FYI

[Reservoir Runner]

Anyone that fishes the St. Johns from Lake Monroe up toward Astor, the river is still pretty high. Went over to Blue Springs today, there is no shore fishing area at the boat ramp up from the park, it's underwater. Drove up to Ed Stone Park, the water at the boat ramps is pretty high as well. Guess I will have to try some of the lakes around here. Hopefully the river will return to normal by the end of September.

[Lipripper]

Anyone that fishes the St. Johns from Lake Monroe up toward Astor, the river is still pretty high. Went over to Blue Springs today, there is no shore fishing area at the boat ramp up from the park, it's underwater. Drove up to Ed Stone Park, the water at the boat ramps is pretty high as well. Guess I will have to try some of the lakes around here. Hopefully the river will return to normal by the end of September.

Y'all been getting lots of rain down there. Hope it gets better conditions for fishing soon.

[FloridaFishinFool]

It is improving Lip!

It is interesting how Lake Monroe divides the north end of the river from the Southern end. It is a historical dividing point going back to when the U.S. Army landed on the South shore of Lake Monroe back in 1830's to chase the Seminole Indians Southward from that point.

To this day the river is dredged to commercial navigation standards set by the U.S. Coast Guard- from Jacksonville all the way down through Palatka and right on down to the docks at downtown Sanford. It all goes back to when the U.S. Army had to bring artillery gun boats down the river to camp Monroe that became Fort Mellon named for Captain Charles Mellon who was the only casualty of the vicious Indian attack on the newly constructed fort Monroe built by Colonel Harney and his Dragoons. The attack happened on Feb. 8, 1837. It was given its new name 20 days after the death of Captain Mellon on Feb. 28th.

Here is a PDF bio on Captain Mellon:

Highway 17-92 literally dead ends into west Lake Monroe. That road from the lake was a starting point for a chain of forts that went right down what is now highway 17-92. The next fort was one day's walk away at my local boat ramp park for Lake Maitland which was called back then Fort Maitland. The next fort a day's walk South was Fort Gatlin which Orlando built up around.

I use to fish above Monroe but don't go up there any more because I get run all over by bigger boats. I now fish the river below Lemon Bluff. Much safer down there... and the further South I go on the river the safer it gets! Fewer and fewer boats mainly because the dredging stops in Lake Monroe so the river South of Lake Monroe is all natural complete with sandbars...

But the good news is the river levels are dropping! I keep tabs on river levels through U.S. Geological Survey website and monitoring stations are easily found online. The one I use that is closest to me is at Lake Monroe:

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=02234500

Here is the latest posted image on river water levels:

[Capt. BassinLou]

RR thank you for sharing this info with the group. 

[BarryFL]

When I lived in Jacksonville Beach, I use to fish Harney Pond area. That was 20 years ago. I can only imagine how its changed but I loved the dark, tannic water.

~Barry~

[Capt. BassinLou]

When I lived in Jacksonville Beach, I use to fish Harney Pond area. That was 20 years ago. I can only imagine how its changed but I loved the dark, tannic water.

~Barry~

Harney Pond? How many Harney ponds are there? There's a Harney Pond on Lake Okeechobee also.

[BarryFL]

It was an area south of Palatka before you get to Lake George in the Welaka area.

FWIW, we have a Harney Park in Tampa.

~Barry~

[Capt. BassinLou]

It was an area south of Palatka before you get to Lake George in the Welaka area.

~Barry~

Thank you for answering, learned something new today.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Harney Pond? How many Harney ponds are there? There's a Harney Pond on Lake Okeechobee also.

Colonel Harney came down the St. Johns river from Jacksonville. He floated down the river to camp Monroe with his Dragoons. He preferred to stay in St. Augustine while operating in Florida. It was his fallback position and resupply point as well as Keystone Heights, Florida.

There is another place in Florida named after him where the Indians tried and failed to assassinate him...

Col. Harney later wrote that in the dead of night, early morning hours, he said he heard a knife slicing through his tent. He jumped up grabbed his sword and came out swinging wearing only his underclothes. He knew he was over run and in the darkness he was forced to flee into alligator infested waters in complete darkness and make it back to St. Augustine.

