It’s no secret, the Harris Chain was pretty stingy to those who recently practiced on this celebrated Central Florida powerhouse. Long faces and dismal tales have been the norm on a fishery known as one of the Sunshine State’s premier largemouth destinations.
Okay, fair enough. This is a definitely a funky time of year; and even though this week’s schedule represents only an eight-week difference from the Elites’ previous visit (Feb. 17-20, 2022), that’s a huge difference in the largemouth life cycle.
During that 2022 event, it took a little over 12 1/2 pounds a day to make the check cut. This time around, that kinda weight will delight many.
However, a fair assessment of a fishery requires more than a seasonal snapshot. All due respect and acknowledgements to the anglers who’ve actually dropped their trolling motors in these Harris Chain waters — the struggle is real and accusations of sand-bagging (intentionally understating one’s practice results) will be fewer than normal.
But not to worry; the Harris Chain’s not tanking. In fact, Andrew Marbury, the local Fisheries Resource Biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission offered an optimistic assessment.
“Our 2024 Harris Chain bass samples are just now finishing up and, while not fully analyzed as of (early April), the overall status of the populations seem healthy as normal,” Marbury said. Year after year, we have a relatively consistent fishery chain-wide with individual lakes performing at varying levels, oftentimes fluctuating based on current conditions.
“So far in 2024, Lakes Griffin and Apopka seem to be fishing the best, although Dora and Beauclair have shown to hold good numbers of fish in our electrofishing surveys.”
Standing out: Marbury said Lake Beauclair has come to the forefront lately, as FWC observations have found what he terms “substantial changes” over the past few years, in terms of habitat, bass population metrics and angler effort/success.
“Native submersed plant coverages have successfully expanded year over year and now cover 90% of the lake,” Marbury said. “This of course, has lead to a few consecutive booming year classes being produced, and plenty of habitat for both growing bass and their forage.
“Our angler creel surveys have picked up on an increase in effort and documented historically high catch rates in last year’s 2022-23 survey.”
Postspawn perplexities
Understandably, statements of healthy fish populations screech like fingernails on a chalkboard to those struggling to find a decent limit. Fact is, with the majority of the fish — certainly, the largest ones — already spawned out, the Harris Chain’s currently going through the postspawn humdrum.
The fish scatter, they do more sulking than biting and unless and until the shad spawn or bream bedding kicks off, there’s not much reason for bass to concentrate anywhere.
Sure, the recovering females need to eat and when those bite windows open, anyone lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time might experience a day-making rally. For most, though, it’s a lot of seashore, but not a lot of sea shells.
Seasoned anglers understand that and, whether they like it or not, most factor this consistent inconsistency into their expectations.
When Florida bass are “on,” there’s nothing better. When they’re not, they can be the most exasperating creatures on planet Earth.
Locating competitive fish is one thing, convincing them to bite, well…ya know.
That being said, this week’s competition hosts 103 of the sport’s top pros. Experience runs deep and this fishery will test the field’s collective craftiness.
Geological heat and pressure turns carbon into diamonds. It’ll be interesting to see who sparkles this week.
A concern clarified
Notably, the Harris Chain recently experienced an isolated fish kill. Marbury said the impact was minimal and he’s not expecting this event to significantly influence the tournament.
“This past winter, there was a prolonged (but locally-defined) fish kill event on Lake Harris,” Marbury said. “Investigations by FWC personnel noted distinct areas of the lake (south shoreline around Yalaha, Dead River entrance, Johnsons Point) with a multitude of species affected, over the course of a few weeks.
“Water samples were collected and analyzed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and results determined varying levels of algae present which, coupled with multiple overcast days, can lead to short periods of oxygen depletion.”
Marbury went on to say that, with wind pushing both the algae and the deceased fish around, it was difficult to determine where the exact events occurred. Nevertheless, he clarified that the areas were not large enough to result in any population impacts to affected species.
“No other Harris Chain lakes incurred any fish kills during this time period and no recent reports have come our way either.”
Lock maintenance
Maximizing the Harris Chain’s potential requires traversing various creek, river and canal passages. This summer, one of the most popular — Haynes Creek, linking lakes Eustis and Griffin — will close for a major rehabilitation and upgrade project.
According to the St. Johns River Water Management District website, the Burrell Lock, located southeast of the State Road 44 Bridge, will be closed beginning June 3, 2024, through the end of December 2024.
A District source said the estimated $2.26 million project was still in the bidding process (as of April 11), but a contractor should be selected within a few weeks. The project will comprise the following:
- Concrete surface repair
- Paint the culverts
- Repair and paint lock miter gates
- Install new miter gate hydraulics operators
- Replace upstream and downstream slide gates and provide new hydraulic operators
- Replace controls for the lock miter and slide gates
- Install manatee protection screens
As the District source pointed out, the completed Burrell Lock project will not change how boaters use this Haynes Creek passage. It will, however, decrease the number of unexpected downtimes by eliminating operational issues.
One of three locks within the St. John’s Water Management District (also Moss Bluff Lock on the Ocklawaha River and Apopka-Beauclair Lock on the same named canal), the Burrell Lock was completed in 1957 and underwent its most recent rehabilitation in 2005. The agency source noted that district water control structures are scheduled for rehab/maintenance approximately every 20 years.
