(2.3) LARGEMOUTH BASS - OCKLAWAHA RIVER BASS FISHING IS SPECIAL!
OCKLAWAHA RIVER BASS FISHING IS SPECIAL!
Ocklawahaman and an Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
An Information, Opinion, & Photos Report
Compiled by Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca
Created: 19 August 2015
Last Revised: 08 October 2020
Ocklawahaman and an Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
NOTE -- IF NEEDED: Right-click-on individual photos then "Open image in new tab" to ENLARGE them!
RODMAN RESERVOIR: ARTIFICIAL & MAN-MADE -- NOT BY OUR CREATOR!
Rodman Reservoir stump-field during draw-down
Some Florida bass anglers and bass fishing business promoters obviously prefer man-made lakes, possibly dreaming that these manipulated freshwaters are some kind of money-making aquatic Fantasy-Magical-Super-Wonder-World tourist attractions containing state or world record-sized largemouth bass (heavier than 20 to 22 pounds) that are growing fat on something artificially enriched and improved like growth-hormone or steroid-injected wild river shiners maybe (or stocked rainbow trout like they use in southern California). Dam the Real Florida because man-created lakes are much more easily MANAGED for the benefit and convenience of organized largemouth bass fishing interests.
300-ton Crusher-Crawler used in the construction of Rodman Reservoir -- one of Florida's legendary man-made waters!
Well, it is quite OK with me that some master largemouth bass anglers and para-commercialized individuals or groups seemingly worship the fishing opportunities provided by Florida's legendary man-made waters.
JUST AS LONG AS the historically free and swift-flowing 56-mile long Ocklawaha River-Silver River system (including its Silver Springs headwater) -- once capable of supporting naturally reproducing populations of native STRIPED BASS weighing up to 30 pounds, in addition to trophy-sized largemouth bass -- doesn't remain blockaded as a sacrificial offering to those that practice the RODMAN religion.
The free-flowing, natural, By-God middle reach of the Ocklawaha River
Retaining Lake Ocklawaha (a.k.a. Rodman Pool or Rodman Reservoir) ignores the importance to this state of restoring to free-flowing a rare, lengthy riverine ecosystem with cool waters and strong currents sought-after by various Florida-native species of anadromous, catadromous, and other lotic migratory fishes of the St. Johns River basin.
The heaviest largemouth ever taken in Rodman Reservoir was reportedly 17-lb 2-oz and ranks near the bottom of the list of the top-25 heaviest largemouth bass ever caught in Florida (view this list at: https://sites.google.com/site/ocklawahaman/all-time-top-25-biggest-fl-largemouth-bass). Rodman Dam -- which has strangled the free-flowing Ocklawaha River for over 47 years and has ended the natural spawning success of our native St. Johns basin Atlantic-race striped bass -- has yet to produce a world record (22-pound+) or Florida state record (20-pound+) largemouth bass.
Besides, any state or world record largemouth bass taken from a NOT-Real Florida freshwater probably should deserve an asterisk (*) next to it whenever officially booked -- just like the name and home run number of every slugger in the record book with more than Babe Ruth's (in a 154-game season) 60. We may owe that much to Fritz Friebel and George Perry. They were NATURALS -- their record fish came from NATURAL waters where largemouth bass have been NATIVE for perhaps thousands of years!
Read about Frederick Fritz Friebel and his 1923-caught from a natural Florida lake
20-lb 2-oz Florida Record largemouth bass at
http://www.bassmaster.com/node/101735
http://fishinghistory.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html
Read about George Perry and his 1932-caught from a natural Georgia river system
22-lb 4-oz World Record largemouth bass at
http://www.bassmaster.com/news/george-perrys-world-record-bass
http://www.bassmaster.com/news/george-perrys-world-record-bass?page=2
The free-flowing, natural, By-God middle reach of the Ocklawaha River
STREAM-BRED FLORIDA LARGEMOUTH BASS ARE NATIVE TO
THE FREE-FLOWING OCKLAWAHA RIVER FOR 1000 YEARS!
GET BACK TO THE REAL-FLORIDA!
THE OCKLAWAHA RIVER IS SPECIAL -- SET IT FREE!
FROM ITS SUPREME SOURCE TO THE SEA!
ALL SPRING-FED SWIFT-FLOWING 56 CROOKED MILES OF MAINSTREAM!
FROM ITS SILVER SPRINGS HEADWATER TO THE ST. JOHNS RIVER ESTUARY!
The free-flowing, natural, By-God middle reach of the Ocklawaha River
The free-flowing, natural, By-God middle reach of the Ocklawaha River
The free-flowing, natural, By-God middle reach of the Ocklawaha River
Ocklawahaman and an Ocklawaha River, Florida daily limit of eating-size largemouth bass
Ocklawahaman and an Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
OCKLAWAHA RIVER BASS FISHING IS SPECIAL!
