Daffin's Lake

[Jim]

Daffin's Lake - In the Beginning

Follow me on my journey to raise and catch a 2+ lb coppernose bluegill.

 

This is Daffin's Lake.  A natural, ~6 acre, rain fed depression in the panhandle of Florida inhabited by bluegill, large mouth bass, warmouth and the occasional alligator.  

Normal water levels would have the water's edge extending through a thick layer of Panicumgrass and into the trees (species unknown).  An ongoing drought in Florida has exposed the sandy banks so I've added a few brush piles to give some of the fish a place to hide and hopefully some protection from the sun.  Currently, the average depth is about 5-6 feet.  The visibility is a few feet and the bottom is mud on top of sand.  

 

Some healthy St. John's Wort can be seen in bloom below surrounded by last year's Panicum.   

 

While the water is low, I would like to establish a more diversified habitat to foster insect and forage fish growth.  I'm thinking about establishing Nelumbo lutea (American Lotus) in the deep zone, Pontederia cordata (Pickerelweed) in the medium zone and Iris virginica (Blue Flag Iris) in the shallow zone.  I prefer fishing around lotus because they lack the cut of water lilies and snagging  lures is less likely.  I hope to scavenge all of these native species from surrounding bodies but I'll have to be careful not to bring any unwanted guests with them.  

IFAS pdf on Littoral Plants <- This is a great article on plan selection from my Alma mater.

One beneficial side effect of the low water is easy access to the bream beds during warm water months.  They've recently started clearing out spots for their ladies and I took advantage to their territorial behavior this weekend.  For the picture below, I've placed my polarized glasses over the camera lens so that the sandy bream beds can be seen about 20 feet from the shore.  Not beautiful but it seems to have helped cut down the glare.

Next step is to score some plants and get to work.  Hopefully if I build it, the rain will come.

 

 

Below is on of the males that were on bed.   

 

This bream, below, is pathetic.  In hindsight I should have kept it just to remove it from the tallent pool and reduce food competition.  He looked like he hasn't had a meal in quite a while. 

 

I'm currently germinating some wild rice (Zizania aquatica) (wood duck food) that I hope to introduce and reestablish the aquatic vegitation.  I ordered some Aquamax 600 to help keep everyone fed while the habitat on the mend. 

 

 Update 8/21/12  

The water is still low.  Grass and marshy plants have grown on the exposed mud bank.  I finally bought a feeder to supplement the available food.  I put it where I find most of the big bream since they are the ones I'm concerned about.  

The feeder is from Tractor Supply for 100 bucks.  I found the same one for 90 at walmart.  It took a little work to put together but I was impressed with the thoughtfulness of the design.  The programmer is easy enough to use.  My only concern is how long the 6V alkaline battery will last.  It broadcasts 360 degrees so I took a turkey pan and made a shield to keep from feeding the raccoons.

When I bought the feeder, I didn't have my back of Aqauamaxx 600 so I bought what was available.  It has little and big pieces so not only the big boys can eat it.  

Below is a hand broadcast of feed to show how they're getting after it.

Daffin's Lake YouTube Link

More to come...

9-16-12 Fish Feeder Update

The black feeder stuck out like a soar thumb across the lake so I hit it with some flat brow spray paint.  It looks much worse now.  The temporary turkey pan shield for the feeder died so I needed to come up with something more permanent.  See milk jug below.

The video below is after adjusting the feeder for a few runs so the fish aren't all that hungry.   You can see how it drops what was shielded straight down the back.

Fish Feeder Test and Tune YouTube Link

11-18-12  End of season update.  The water is cold and I've dialed back the feeder. 

The fish that hang around the feeder are quite a bit fatter than the others.  The bass have also set up camp around the feeder to take advantage of the smaller bream.  I've fished it with crickets 3 times with the intent of thinning out the little and stunted bream.  An immediately obvious side effect of feeding fish the floater stuff is that they only seem to want to eat floater stuff.  That being said, I've still managed to catch some of the fat ones.  I've removed about 90 bream that were small or stunted.  

Below are a few pictures of ones that I've sent back cause they looked like they were walking the right path.

The bream above was just a nice solid fish.  Not all that big but fat for it's size.  

I caught this one during the summer but forgot to post it.  It obviously likes to eat.

Notice (above) the fat belly and the bulged eyes.  And it was still hungry enough to eat a cricket!

Below:  Just a happy bream-buster-fishin'-fool with a healthy bream.  

As soon as the feed in the feeder runs out, that'll be it for this year.  Until the spring...

[Tony Livingston]

Good luck Jim. Growing your own BG can be very rewarding, and a little frustrating at times. Definitely keep us in the loop with updates!

[Leo Nguyen]

Beautiful. Definitely keep us posted. Since you're in Florida, I would love to see the data results for the tropical climate with man's intervention for the fish. This will truly be a glorious outcome. I only have a few anglers in the FL areas, but they're just anglers, not fishery management bodies. You will be the first.