The following information is provided by Phil & Judy Kelley, Realtors
Lake County Florida's Lakefront Property Specialists
 

Harris Chain Bass Fishing Overview

The beautiful and scenic Harris Chain Lakes are located in Central Florida's Lake County about 40 minutes northwest of Orlando. The eight interconnected lakes of the Harris Chain cover approximately 50,000 acres of water.  Lake Apopka in Orange County covers slightly over 30,000 acres.  Harris Chain lakes are extremely fertile and contain a wide variety of water clarities and colors.  The primary cover is Kissimmee grass, eel grass, pepper grass, lily pads, reeds and cattails.   The clearest water is in the canals and springs areas of Yalaha on the South side of Lake Harris.  The darkest water is on the open lake, especially in the summer months when algae blooms are most common.  Algae blooms are only a few inches thick with the underlying water color being a light green. In recent years, the water clarity of the lakes has greatly improved. Florida's high water and drought cycles are about 5 years in length.  Flushing in high water and wind action during drought sweeps the shoreline and allows native grasses to re-grow. Hydrilla is now being allowed to grow in some areas which is significantly aiding in the improvement of water clarity. It is not clear if this is a mind-shift on the part of County officials or a result of reduced budgets for chemicals.  What is clear is that the water quality has significantly improved and our bass fishing has been positively effected.

The depth of the lakes is about 10-12 feet on average with no reefs or open lake obstacles to impede navigation.  Big Lake Harris has the deepest water at about 30 feet along the south shoreline. Lake Griffin is the shallowest and has the least amount of development. Water depth in the numerous canals surrounding the lake varies considerably.  It is not uncommon to see dry land in many of these canals during extended droughts. The deepest Harris Chain canals are in Astatula within the development of Lake Harris Shores.

Nine of the Harris Chain lakes are interconnected via navigable canals and waterways. Lake Yale is landlocked and Lake Apopka is connected by the Apopka/Beauclair canal and lock (now closed). The center Lake in the Chain is Lake Eustis. Lake Griffin has two locks, one on Haines Creek leading into Lake Eustis and the other at the top of the lake at Moss Bluff.  Through the Moss Bluff lock you can travel by boat past Silver Springs to Jacksonville where the St. Johns River meets the Atlantic. Lake Dora, Beauclair and Carlton are the east Harris Chain lakes and can be accessed from Lake Eustis via the picturesque Dora Canal.   Lake Harris and Lake Eustis are connected by the wide Dead River waterway.

There are a number of boater friendly restaurants on the Harris Chain.  The Hurricane Dockside Grill is a popular waterfront destination on the Dead River.  The downtown Eustis City docks provide boater access to the downtown area just a short walk away.  The popular Al's Landing Restaurant and the Tavares Sea Plane base are located on Lake Dora. Mount Dora has a public dock at Gilbert Park, with historic downtown Mount Dora nearby. The Lake Harris Hideaway Restaurant has gone through a number of name changes through the years, but remains very popular with boaters and weekend biker cruisers.

The Collapse of the Bass Fishery

Thirty years ago the Harris Chain hosted numerous national bass tournaments including the B.A.S.S. Megabucks.   Around 1990, B.A.S.S. held a  disastrous national tournament on the Chain, setting a record for the lowest average catch rate of any national tournament. This tournament created ripples throughout bass fishing circles, eventually culminating in the publishing of an article in the December 1992 issue of "Bassmaster Magazine" detailing many of the problems.  The causes for the decline were reported as; over enthusiastic weed spraying, locks, pollution from Lake Apopka, mysterious bass viruses and a dozen other causes.  Whatever the cause, it was clear that bass fishing in the Harris Chain had significantly declined from previous levels.

A major contributor to the decline in Harris Chain bass fishing was the over application of  herbicides and the introduction of grass carp into the lakes in the late eighties. By 1987, hydrilla had become a major problem in the chain.  State and County water managers viewed this development as an alien attack and made the decision to totally eradicate hydrilla from the chain. A new chemical tool, Sonar (fluridone) had just been development that promised to make short work of this invasive plant.  Unfortunately, little was know about the long term effects of Sonar and proper treatment levels had yet to be worked out.  Empowered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's edict to "use any and all methods to eradicate non-native evasive plants", County employees managed to kill off all the hydrilla between 1987 and 1988.  Unfortunately, these massive treatments also had a devastating effect on native plant species as well.  Huge fields of pads, pepper and eel grass turned into fields of muddy lifeless muck and sank to the bottom of the lakes. By 1990 when the infamous B.A.S.S. tournament was held, the lakes were almost totally void of cover and traditional bass spawning areas were covered in dead plants and debris. The few bass that were caught were caught in the back of the canals where chemicals failed to reach.

