(5.2) OPINION - The Ocklawaha River Runs in My Blood
The Ocklawaha River Runs in My Blood
Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
An Information, Opinion, & Photos Report
Compiled by Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca
Created: 16 May 2015
Last Revised: 11 May 2019
CLICK-ON INDIVIDUAL PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT
A 17,000-YEAR-OLD GEM
THE OCKLAWAHA RIVER IS SPECIAL -- SET IT FREE!
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.
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.
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.
YES, OCKLAWAHA RIVER BASS FISHING IS THAT SPECIAL!
Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
To read this "Other Voices" opinion article
Published 21 June 2015 by the
Ocala Star-Banner
Click-on the following links:
http://www.ocala.com/article/20150621/OPINION/150629985
http://www.ocala.com/article/20150621/OPINION/150629985?p=2&tc=pg
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
to the
Ocala Star-Banner
and
Brad Rogers
Editorial Page Editor
"There are lake fishermen, and there are river fishermen, and seldom do the twain agree!"
- Original author unknown.
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!
Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
"Crooked River With Big Old Trees, Ocklawaha, Set Her Free"
By Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca (11 July 2012)
Silver Springs to that St. Johns wide
A fifty-six-mile canoeing ride
She lost her freedom at Rodman Dam
Blocking striped bass wasn't Nature's plan
Crooked river, big old trees
Ocklawaha, set her free
That crooked river with them big old trees
The Ocklawaha, let's set her free
Virgin cypress and tall tupelo grow
Artesian springs enter her shaded flow
Catch largemouth bass from my canoe
Remove that Dam, there'll be stripers too
Crooked river, big old trees
Ocklawaha, set her free
That crooked river with them big old trees
The Ocklawaha, let's set her free
Bellowing gators and drake wood ducks
Wild hogs, turkeys, and whitetail bucks
Manatees, black bears, and sandhill cranes
Reckon river water runs through my veins
Crooked river, big old trees
Ocklawaha, set her free
That crooked river with them big old trees
The Ocklawaha, let's set her free
Cry the ghosts of ivorybills--haunting them virgin cypress trees
The Ocklawaha, let's set her free
Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca inside a huge, original-growth, virgin bald cypress tree of the Ocklawaha River, Florida.
This 1000-year-old living giant would have been killed by further construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal project's "Eureka Pool" man-made lake if it had not been for the HALT order of President Richard M. Nixon on 19 January 1971.
Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca and another huge, original-growth, virgin bald cypress tree of the Ocklawaha River, Florida.
This 1000-year-old living giant would have been killed by further construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal project's "Eureka Pool" man-made lake if it had not been for the HALT order of President Richard M. Nixon on 19 January 1971.
2013 Florida Folk Festival: "Crooked River With Big Old Trees, Ocklawaha, Set Her Free"
Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca sings "Crooked River, Big Old Trees, Ocklawaha, Set Her Free"
"Crooked River Big Old Trees, Catch Largemouth Bass from My Canoe"
"Crooked River Big Old Trees, Catch Striped Bass From My Canoe"
Ocklawahaman sings "Crooked River, Big Old Trees, Ocklawaha, Set Her Free"
Ocklawaha River, Florida largemouth bass
"Crooked River Big Old Trees, Catch Largemouth Bass from My Canoe "
Striped bass were native to and successfully spawned in the 56-mile Ocklawaha River-Silver River system prior to Rodman Dam.
Stripers require about 50 continuous miles of swift-flowing river habitat in order for their eggs to hatch and fry develop naturally.
Nowhere else in the entire St. Johns River basin offers the necessary conditions for Atlantic-race striped bass to reproduce.
"Crooked River Big Old Trees, Catch Striped Bass From My Canoe"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qUPg2imsjE
Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca's Bass Fishing Began in Florida Over 53 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.
Email: ocklawahaman1@gmail.com
End.