Florida Freshwater Fish Camps...

[FloridaFishinFool]

I'd like to start a thread about all of Florida's old- and newer- fish camps.

My two sons and I are making it a point to explore Florida's old freshwater fish camps one by one before they are all gone or out of business. I want my boys to experience what the old Florida fish camps are like before they are gone.

So I hope that all of you here on BR will contribute to this thread and bring here a growing list of Florida's freshwater only fish camps that still exist so that maybe some of us here can use this thread to plan new fishing adventures. I'll add in some I am familiar with later on after this initial post.

 

 

 

***Added: I hope that other members will continue to grow this thread and list of fish camps. I've enjoyed my time here on this forum, and I met a lot new friends here who are now fishing buddies, but there comes a time when we have to move on and accept change whether I want to or not. Change has been imposed upon me and as such, this is so long... keep it alive and tight lines!

[0119]

What a great idea.  The last fish camp in my county faded away a decade ago to make room for Johnny Yankee's latest gated community.  I miss the ones of my youth and you are doing a great thing showing your kids a piece of our dying past.

[Scott F]

2 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

I'd like to start a thread about all of Florida's old- and newer- fish camps.

My two sons and I are making it a point to explore Florida's old freshwater fish camps one by one before they are all gone or out of business. I want my boys to experience what the old Florida fish camps are like before they are gone.

So I hope that all of you here on BR will contribute to this thread and bring here a growing list of Florida's freshwater only fish camps that still exist so that maybe some of us here can use this thread to plan new fishing adventures. I'll add in some I am familiar with later on after this initial post

Tell us what a Florida fish camp is about.

[0119]

A bunch of chaw spittin' crackers sittin' on milk crates laughing at fancy pants tourists in their fancy glittery boats that come to them willing to pay $5 a shiner. Pay another $5 ramp fee. Another $5 parking fee.  Then when they are asked "Where the fish been biting?" They answer....in the water

[FloridaFishinFool]

3 hours ago, Scott F said:

Tell us what a Florida fish camp is about.

Well that's a good question. To me there are two kinds of Florida fish camps I divide up as salt water and fresh water fish camps. And since I love to bass fish, I decided to focus mainly on just fresh water fish camps since they are now going by the wayside sort of like the buggy whip, but the salt water fish camps are doing very well indeed.

To describe an old style Florida fish camp I have go back in Florida history to the days of when access to this state was still dirt roads. People who moved in here were wise to homestead land along some of our great rivers and lakes. And this is how many of our old Florida fish camps got started.

Usually, they would be about the only access to a particular lake or  section of a river. This was in the days before our state government began building and developing public boat ramps all over the state.

But back in the late 1800's and early 1900's as more and more people from up north either visited this state on vacation or moved here, some would buy or homestead large tracts of land next to a large lake or a river and start up their own fish camp to take advantage of northern money and northern interest in Florida fishing. And in the early 1900's Florida bass fishing was big business and the heyday of great backwoods Florida fish camps out in the middle of no where Florida.

So as fish camps developed over time, they would usually have a fish lodge where the office was located and in there they would usually have a bait and tackle type of little store so customers could buy what they needed to fish with right there at the fish camp. Some would open up their own restaurant, some of which became famous over the years like in Jacksonville, Florida area Whitey's fish camp became known for its fried catfish, which back in the early to mid 1900's was all caught right there in the waters around Whitey's fish camp, but today that is no longer the case, but Whitey's still sells its famous fried catfish even if the catfish is now trucked in from who knows where.

Another part of old Florida fish camp life that developed with the fish camps was a marina where people could store their boats for a price. You could buy fuel, oil, and some could even service your boat and do repairs if necessary. And along with the growth of a marina at the fish camp came boat rentals for guests to rent and go fishing in. Some fish camps also offered guide services too and made extra money helping the unfamiliar northern guests catch some big bass.

And since a lot of these old fish camps were located in remote backwoods locations far away from main roads and cities and towns, the fish camps had to also develop some lodging for customers, and so began the days of Florida fish camp cabins! And now that RV's are the way to go, many old fish camps offer RV hookups and rentals. And, some fish camps developed their own campgrounds as well.

The backwoods old Florida freshwater fish camp lifestyle was very laid back and slow. You fish when you want to, enjoy the restaurant food, the peace and quiet of the woods and water scenery and the comradery of fellow fishermen telling stories and fishing advice around a fire in the lodge or a bon fire outside the lodge where the guests would gather around until one by one people would drift off to their cabin, tent, or RV.

For many decades this was how a lot of locals and northerners got onto the water to fish here in Florida. Fish camps were about the only places with real boat ramps, and all the supplies someone would need to go bass fishing.

Today growth and public boat ramps have caused many old Florida fish camps to go out of business. In some cases, the old guy who started it died off and his inheritors did not keep it alive like the old fish camp on Lake Delancy run by Karl. Once he died, his fish camp died with him.

There are not a lot of freshwater fish camps left in Florida these days, and some have changed with the times like Whitey's up in north Florida is now more restaurant and bar party place than it is a real fish camp any longer. But the atmosphere is still there. The past can still be felt there, but there is nothing quite like going to an old Florida freshwater fish camp and spend some time there taking it all in before it is gone.

My young sons are only 2 and 4, but they have already been to at least two old style Florida fish camps and we plan on visiting as many more as we can find and go back to some we have already been to.