The Harris Chain Recovery

Thirty years later, the lakes have largely recovered from the chemical purge. Most of the grass carp have died or have been removed and our great bass fishing has returned.  Much of the credit for the recovery has to be given to St. John's Water Water Management who made the decision to let the lakes seek their own levels instead of artificially holding the lake water levels high.  Florida's 5 year cycles of high and low water allows lake shorelines to be naturally cleaned and dried out during droughts and the bass return to newly invigorated spawning areas when the water returns.  Recently, a significant attitude change seems to be taking place as water managers attempt to manage hydrilla instead of concentrating their efforts on eradicating it entirely.

Other reasons for the recovery of the Harris Chain bass fishery can be identified.  In the early nineties, Florida implemented a five bass 14" daily limit that went a long way to improve the overall success of Florida bass anglers.   Catch and release caught on with anglers and guides. During droughts, game officials and local residents replanted acres of beneficial reeds in large areas of the Chain.  A new water filtering facility located at the mouth of Lake Beauclair is showing great promise in cleaning the water flowing into the Chain from Lake Apopka.  The future of the Harris Chain bass fishery is bright and baring the repeat of past mistakes, should continue to improve.  The truth is, the Harris Chain has the potential to be one of the greatest bass fisheries in the country.  The Harris Chain is one of Florida's most valuable assets. Billions of dollars revolve around fishing, boating and lakefront property ownership.  Only time will tell if County water managers learn from the experience of the eighties or return to the solutions of quick fixes.

Lake Apopka's Problems and Its Effects on the Harris Chain

During the fifties, Lake Apopka was known as a great bass fishing lake.  The famous 17 pound bass pictured on the boxes of Heddon Lures was caught in Lake Apopka. The lake's problems actually started in the forties.  During World War II, to aid in the war effort, numerous vegetable farms began operating in the fertile muck lands surrounding Lake Apopka. In those days, normal operating procedure was to flood the fields and back pump the runoff. This annual back pumping injected millions of pounds of fertilizer, pesticides and hazardous chemicals into the lake. In addition, millions of gallons of raw sewage and storm drain runoff was regularly pumped into Lake Apopka from the nearby city of Winter Garden.  This culminated in a total collapse of the lake's ecosystem in the early sixties.  Lake Apopka, one of the most polluted bodies of water in the Country, sits entirely in Orange County within a short drive to the famous Orlando Theme Parks. It's a shame that so much money has been spend to promote tourism in Central Florida while this tremendous environmental eye-sore remains.

In 1997 after years of negotiations, the State of Florida agreed to buy out the remaining muck farms and begin the process of restoring the lake.  Early in the process, the farm land surrounding the lake was flooded in an attempt to restore the shoreline. This attracted water birds who fed in the flooded fields and began dieing in alarming numbers. The flooded fields also caused millions of mice to abandon their nests and quickly began invading nearby homes.  Fortunately, these problems were short-lived and while Lake Apopka is still significantly polluted, it has seen some improvement in water quality.  Numerous debates are underway to determine the best way to clean up this lake. Some are suggesting letting hydrilla take hold in the lake.  There is no doubt that this solution will produce clearer water, but at what long term environmental and monetary cost?  The only real long-term solution is to dredge the lake bottom and remove the contaminated soil.  Given the huge size of Lake Apopka, the cost of dredging the lake is formidable. This cost coupled with the current economic downturn and lack of public funding is pushing the restoration of Lake Apopka into the far distant future.

The Lake County Water Authority’s Nutrient Reduction Facility (NuRF) is a crucial step toward eliminating the majority of algae-feeding compounds exported from Lake Apopka. After five years in development, the project is the largest alum-based surface water restoration facility ever built. In total, the project cost $7.272 million to construct and approximately $1 million per year to operate. The facility is located at the junction of Lake Beauclair and the Apopka/Beauclair canals.  Though it’s hard to tell amidst the wildly fluctuating weather patterns of the past ten years, the effects of the facility are starting to show some signs of improvement. Scientists have observed a significant reduction of key phosphorus-containing compounds which are a primary food source for algae. The St. Johns River Water Management District’s ongoing restoration of the muck farms surrounding Lake Apopka has been an important part of this reduction.

If you have any questions or comments about the Harris Chain or any Lake County Florida waterway, please feel free to contact us.