It was 27 men in blue against some 160 Indian attackers. 13 of his men were killed, and 14 fled to safety. (Numbers vary depending on sources as seen below)



This attack enraged Col. Harney and a year later he went after the chief who attacked him. That story is the story of legend when his boots hit the ground on the island the chief and his family were living on and hiding on.

Col. Harney is the first U.S. Army officer to engage in guerilla warfare when he used the Indians to teach his men under his command how to fight the Indians the way the Indians fought him and his men. Col. Harney ordered the first canoes into Florida so he and his men could pursue the Indians into their hiding places deep in the Florida jungle and swamps.

Another story Col. Harney wrote about was how he and his men were sitting ducks on their steam boat gunships making their way down the river... he said the Indians would fire sniper shots on his boats from both sides of the river, but he was amused that the Indians were too cheap on their powder because they had very little and had trouble getting it, so they invariably used too little quite often and Col. Harney said when some of his men were shot on the boats on the river that the Indian bullets just bounced off their army uniforms.

How many forts are in Florida? Fort Lauderdale, Fort Christmas, Fort Meyers, Fort this, and fort that all over Florida... this is why...

Colonel William Selby Harney



In the longest and costliest of all the Indian wars in U.S. history—the Seminole Indian Wars in Florida—today's Cape Coral was the scene of one of the worst slaughters. It happened approximately at the foot of the Cape Coral bridge.

1. In 1839, as many as 200 Miccosukee, Creek and Seminole Indians attacked a force of 26 dragoons and six civilians under the command of Colonel William S. Harney at their post about 9 miles downriver of North Fort Myers.


Chief Billy Bowlegs commanded the Seminole contingent of the coordinated attack. (Photo: Special to The News-Press)

2. The Indians attacked because they believed that the soldiers were there, in violation of agreements, to capture Indians off the reservation and ship them off to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Outraged at the deception, they attacked just before dawn on July 22.

3. The attack was successful because Colonel Harney had spent the previous day fishing and gone to bed too tired to post sentries. The dazed and terrified soldiers tried to get at their weapons but most were shot or stabbed to death before they could get out from under their mosquito nettings.

4. Eighteen dragoons and four civilians were killed. Fourteen of the bodies were never recovered; those that were had been scalped. Nine men, including Col. Harney, escaped by jumping in the river and swimming to their boats.

5. If this army post had not been abandoned, the city we know as Fort Myers may have developed where Cape Coral is today, instead of at the spot a few miles upriver where a new army post, named "Fort Myers," was established 11 years later.



Billy bow legs

His ancestry was equally impeccable as he was reputed to be a maternal grandson of the Unconquered himself, Osceola.  Billy Fewell (1862-1965) also had African descent, lending credence to the idea that at least one of Osceola's wives was black.  He had remained in Florida after most of his people were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma and became an important cultural link to younger generations.  He was an elder of his tribe, living on the Brighton Reservation in Florida, until his death. 

[big g]

Thanks for the history lesson.  I love reading about that stuff.

[BarryFL]

Appreciate the history lesson, it's always interesting to find out how places our name.

~Barry~

[Deadeye]

Anyone that fishes the St. Johns from Lake Monroe up toward Astor, the river is still pretty high. Went over to Blue Springs today, there is no shore fishing area at the boat ramp up from the park, it's underwater. Drove up to Ed Stone Park, the water at the boat ramps is pretty high as well. Guess I will have to try some of the lakes around here. Hopefully the river will return to normal by the end of September.

Thanks for the Report.

The River is very high for this time of year with many of the Ramps closed to Boat Use. If this area should get hit by another major Hurricane with the River like it is there would be some major Flooding, as there is simply no where for the water to go at this point.

[big g]

If its this high now, a good tropical storm will reap havoc all over the place.  Whats happened to our normal weather patterns and normal water controls all over the state!

[FloridaFishinFool]

River levels are continuing to drop! A slight rise, but now back down and dropping! Now we are less than 5 feet above normal! 4.9 feet to be exact!

[Lipripper]

River levels are continuing to drop! A slight rise, but now back down and dropping! Now we are less than 5 feet above normal! 4.9 feet to be exact!

That's a good thing as long as y'all don't get hit with a lot more  to bring it back up again.