The remnant free and nearly natural section of the Ocklawaha River -- which comprises most all of the state designated "Ocklawaha River Aquatic Preserve" -- contains its original strain of Florida largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus) plus other fishes that have adapted over the centuries to its swift-flowing lotic ecosystem, which is rarely found anywhere else in peninsular Florida. This is Real-Florida bass fishing for stream-bred, riverine-adapted largemouth bass NATIVE to this canopied, cool-water, spring-fed river for perhaps thousands of years.
OCKLAWAHA RIVER LARGEMOUTH BASS FLOAT-FISHING
This is river float-fishing using artificials from a canoe drifting downstream in swift-
flowing 1-mph current. River bass must be enticed into striking the fast-moving lure
(e.g., buzzbait or spinnerbait) from their stream-current-watching ambush lairs
among the blow-downs, logjams, stobs & undercut banks. This is NOT live shiner or
even plastic worm fishing. It is more like floating for smallmouth bass on cool-water,
boulder-strewn, hill-country rivers in Arkansas, Missouri, or Oklahoma; than our usual warm,
weed-choked, still-water Florida lake bass fishing. Largemouth river bass seem to
behave like a different species when compared to their lake-dwelling cousins!
Ocklawahaman and Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
The aesthetic quality of this Ocklawaha angling experience may be comparable to having the unique opportunity to fish for wild, non-stocked rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in one of their surviving unspoiled, cold-water, Pacific-slope streams -- where rainbow trout have been NATIVE for thousands of years -- in Oregon, Washington (state), or Alaska some 3000 miles or more away from north-central Florida.
Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (from the Blue Ridge Mountains of northeast Georgia -- introduced not native)
Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (from the Blue Ridge Mountains of northeast Georgia -- introduced not native)
Or maybe being able to enjoy the rare pleasure of doing a fishing trip for wild, non-stocked smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) on one of their precious few remaining boulder-strewn, cool-water, free-flowing, spring-fed rivers -- where smallmouth bass have been NATIVE for a thousand years or so -- in the Ozark, Boston, or Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, Missouri, or Oklahoma at least 1000 miles from Florida’s Ocklawaha River.
Smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu (from Blue River, Oklahoma)
YES, OCKLAWAHA RIVER BASS FISHING IS THAT SPECIAL!
And it is the Real Florida!
Ocklawahaman and an Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
Ocklawahaman and an Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
Ocklawahaman and an Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
Ocklawahaman and an Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
Ocklawahaman and an Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
Ocklawahaman and Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
See OCKLAWAHA RIVER BASS FISHING in this 1945 movie by the
U.S. Forest Service about the
Ocala National Forest
Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca's only two mounted trophy bass, a LARGEMOUTH and a STRIPER,
were caught on artificial lures from his man-powered canoe while fishing
By-God natural sections of Real Florida waters.
Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca's Bass Fishing Began in Florida Some 55 Years Ago (1965)!
Ocklawahaman in 1966 with a Florida largemouth bass caught on a plastic worm from a man-made still-water pond.
But Ocklawahaman prefers to catch bass from free-flowing natural streams where they have been NATIVE for 1000 years!
Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca is an accomplished stream angler who has caught nine different varieties of bass plus three different species of cold-water trout along with many other fishes from the flowing freshwaters of several Southern states. Although he has fished many of the still-water canals, lakes, and ponds plus salty tidewaters that almost all other Florida fishermen are accustomed-to and greatly prefer; river bass angling in current is undeniably Paul's preferred pursuit. Paddling a canoe (or bank-walking and wading when advantageous), Ocklawahaman skillfully uses buzzbait and spinnerbait lures almost exclusively while bass fishing moving freshwater. Motorized watercraft for run and gun fishing or other aquatic tomfoolery and plastic worms or live shiners for bait are not part of his personal angling ethic. Ocklawahaman practices a style of bass fishing on natural segments of streams that is ideally an aesthetically pleasing and un-crowded solemn quest for some of Nature's most game fishes; the great majority of bass caught to be released unharmed for future benefit. North-central Florida's swift-flowing Ocklawaha River is the home water of Ocklawahaman; it is where Paul Nosca first learned freshwater stream angling techniques and where he continues to employ them as often as possible -- from his man-powered canoe.
"There are lake fishermen, and there are river fishermen, and seldom do the twain agree!" - Original author's name is unknown.
https://sites.google.com/site/ocklawahamanpaulnoscareports/ocklawaha-river-bass-fishing-is-special
FOR MORE ABOUT OCKLAWAHA RIVER BASS FISHING VISIT THESE WEB-PAGES:
https://sites.google.com/site/ocklawahamanpaulnoscareports/largemouth-bass-of-the-ocklawaha-river
https://sites.google.com/site/ocklawahamanpaulnoscareports/the-ocklawaha-river-runs-in-my-blood
https://sites.google.com/site/ocklawahamanpaulnoscareports/1891-usacoe-survey-of-the-ocklawaha-river
Email: ocklawahaman1@gmail.com
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