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Low Down on Lake Toho Draw Down
Part 3: Politics
By Paul Crawford

February 23, 2004

One Low Down on the Draw Down - Politics as Unusual

There is a rather unusual feature about West Lake Toho that even the locals don't think about. While it's true that West Lake is a well-managed lake, basically it's part of a swamp. All of Florida can loosely be thought of as a swamp, just one that's been fairly tamed. Sure, our thousands of lakes may only qualify as a pond most places, and they are surrounded by half million-dollar homes. But in spite of the well-manicured lawns, the house is still a high spot in a swamp.

Normally, living in a well-behaved swamp isn't a problem. Oh, you might worry about a tropical storm dumping a foot of rain, making the swamp rise and have your garden shed float off. But in a tamed swamp, you learn how screened porches and pools keep out mosquitoes and that gators are really only a concern if your little poodle FiFi comes up missing before supper. Life is good, the weather great, and the fishing is excellent. It's only when you attempt something like drawing down a lake for maintenance, you start to realize you've really got to literally drain the swamp to do it.

I'm sure that this will sound odd to those who live out west, or to those of us that just came out of the record 5 year long drought a few years back, but the real problem about draining a swamp is not how to do it, but what to do with all of that water. We've built an impressive and extensive canal and water flow system in Florida, just to control that tropical storm thing. As a result, most of the lakes in Florida are "chains" of lakes or lake interconnected by navigable canals.

To give you an idea of how interconnected all of this is, we'll go back to the days of the Kissimmee Boat-a-thon. Back before the Kissimmee River Restoration project, every year a flotilla of several hundred boats would start out at the ramp on the north end of West Lake Toho, motor down through the Kissimmee Chain, (Cypress, Hatchineha, Kissimmee), down the Kissimmee River to Okeechobee. They then locked into the Intercoastal Waterway, ran that all the way back up to Jacksonville, then came back down through all of the lakes on the St. John's River until they got to Lake Monroe in Sanford, about 40 miles from where they started. And that doesn't take into account all of the smaller lakes draining down through East Lake Toho and into West Lake that controls the water flow in the south end of Orlando, or the endless chain of smaller lakes connected within in the system through smaller natural canals. Now if all of that water is interconnected, where do you put the water if you want to drain some out of the middle? Of course this assumes you can drain it in the first place.

Quick geography question. What is the highest point in Florida, (other than Magic Mountain)? The answer: the highest point in Florida is Britton Hill, Lakewood Park in Walton County (Western Panhandle of Florida) and is only 345 feet above sea level. What this should tell you is there aren't very many mountains in Florida. In fact, the southern 1/3 of the peninsula is both very low and very flat, just like you'd expect in a swamp. It's not the type of place you'd like to put a hydro-electric dam. All of the flow controls are relatively modest size gates, locks, and overflow dams and they are used to manage natural flows, not man-made reservoirs. For the amount of water around here, it's an extremely small flow capacity available for management. If you ever tried to pump out a swimming pool or small pond, you'll recognize what an impossible task it would be to try to move a lake with mechanical pumps. So, all of this should tell you the only way to move around enough water to fill a lake is by natural means, and those means will be relatively slow.

Lake managers were faced with two problems: how to get the water out of the lake; and where to store all of that extra water. The options for the first problem numbered exactly one … you let it flow downstream towards Okeechobee. Given that the water was going that way, the easy answer to the second question was just store it in Okeechobee. That might have been a welcomed answer back during the drought, but right now that really upset some people.

The first people to be upset were the sugar farmers. Ever since we embargoed Cuba, South Florida has been the place to grow sugar. Closely related to rice production, you need a steady but manageable flow of fresh water to grow sugar. And where would you think they would grow sugar to get that water access? That's right, just downstream of Okeechobee in the Everglades. If you tried to push all of that extra water past Okeechobee, then you'd flood out the sugar crop. Since Sugar is Big Business down there, flooding ain't likely to happen.

