The Friends of Lake Apopka partnered with the FWC to tag a variety of sportfish in Lake Apopka including largemouth bass, black crappie (specks), and bluegill to help promote fishing on the lake. The Apopka Fishing Challenge event ran through May 31 and produced some very interesting results. Here was the “Tag Tally”:
- 500 tags deployed
- 25 total tags caught
- 23 were bass tags
- 70% of tags were caught by tournament anglers
- Most tagged bass were caught near tagging locations, but a few bass traveled up to 5 miles away!
The purpose of the Challenge was to promote recent enhancements completed on Lake Apopka. To boost the bass population, the FWC stocked over 1.4 million fingerling largemouth bass in Lake Apopka in the fall of 2016 and 2017. These bass are now 3 to 4 years old and based on sampling data they are now a very catchable size greater than 20 inches.
The star of the show was tagged twelve-pound bass “Jim Thomas,” named after the Winter Garden environmentalist who founded the Friends of Lake Apopka. Christian Greico from Tampa caught the bass during a tournament (inset above) and received $2,500 for reporting the tag, and another $2,500 for successfully submitting the bass into the TrophyCatch program.
Every Fall and Spring, the FWC monitors the fish population on Lake Apopka using electrofishing. Each year they sample some giant (10+ lbs.) TrophyCatch-class bass. Based on this sampling, Lake Apopka has a very fast-growing bass population reaching 16 inches in 2 years, and roughly 40% of the shoreline has comparable catch rates compared to the rest of the Harris Chain of Lakes. Check out the “hot spots” map below highlighting the areas on the lake where good numbers of quality sized bass (larger than 16”) were sampled. Lake Apopka also offers anglers great panfish opportunities. During the FWC’s fall sampling on Lake Apopka, bigger bluegill and higher numbers of black crappie have been observed compared to other Harris Chain Lakes.
