Anglers cast for better bass fishing

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Lakewood Ranch Anglers Club President Red Bailey remembers a time when he could cast his bait into the lake by his home and have a fish on the hook within two casts.

“But that seems to have disappeared,” Bailey said from the shoreline of Trophy Lake, off Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. “That led us to question the health of the lake.”

So Oct. 5, he and several members of the Anglers Club eagerly watched as Jeff Willitzer, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, scooped fish from a trough on his boat on Trophy Lake and measured each before tossing it back into the water.

Willitzer and fellow fisheries biologist Bill Pouder took their specially-equipped boat out on three of Lakewood Ranch’s lakes, using an electric shock in the water to temporarily stun fish and collect them for an informal census. The duo, which came out at the request of the Anglers Club, primarily was looking to see how the Ranch’s bass population is faring.

“I think you have healthy systems,” Pouder said at the end of the day. “You have a really, really good diversity of systems. We saw fish in all of them and they’re healthy fish in all of them.”

In a report Pouder submitted to the club Oct. 7, he is recommending an increase in fish habitat in two of three lakes surveyed — Trophy Lake and Lake 33. Summerfield Lake, which is used for the club’s annual youth fish tournament, shows evidence of a stunted bass population. Pouder is recommending either leaving the lake as-is, because it is good for a youth tournament scenario, or allowing harvesting of fish so bass in the lake can grow larger.

The Lakewood Ranch Anglers Club will review Pouder’s report and develop a plan for improving fishing conditions, Bailey said.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

By the numbers
5 — Number of black bass (includes large mouth bass) allowed per bag limit during open season.
12 — Minimum number of inches in length for a keeper large mouth bass.
172 — Total number of large mouth bass collected.
188 — Total number of bluegill collected.
680 — Voltage in kilowatts used for electrofishing.