St. Johns River Under Executive Order Until Jan. 1, 2018

[FloridaFishinFool]

The governor of Florida issued an executive order for virtually all of the St. Johns river statewide enforcement now underway...

[FloridaFishinFool]

Here is a link to the emergency order 235 referenced above:



What I am unsure about right now is that this no wake speed is for all of Seminole County until lifted. That is clear, but I am also understanding this no wake speed is also extended to every county affected by Irma???

Does this mean that the entire 300 plus miles of this river is all no wake zone speed until the order expires or is lifted???

Does anyone know? I am not sure right now and will have to do some more digging to find out, maybe county by county???

I am also curious... if I go at no wake speed of 4mph or less and enter into another river like Wekiva river or Little Econ, can I then go above no wake speed? Just curious really as this puts a serious damper on river fishing right now.

[Lipripper]

FFF I could see where that would be a pain in the rear end.  Maybe you could contact someone for the Governors office or the Fish and Game people since they would be the ones to enforce it.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Yes Lip it is a pain, but right now I am not pursuing it because I can't get my boat out the gate right now thanks to a large old oak tree blocking me in. We should have it cut up by this weekend I am hoping. And I just may skip the river since it is so high anyway and just go elsewhere. I have my annual pass for the Winter Park chain of lakes so maybe I'll just take the boys and go there until this speed limit is lifted.

I read online yesterday where some guy was issued a ticket for going 5.5mph, only 1.5mph over the limit and they ticketed him. I would like to avoid overly strict enforcement.

One thing about this that bugs me is the order is mainly for protecting homes and docks and property like that. Where I fish on the river there are no houses and no docks any where around. So why would they restrict us out there and strictly enforce it I can only wonder.

Probably best to just avoid it all together.

[Lipripper]

Sorry to hear about that oak tree down in your driveway. It don't make a lot if sense but most of what they do don't. WOW 1.5 MPH over and get a ticket.  I think I would be going else where to fish also.

[Deadeye]

Seeing just how much Flooding there is on the St Johns from lower Brevard to Astor I can see why they placed the order. I have also seen many trucks running for the NW of Florida to help with the Flooding there.

Along I-95 the river has swelled from Lake Poinsett almost all the way to I-95. Along St Rt 46 the Ramps are CLOSED due to the extreme Flooding along the river's path there. Parts of the road are almost under water with the water at the White Line of the road.


The days following Irma in Astor the waters were already over the banks and Flooded into peoples homes as high as 3-4 feet that I saw.

NO ONE needs to go fishing that bad or be running on the River at any speed higher than idle with conditions as bad as they are. I feel for those folks that are or have lost most everything they own due to the Flooding that has escaped the TV Camera eye and is mostly forgotten about.

[FloridaFishinFool]

I can understand the order being in play around houses on the river, but South of hiway 46 where I fish there are no houses. Not one building nor a dock. Just nothing out there to damage with a wake.

But, after looking at the river yesterday I can see another reason to not go fast. There is quite a bit of floating debris, tree limbs and tree trunks among other things floating around, and now that the river channel is no longer discernable, it is quite possible to run up on sandbars and even get tangled up in cattle fencing and barb wire.

So it would not be a good idea to go fast if one is concerned about such things.

But there is another reason I will stay off the river for a while- millions of dead rotting tilapia. And I mean literally millions of them. Not sure why so many of that species died off, but I bet the gators and other critters have some full bellies right now. And the stench is unbearable. I'll post some photos when I can.

I looked for other species of fish and I really saw just one species- the tilapia. I saw no bass, no bream or bluegill, no catfish, no gar- not saying they are not dying too- just that all I saw was tilapia floating all over the place piling up where the current is stopped like at my boat ramp thousands of dead fish are piling up right there.

So I think I will avoid the river completely until the water recedes and the dead rotting fish are gone.

I know I would not want a boat's wake pushing a bunch of dead fish into my backdoor.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Lip, this past weekend I drove to north Florida, but in leaving central Florida I decided to drive over to the St. Johns river on my way and just take a look and see how bad it was out there... here are some images taken at a local boat ramp along hiway 46 east:

The ramps were closed:





Dead fish rotting, stinking, and piling up everywhere:



This pile of stinking fish are being pushed by the current into the boat ramp docks and just piling up right there making the smell unbearable:



The view looking north towards Lake Harney:



And the view looking South under the bridge... and if you look under the bridge on the right side you can barely see the "no wake" sign sticking out of the water. Half of the sign is submerged. Usually this sign is 5 to 7 feet above the waterline. This tells me the river is some 7 to 8 feet higher than normal. And its gonna be awhile before it goes down...

[Lipripper]

Thanks for the pictures FFF and it does look bad out there. With all them dead fish I wouldn't want to be anywhere close to the river for awhile 

[big g]

The gators, coons, and coyotes, should be eating good for a long time.

[BarryFL]

Luckily, it looks like mostly black drum and not LMB!

[Lipripper]

Luckily, it looks like mostly black drum and not LMB!

It's strange how it's just about only one species and not all of them.

[Reservoir Runner]

I was up to check out Ed Stone Park yesterday- all the ramps are still closed, the docks are under water, it looks like a mess. It will probably be mid October before you can even think of putting a boat in there.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Luckily, it looks like mostly black drum and not LMB!

I don't think those fish are black drum. I thought they were tilapia. The two species look significantly different, and the size of the fish is fairly consistent for tilapia while the black drum get quite large and I'm not seeing that in the river.

The mouths on the dead fish are thinner and smaller than black drum. Here is a photo of a tilapia first and black drum second:

[BarryFL]

I don't think those fish are black drum. I thought they were tilapia. The two species look significantly different, and the size of the fish is fairly consistent for tilapia while the black drum get quite large and I'm not seeing that in the river.

The mouths on the dead fish are thinner and smaller than black drum. Here is a photo of a tilapia first and black drum second:

I was actually going say "or tilapia" but anyway, glad it's not LMB!

[Deadeye]

My SIL told me that he is hearing reports of other fish kills as well. Like 6-8 lb LMB and Bream. Seems that while cleaning up the piles of Tilapiah they are finding Bass and Bream mixed in.

The belief is that the dying vegetation from plants not used to being under water is taking all the oxygen from the water, thus causing the fish to suffocate in the water.

[BarryFL]

My SIL told me that he is hearing reports of other fish kills as well. Like 6-8 lb LMB and Bream. Seems that while cleaning up the piles of Tilapiah they are finding Bass and Bream mixed in.

The belief is that the dying vegetation from plants not used to being under water is taking all the oxygen from the water, thus causing the fish to suffocate in the water.

Yes, green thriving plants produce oxygen. Dying or decaying plants consume oxygen. One of the reason I hate when they spray the lily pads and hydrilla. Those places become dead for fishing for months afterwards.

[Lipripper]

It sad to hear about the Bass and Bream also. It would of been strange if it only killed on species.