal. Some people catch them and others do not.

[Manatee Mauler]

Ask the fwc guy to talk with tx anglers who dont use live bait. I went back to Sampson this past Sunday thinking i might be able to use three graphs on the boat to find some grass they missed spraying. Nope not a blade offshore. They say they dont spray native grasses. Then why was all the pepper grass gone too? Didn't catch a fish in there and only caught 2 a few weeks ago. Something has to be done. I wish i was on the lake when they were spraying. I mean how do u manage to kill every blade of grass? I mean there was hydrlla in 8 ft...gone.

[rocknemo]

They have been nuking the Stick Marsh for decades, it was originally created to be a filter system for the water coming from all the agricultural canals before it entered into the headwaters of the st Johns, worked great for that and for the best bass fishing on the planet, then the all-out assault on vegetation started. When people noticed the fishing started declining and started complaining the FWC blamed it all on the hurricanes, well the googans believed that lame excuse and still parrot that same stupid reason today, even though lakes 1/2 mile away on both sides went thru the same hurricanes and have always had lots of grass. Fellsmere was the same, was fishing that place years before they opened it, then they started nuking huge areas, where water was like gin clear was now YooHoo, was on the Fellsmere facebook forum telling everyone about it and the idiots running the page kept saying that it wasnt true, then I posted up these photo's of the aerial assault down in the lake Egon area, guess what, they booted me of the page. I guess they couldn't handle truth.

[2dwoods]

I grew up in Titusville so back in 60s and 70s dad took me bass fishing every chance he could and even then they nuked lakes and pissed dad off.

[Deadeye1]

I had the chance to read over the newly posted Harris and Kissimmee Plan(s) Hope you guys do as well.

They are asking for input.

It does look to me like some of the Angler Complaints just MIGHT be starting to get through to those that need to hear it. Their Plan for Kissimmee was to start to allow certain areas to grow back. Look it up for yourself.

I hope it does happen.

[Arethaz]

They have been nuking the Stick Marsh for decades, it was originally created to be a filter system for the water coming from all the agricultural canals before it entered into the headwaters of the st Johns, worked great for that and for the best bass fishing on the planet, then the all-out assault on vegetation started. When people noticed the fishing started declining and started complaining the FWC blamed it all on the hurricanes, well the googans believed that lame excuse and still parrot that same stupid reason today, even though lakes 1/2 mile away on both sides went thru the same hurricanes and have always had lots of grass. Fellsmere was the same, was fishing that place years before they opened it, then they started nuking huge areas, where water was like gin clear was now YooHoo, was on the Fellsmere facebook forum telling everyone about it and the idiots running the page kept saying that it wasnt true, then I posted up these photo's of the aerial assault down in the lake Egon area, guess what, they booted me of the page. I guess they couldn't handle truth.

The guy running that Facebook page is an absolute tool and I have reason to believe that someone from the state or spraying companies is in his pocket.

[MARK R]

The state spent Millions and Millions building those lakes. You think they are not going to continue milking that cash cow then you're nuts. If those lakes don't completely piss you off , you're not looking at the big picture. FWC is straight up giving us the carrot and stick treatment. 100s of million dollars could have been saved by simply not ruining other lake ( O, Istapoga, St Johns, etc. ) .

[Deadeye1]

They have been nuking the Stick Marsh for decades, it was originally created to be a filter system for the water coming from all the agricultural canals before it entered into the headwaters of the st Johns, worked great for that and for the best bass fishing on the planet, then the all-out assault on vegetation started. When people noticed the fishing started declining and started complaining the FWC blamed it all on the hurricanes, well the googans believed that lame excuse and still parrot that same stupid reason today, even though lakes 1/2 mile away on both sides went thru the same hurricanes and have always had lots of grass. Fellsmere was the same, was fishing that place years before they opened it, then they started nuking huge areas, where water was like gin clear was now YooHoo, was on the Fellsmere facebook forum telling everyone about it and the idiots running the page kept saying that it wasnt true, then I posted up these photo's of the aerial assault down in the lake Egon area, guess what, they booted me of the page. I guess they couldn't handle truth.

What Fellsmere FB Group are you referring to, since there are several of them.