This past weekend was spring break for college students. So anything along the beach here in Florida was a mad house with drunken college kids, so I wanted to take my boys to a more quiet place to do some fishing and this past weekend we rented a cabin at Highland Park fish camp just west of Deland. The Bassmaster elite series tournament was just north of us on the St. Johns River. Some of those pro bass fishermen venture as far South as Lake Dexter on the river for the tournament, but if you go a little bit further South on this same great river you run into Lake Woodruff and Lake Woodruff Nation Wilderness Park which is about as remote and backwoods Florida as you can get out there, and that is where Highland Park fish camp is located.

They have a lodge, a bait and tackle store, bass fishing pond, marina, boat storage, free hot coffee in the morning, campground, RV park, cabins, the works, except they do not have a restaurant, but all of the cabins and RV's have kitchens. My boys loved it out there! And we plan on going back soon.

http://www.hpfishcamp.com/

 

At Highland Park Fish Camp, Fishing Is A Tradition!

 Highland Park Fish Camp in Deland, Florida is proudly frozen in time – it’s the way “old Florida” used to be, before theme parks arrived on the landscape. In 2014, we are celebrating our 52^nd anniversary of the family owned fish camp, where the largemouth bass are biting year round. This rustic destination has updated conveniences over the years, but nature has been preserved. Highland Park Fish Camp is an authentic haven carved out of the wilderness and the perfect place for the fisherman, the family that loves camping and the nature lover.

 

  Highland Park Fish Camp is a 30 acre gem located on the Norris Dead River, a portion of the St. Johns River that is neatly situated on the boundaries of Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge, a 23,000 acre preserve that has been left untouched by development. It is a nature lover’s paradise that has been left natural, unlike the growth and development of Central Florida, but only five miles from the center of historic downtown DeLand where there is plenty of unique restaurants and shops to enjoy.

You see that lodge above? Walk inside and take a look at the massive bass mounted on the wall inside. Numerous 15 pound plus bass hanging in there. Bobcats, alligators, and bucks galore hanging in there. A history of success inside this old lodge.

These are all St. Johns River bass which flows through Lake Woodruff near this old fish camp...

Highland Park fish camp bass!

Us Floridians really should keep places like this a secret!

 

 

[0119]

6 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

So I hope that all of you here on BR will contribute to this thread and bring here a growing list of Florida's freshwater only fish camps

Henderson's Fish Camp, Lake Istokpoga

Lake Trafford Marina, Lake Trafford

[FloridaFishinFool]

One of the old Florida fish camps that is no more is the old Lemon Bluff fish camp which use to be situated along the St. Johns River just east of Sanford, Florida. It has slowly crumbled into dust, but we still fish around her old docks, and concrete wall that is also cracking and crumbling to pieces and falling into the river piece by piece.

Too bad places like this are no more! But the river and the fishing has not changed even if these old fish camps crumble into dust...

 

 

So long bass resource. These are some of my last posts here. I hope you will grow this thread and keep it going. I must be moving on...

[Scott F]

Except for the size of the bass being caught, and the lack of walleyes, pike, muskies and smallmouth, there is a lot of resemblance to the "resorts" in the lakes regions of Wisconsin and Minnesota and Canada. A lot of them are disappearing as well. 

[0119]

I grew up riding my bike to Doc Pott's Fish Camp along the west shore of Charlotte Harbor.  Bought my first Buck knife there and my first Hula Popper. We'd walk our bikes home while we drank Strawberry Nehi's old man Pott's would give us.  Old man Turbak who owned Peace River Fish Camp off U.S.17 was a Sgt. on the county sheriff's reserve and would ride often with me.  He had snook that he'd feed by hand at his docks that weighed well over 30#. They never left his basin not even to spawn.  Each one had a name.

[Mike L]

Check out Slims Fish Camp on Torry Island at the SE corner of Lake Okeechobee. It's been there since the 30's

Torry is the only inhabited island on the lake. 

 

Mike 

[SoFloBassFiend]

Macks fish camp in Lake Wales Fl. Part of the Kissimmee chain. 

[atcoha]

good luck with that. There are a ton of them. And then there are a ton of them you don't know about.

[Caia326]

Camp Mack and Camp Lester in Lake Wales FL on  Lake Kissimmee and there is also Grape Hammock fish camp on the south end of the lake.

[Al Wolbach]

21 hours ago, atcoha said:

good luck with that. There are a ton of them. And then there are a ton of them you don't know about.

True, but you are never to old to learn and discover. Visiting these old camps is a great idea and your sons will never forget. Be sure to take pictures so your sons can share with their sons.....

[mplspug]

On 3/26/2016 at 5:51 PM, Scott F said:

Except for the size of the bass being caught, and the lack of walleyes, pike, muskies and smallmouth, there is a lot of resemblance to the "resorts" in the lakes regions of Wisconsin and Minnesota and Canada. A lot of them are disappearing as well. 

 

...and they're called resorts up there.  I had a heck of a time trying to find a place to rent a boat down here  until I realized I had to search for Fish Camps.  

[buzzed bait]

coordinates please!!  I want to go to whichever one this little dude was at!!  that kid's going to develop a hunchback if he keeps catching those humpbacks!!

[BassinLou]

I've stayed at GrapeHammock on Lake Kissimmee  for the last 2 years. That's a pretty cool camp, with a lot history as well.