Well, Okeechobee is a big place, so why don't we just leave it there until after the sugar harvest? Enter the Sierra Club and the associated list of environmentalists in their wake. Turns out the recovery from the drought has been a huge success. So successful that Okeechobee is already a foot or so above the scheduled level, or in other words, in what passes around here for flood stage. With the native vegetation drowning in the high water, the extra water from Toho is a very unwelcome guest.

Hey, it's almost 60 miles between the output of Lake Kissimmee and Okeechobee, so why not store in before it gets to the Big O? First obstacle is the 800 pound Gorilla in the water management world, the U.S. Corps of Engineers. The Corp had already cancelled plans for the draw down a year earlier when it's Kissimmee River Restoration Project ran behind and they couldn't get out of way of the extra water in time. While the Corps was busy restoring the basin to handle a lot of extra water, it wasn't quiet ready yet so they insisted on passing the water along. Nobody, not the State, not the Sierra Club, not Sugar growers were about to question the Corps because the all knew who helped approve Environmental Impact Statements, so at least they all clearly knew where the water wasn't going to be stored. Back to the Big O plan, with a slight deter by the Courts.

In a very unusual alliance was created between the normal mortal enemies the Sierra Club and the Sugar Growers. They went to court attempting to stop the draw down just as it was getting underway. After much press, lots of public allegations, and a fair amount of political arm-twisting on both sides, the Judge cleared the way to finish the draw down. In this case timing was everything. All that was necessary was for the Appeals court to refuse to issue an emergency stay, and by the time the lawyers have run up their fees the draw down will be over. Of course all of the taxpayers are bracing for the sure-to-come subsequent damage suit by the sugar farmers and/or the environmentalist partners, but by then we'll all be pulling 5 pounders out of our newly cleaned up lake.

While all of the press went to the problem of too much water down south, back upstream we were hearing about all of damage being caused because of the low water.

For those fishery buffs out there, you'll remember the ill-fated draw down in 1996 of the southern half of the Kissimmee Chain. For you who need to catch up, a quick review. After the huge success of the West Lake Toho draw down, it seemed logical to finish up the rest of the chain with the same treatment. While Toho thrived, the lower 3 lakes in the chain, Cypress, Hatchineha, and Kissimmee, were choked down with hydrilla and muck. In 1996 they left Toho filled up and drew down the southern part of the chain for clean up. But someone forgot to cancel the drought and the lakes languished bare of cover and little new water to refill. The water turned the color of coffee from all of the stirred up sediment and the fishing checked out for the duration. After putting up with 4 seasons of bad access, dry docks, lost business and poor fishing, you can image how thrilled the camp operators were to hear they were going to get to do it all over again as a portion of the Toho draw down.

The problem is that natural flow thing again. If you're going to drain out the lake by gravity, water tends to like to drain downhill. The desired lake level for Toho was 49.0', or about a foot and a half below what was normal pool for this time of year on the lower lakes. For you guys who watch your reservoirs drop 20 feet a year, 1 ½ feet doesn't sound like much. But think of it this way, in the entire basin's water management history, (60 - 70 years on record), the difference between the highest flood stage ever recorded and the lowest draw down ever done is a little under 7 feet. You're at ¼ of that difference and starting from normal pool, so it is a pretty good hit.

The camp owners got even less satisfaction than the sugar growers, (they don't pay as much in taxes.) Fortunately, there are several silver linings in this tale of woe. The water was only pulled down to the absolutely needed 49' to allow West Lake to drain. That is still above a true draw down and many of the access problems predicted haven't materialized (yet.) The cleaned areas are getting a refresher drying out which only promotes healthy natural growth and prevents silt build up. Since the drought has been busted, there is some submerged vegetation reestablished and the lower water is promoting that growth as well, cleaning the water in the process. In fact, recent reports from down stream say the fishing is even better on the lower lakes than it is on Toho, and it's pretty darn good on Toho.

First let's close out our political discussion, then get to the fishing part.

