Sickening sight on Merritt Island

HOME DEPOT GEORGE

I took a ride today to a pond I fish 3 to 5 times a week since I've been down with pneumonia for the last 2 weeks and saw they were pumping it out. Anyone local who knows merritt island knows the little pond behind the skate park next to the big veterans memorial pond is loaded with bass to 10+ pounds,tarpon,ciclids and even a few stray snook that somehow got in there. It looks like they are maybe putting in a storm drain/tunnel or maybe connecting the 2 ponds. Regardless if they pump it down much more (It looks like it's about halfway down) the fish won't survive this cold spell.  Does anyone on the forum know whats going on ?  They're about to kill a lot of trophy fish

Enyar

Seems about par for the course. It was worse over here near Clearwater, a little pond was getting filled to provide land for a Walgreens or something. Luckily the local conservation organization came in and used a net to pull 100+ baby tarpon out of the water to be released elsewhere but it sucks to see that habitat loss. Sad state of affairs for sportsmen in Florida that's for sure. Sorry kids.

Enyar

I lied, it was 60 and its for an apartment complex:

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/fishermen-saving-dozens-of-tarpon-before-pond-is-drained-and-leveled

HOME DEPOT GEORGE

Went by today and the pond is 2/3 empty at first I thought they needed to lower the level to install culverts but I think they are filling it in. . I don't think the tarpon and bass will make it thru this cold snap. I'm gonna take a ride by tomorrow.  Anyone who fishes freshwater should be pissed,, Ive personally caught bass to 9lbs and lost much bigger ones right at the bank and tarpon to 20lbs.

relicshunter

I would think if you contacted FWC and told them theres snook and tarpon in there they would need to save them since they are protected. Maybe call the local news also.

HOME DEPOT GEORGE

I'm gonna make some calls tomorrow, I'm surprised this thread got no more responses because you can bet if someone posted a pic of a tarpon they kept this whole forum would be a giant lynch mob but it seems like no one gives a crap anymore unless it directly affects them.

straygecko

Call Brevard Natural Resources 321-633-2016.  They manage that pond.  Be nice & ask what’s going on.  They are involved in a lot of projects to improve filtering of stormwater to reduce nutrients making it into the lagoon.  They may have a good reason for the work that is good for the long term health of our fisheries & they may have taken the fish there into account.

Enyar

HOME DEPOT GEORGE said:

I'm gonna make some calls tomorrow, I'm surprised this thread got no more responses because you can bet if someone posted a pic of a tarpon they kept this whole forum would be a giant lynch mob but it seems like no one gives a crap anymore unless it directly affects them.

Part of that is true but it's hard to keep putting up the fight and racking up L's everytime. The $$$ available for developers is always going to beat out environmental/sportsman interests. I've kind of written off FL as past the point of no  return and now spend my fuel/vacation money traveling outside the US. If the people don't care, then the government doesn't care and without that we're screwed. Best bet would be to invest in education and hope that in 20 years people start caring again 

mako2567

So sad..please keep us updated..

LivinTheDreamPC

HOME DEPOT GEORGE said:

I'm gonna make some calls tomorrow, I'm surprised this thread got no more responses because you can bet if someone posted a pic of a tarpon they kept this whole forum would be a giant lynch mob but it seems like no one gives a crap anymore unless it directly affects them.

such a good point and a lot of truth here.  god forbid an angler hold a tarpon up for a picture you would have 20 rabid posters from here yelling about vital organs and suspending the fish and E=MC formula for weight distribution in the photo and you cant hold a fish vertical for a photo.. you fish murderer you!!!!!  

but now there is a entire environment that these fish call home (which i did not know about till your post) i know about the lake back there, and it always looked like good fishing but i never fished it.  so there is protected species (bass / tarpon) in this pond and they are allowed to just drain the water off it?   wow. 

so you need a tag to take a permit home and stuff it for your wall.  but if you wanna kill a environment that is home to tarpon by draining their water no problem.  

keep up the good work FWC.  tight lines.  fair and balance FWC

HOME DEPOT GEORGE

I went by today and they had a crew working on the eco matts and they didn;t have much info. Good thing is I didn't see any dead fish but tonight is going to be colder. I couldn't believe how deep the lake is.  I was standing on the lake bed for a bit and the bank  was 10ft over my head and I think there's maybe another 10ft of water. Whats cool is the bottom is hard sand perfect for bouncing a jigwith very little vegetation(perfect for bouncing a jig) and now I know where the bottom structure is even though it's not much. 

Permitted

LivinTheDreamPC said:

HOME DEPOT GEORGE said:

I'm gonna make some calls tomorrow, I'm surprised this thread got no more responses because you can bet if someone posted a pic of a tarpon they kept this whole forum would be a giant lynch mob but it seems like no one gives a crap anymore unless it directly affects them.

such a good point and a lot of truth here.  god forbid an angler hold a tarpon up for a picture you would have 20 rabid posters from here yelling about vital organs and suspending the fish and E=MC formula for weight distribution in the photo and you cant hold a fish vertical for a photo.. you fish murderer you!!!!!  

but now there is a entire environment that these fish call home (which i did not know about till your post) i know about the lake back there, and it always looked like good fishing but i never fished it.  so there is protected species (bass / tarpon) in this pond and they are allowed to just drain the water off it?   wow. 

so you need a tag to take a permit home and stuff it for your wall.  but if you wanna kill a environment that is home to tarpon by draining their water no problem.  

keep up the good work FWC.  tight lines.  fair and balance FWC

Oh I’ve got a great one about FWC. So the other day I was at work an An saw a guy remodeling a pool on a canal in Vero Beach the pool maybe had 500gallons left at the time and he was pouring muratic acid along with chlorine into the pool to clean the algae off the gem coat. And pumping it out directly over the sea wall right into the water.. and I’m not talking about 2-3 gallons it was well over 10 of each. So obviously I was pissed called FWC they arrived maybe 40mins later walked up to the guy an told him to stop and pump it into the grass ehh maybe 25ft from the sea wall he did and the water with chemicals flowed down hill like water does again over the wall into the lagoon...the guy got a “warning “ and the officer went on about his day... FWC is a friggin joke!

andrewthe1

Not many people visits these threads....man what a shame about that pond. Cocoa beach canals used to be good and are now dead too ☹️

HOME DEPOT GEORGE

I pulled a 3lb bass and a few 10lb tarpon from there in the last few weeks so the fish are still there but I think they've probably effd up the whole eco system in there being it's bedding time for the bass.

Phantom309

If you're not a **** Senator, forget about it ! ! ! ! ! !

Whippin_N_strippin

My father and I have fished this pond many times. The juvenile tarpon were a blast on the fly rod. It is so sad to see it so low. Any updates on what they are actually doing with the pond?

Pangaman

It could be good for the pond if they don't remove all the water. It is healthy for the nasty bottom of the pond to dry out in the sun. Many lakes are drawn down on purpose to improve the water quality of the lake.

HOME DEPOT GEORGE

I fished last thursday morning for about 2 hours and pulled 4 nice healthy bass 3to5 lbs on gizzard shad and had a couple tarpon hookups on the same lures.