Afishionado Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 Hey guys, first post here.. I am a salty dog at heart and fish in the Space Coast region of Florida by kayak. This area includes the Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River Lagoon known for it's monster redfiish in just a couple feet of water.. Recently our lagoons have been hit hard by a brown tide outbreak.. At the end of last week, we went through a massive fish kill that is still going on.. Needless to say, the fishing is suffering on the saltwater side, so I figured going low sodium was a natural choice.. I can count on one hand the number of times I have been freshwater fishing in my adult life, but I am determined to learn how to bass fish which is why I joined this forum to learn a thing or two from yall! I have been on 4 trips total since I decided to go freshwater two weeks ago.. the first few trips yielded plenty of numbers but left a lot to be desired in the size department.. A couple days ago I decided to go out to the Stick Marsh impoundment here in Fellsmere.. Finally was able to put some better fish on deck.. No mega monsters but it was a great learning experience.. Not sure how big they are, the biggest one (first picture) maybe went 5lbs? Not too sure... But it was a blast catching them off the top.. Found some nice big eelgrass beds and buzzed ZOOM speed worms and 8" MrWiffelure Plubber worms over the topped out eelgrass.. I am still trying to feel out that hookset.. They must short strike it a lot because I probably missed about 15 fish.. I have been having a ton of fun with it and every trip out is a great learning experience.. Just gonna keep putting my time in and hopefully one day put that big ol 10lber on deck! Look forward to learning from yall! Marc 2 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted March 23, 2016 Global Moderator Posted March 23, 2016 Very nice looking fish and welcome to the forum! 1 Quote
Super User Bankbeater Posted March 23, 2016 Super User Posted March 23, 2016 Nice bass! Welcome aboard! 1 Quote
Afishionado Posted March 23, 2016 Author Posted March 23, 2016 Thanks yall! Much appreciated.. I wish I could say I got into bass fishing under better circumstances, but unfortunately this is what led to my interest in freshwater.. watching a river die that I have fished since I could hold a rod and reel.... So safe to say I will be chasing those green things for a while haha Quote
Super User buzzed bait Posted March 23, 2016 Super User Posted March 23, 2016 that's crazy all those dead fish! welcome aboard though, plenty of us out there in a kayak chasing the mean greens! 1 Quote
Hurricane Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 Everything you need to learn, you will find here... Learn something new everyday... 1 Quote
Jtrout Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 Congrats on catching some bass! Those pics of all them dead fish is horrible! Do they know what killed them all 1 Quote
FloridaBasser1 Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 Nice, jigs and frogs should do good around the eelgrass! 1 Quote
Afishionado Posted March 23, 2016 Author Posted March 23, 2016 3 hours ago, Jtrout said: Congrats on catching some bass! Those pics of all them dead fish is horrible! Do they know what killed them all The lagoons are currently fouled with a huge brown tide outbreak which is a form of algae that turns the water a sewage brown color.. It is brought on by huge nutrient loads entering the lagoon from stormwater runoff, fertilizer, leaky septic and sewer, ect.. The last time we had this bloom when it cleared up, we lost 43,000 square acres of vital seagrass habitat.. So far this one has came on much earlier and much stronger (it is more common in the dead of summer which scares me because our water is not even hot yet).. When the algae reaches a high enough concentration it begins to deplete the water of dissolved oxygen, and the fish slowly suffocate.. This is by far the worst fish kill I have ever seen here hands down.. And now the problem becomes we have close to a million fish bodies now decomposing in the lagoon.. This will cause a huge spike in nitrogen which will fuel the algae and start the cycle all over again.. bad bad news.. gonna be low sodium for this guy for quite a while by the looks of it! Quote
Ski Posted March 25, 2016 Posted March 25, 2016 Believe I saw you and a couple other yaks on the S. West corner of FP-13 last week. That is a long paddle !!!! from the ramp. Is that where you launched?? 1 Quote
Afishionado Posted March 29, 2016 Author Posted March 29, 2016 On 3/25/2016 at 3:05 PM, Ski said: Believe I saw you and a couple other yaks on the S. West corner of FP-13 last week. That is a long paddle !!!! from the ramp. Is that where you launched?? Definitely not me thats one hell of a haul haha! I fish solo usually out of a lime camo old town predator .. To be honest I have been there twice and have only fished that canal on the north end.. also spent some time in that NW stump field with no results whatsoever.. pretty much stuck in the north canal and will never see farm 13 unless I feel like putting in about 16 miles paddling in a day ... I don't got that in me unless money is on the line haha Quote
Turkey sandwich Posted March 29, 2016 Posted March 29, 2016 That fish kill looks horrible. We've had issues with power plant runoff spiking temperature and problems with nutrients up north for some time. They can be devestating. I've heard some crazy stories recently about Okachobee and it's drainage having a lot of nutrient problems also. Is this what you're running into? 1 Quote
Afishionado Posted March 29, 2016 Author Posted March 29, 2016 39 minutes ago, Turkey sandwich said: That fish kill looks horrible. We've had issues with power plant runoff spiking temperature and problems with nutrients up north for some time. They can be devestating. I've heard some crazy stories recently about Okachobee and it's drainage having a lot of nutrient problems also. Is this what you're running into? The okeechobee situation is terrible and is really hammering both coasts down south.. I am in brevard on the space coast well out of range of okechobee contaminants.. our problem is nonpoint source pollution.. stormater runoff, fertilizer/septic leach, ect.. nonpoint pollution that comes in from a multitude of areas is substantially harder to pinpoint and control than point source which would be for example a big industry polluter... scary part is our water is not even hot yet.. come july and august its gonna be downright ugly over here when water temps skyrocket and create an even more viable environment for the algae to thrive in.. when it finally does clear up there won't be a stitch of grass left which will have a ripple effect that will be felt decades down the road.. the banana river is dead.. they just don't know it yet.. which is sad because I have been pulling trophy fish from those waters for 20 of my 30 years.. Quote
Turkey sandwich Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 That's awful. Any ideas about recovery? EPA/DNR doing anything? Quote
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