The law suits are over, the lake has been drawn down, and the work is going quickly and on schedule. The lesson for all of us to learn from this is even if we are the primary active users of a body of water, what we ask to be done to that water and how to manage it has far reaching effects far outside our community. If we are going to ask lake managers to take dramatic action for our benefit, we must be prepared to lend political voices and support to the agencies because there will surely be a long line to attack them. It doesn't matter how good it may be for the resource, you'll all have a "not in my back yard" crowd, and it's a pretty big crowd when you'll have to flood their back yard.

Now for the good part, a quick review of the status and a fishing report.

If you're planning on a trip to West Lake, your destination should be Richardson's Fish Camp, (407-846-6540.) Since they lived through the '87 draw down, they knew what to expect and what to do about it. They are the one place on the lake that has been dredging their ramp and access channel, even providing a temporary dock for passenger loading. They have RV hook ups and several small cottages for visitors. They have a $3 ramp fee, (more than worth it), and have snacks and the usual small tackle available. Best of all, since it's home base for about every guide on the lake right now, they can and eagerly will give you all of the latest low down on where they are biting and what on. Not a bad deal at all.

As for the other ramps, small boats can still get in and out of Southport, but bigger rigs are having trouble finding enough water to launch a boat. The blow holes at the end of the ramp from power loading means when you back too far down, you get to wade out and lift your trailer out of the hole before having someone else pull out the truck. If you have help and waxed bunks, it's still a great place to fish out of if you're heading up from Winter Haven. Red's or now Skinny Al's also has plenty of water to launch a boat, but their problem is getting out to the lake. Unlike Southport, there isn't a canal wide and deep enough to get on plane, so you're stuck trying to bump your way out to the lake. Given enough time and a good trolling motor, it can be done and shallow draft boats can make it through if you go slow enough. The one great thing about that ramp is if you're willing to put up with the shallow canal, you can stop in and see Kim over at Skinny Al's and get one of the best catfish platters on the planet. Not a better place anywhere for a shore lunch …. If you can get to it.

Once you're on the lake, you can play safe on the northern end or catch fish by running south. The deeper water around the islands on the north end is attracting a lot of fishing pressure. You can pick up a few small fish up there. Best bets are the entrance to Gobblet's Cove, the entrance to Shingle Creek, or the old reliable fish attractors. You'll have to knock the crappie (called "specks" down here), fishermen out of the way, but if you stay away from the emergent grass, you've got plenty of water, if you still call 4 feet plenty.

The middle portion of the lake has shut down other than the usual bank runners mostly on the West shore. The water around the hydrilla is only a foot or two deep and there are areas up to 100 yards off shore where you can't get on plane. There are some small schoolers in the area, but tread lightly and keep an eye on the depth finder when running or risk running out of water.

South of Browns Point seems to be the place. They are treating the hydrilla this week, so it will be changing over the next month or two. Right now, the open water hydrilla in over 3 feet is where the fish are holding. They are really ganged up with few places to hide. That doesn't mean they are everywhere, or even most places. You'll have to look a while before you run across them, but it's worth the wait. When you do catch up with them, they are fat little footballs stuffed with shad and ready to feed heavy. I've heard several reports of guys having 50 fish days out there, lots of big fish coming in, and on the same days lots of other boats shooting blanks. You just got to find 'em.

All of the usual baits are working. Number One is the old standby Senko. Just work it over the grass then let it drop as it comes of the edge and leave it there. A few seconds later it will start swimming towards open water. For searching it's your choice of a Baby Bass colored Fluke or a white spinner bait. Neither of the faster baits will catch as many fish as the Senko, but you can cover a lot of water and let the aggressive little ones tell you where they are holding. And don't forget the top waters. I was playing with a Sugoi Splash last weekend, ( 501 Rainbow if you care), and was having 3 pounders knock it into next Tuesday. That's the kind of fishing that still makes me giggle like a teenaged girl.

If you get a chance, come down and check it out. With the hydrilla being knocked back, the forage will soon be gone and these hungry girls will start hitting anything that moves. Catch and Release only, thank goodness.

Hope to see you out there. I got to go. I hear a 7 pounder callin' my name.

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