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The CORE ISSUE Part 2 by Scott Wilson  As a follow up to my previous post, I first want to thank the thousands that took time to read, and share my post on "aquatic weed control" throughout all Florida fresh waterways. I believe this is at the heart of Florida's toxic water quality. Again I will add my disclaimer, I am no scientist, or biologist but have spent my entire 57 yrs as a successful fisherman, as a commercial/charter captain in the keys for 24 years. I have also regularly fished every major freshwater lake, and chain lake systems since 1967. And our family handed down our Kissimmee river weekend fish camp we have owned since the 1980's. The first thing any truly successful fisherman learns is to "read the water", its quality, movement, external conditions, and food supplies through the food chain. Although I admittedly am not science educated, I call BS on the science. It has been Florida' "best and brightest" since the late 50's that result in the monumental mess we have now. I have just returned from a three day trip to our Kissimmee river house, to document for myself the condition of the lakes and water quality, I Logged 20 hours, traveling on my boat, the entire distance of shoreline of all the lakes south of the locks at Toho on Southport canal. Here is the accounts on what I found. First: Because of excessive rainfall this spring and summer the water levels in lower Kissimmee basin are very high for this time of year, not historic but very high. The water in all lakes and the river is running very hard, meaning the locks on the river are wide open delivering millions and millions of additional water to Big O daily. Second: the overall water quality is extremely poor, especially in areas that show evidence of recent spraying. The water in Cypress and many huge areas of Kissimmee have the color of "creamed coffee" with near zero visibility, with little or no fish movement. Third: even with very high water levels covering damage done by spring, evidence of spraying damage can easily be found on every pool the worst being several very large portions of Kissimmee. The Issues are that in these areas it's beyond the chemical poisons, but indiscriminate spraying of any thing green, killing acres on acres of natural vegetation that naturally filter water. A large 5 mile strip, running down the eastern shore from about 1/2 mile point into the shoreline are countless acres of natural vegetation now eradicated! On the east side of Strum Island in North Cove area of the lake, large areas wiped out, with now large floating mats of dead decaying muck. Even completely spraying out one of the last natural stands of "pencil reed" in North Cove. Forth: We witnessed spraying every day but Monday. Tuesday morning followed a pair of Chemtainer Airboats working in tandem on the NE corner of Cypress Lake. Less than an hour later, we stopped thirty minutes to watch a helicopter spraying in an area on Cypress next to Cypress canal an area not assessable to boat or air boat. On Wednesday morning found a spray air boat working the areas on eastern shore of Kissimmee where there is so much eradication ,working further to the south. Fifth: after recently completing (2 years ago) a huge multi million dollar contract to dredge the Kissimmee River between Hatch and Kissimmee, needed for "flood control" to have the ability to move more water south. Well apparently according to all the locals failed miserably and filled back in. There is now a project on the opposite side of the river where hundreds of Cypress trees and miles of natural vegetation has been removed, they are dredging from the other side and replacing all the natural vegetation with rip rap for miles. Sixth: Wednesday morning I spent two hours fishing the major period in a traditional high producing areas with healthy looking vegetation. I caught two largemouth bass both about a pound and a half. However judging by length and mouth size both fish should have weighed in the three pound range. The fish were nearly colorless, looking like they are starving, and both had noticeable tumors on their bodies. Seventh: On a more positive note, I did find a few areas on Kissimmee and especially on Hatch with improving water quality. All these areas are areas where there is fresh, green, healthy hydrillia starting to top out. Eighth: I actually had tears when I ran "Grassy Island" on Kissimmee, what was once square miles of some of the most dense vegetation on the lake, Producer of more trophy largemouth through history than almost any place on the chain, is now open water, with only a sprig here and there. There is no place on Grassy you even have slow down This is a slideshare of pictures by Scott Wilson. Each frame will advance automatically or you can click the arrows to advance to the next frame. MY CONCLUSION AND SOLUTION The Kissimmee Lake chain is now sick, from its lessened ability to naturally filter itself. This is directly related to the tripled down governmental effort to "control" aquatic weed. I believe with all my heart that hydrillia could save Florida's toxic water quality. There are many governmental scientific types that consider it invasive and have used it as justification for over spraying our lakes with toxic chemicals for decades. If people are truly serious about saving Florida's water, from chemicals and fertilizers creating nutrients rich outflows now destroying both our fresh and salt water fisheries, our tourist capital and Florida's appeal it's so Simple STOP THE SPRAYING !! LET THE HYDRILLIA GROW THREE YEARS !! Hydrillia grows so fast 1-2 inches a day in good conditions, it produces massive amounts of oxygen, rapidly depletes nutrients like nitrogen, and phosphorus, holds and produces massive amounts of fish life, and can be controlled without chemicals using "paddle wheel" harvesters So how would we fund a large fleet of paddle wheel harvesters ?? Simple : I do not know any fisherman that would not gladly be assessed a small $5 fee to save our fisheries, beaches, and tourism. Add a small impact fee to everyone holding, and out of state fishing license holders. Perhaps reroute some funds from tourism impact fees. Anyone remember what The Almighty did in wake of the BP gulf spill, when we were told the gulf may never recover from massive amounts of oil on the bottom. A never before seen organism that eats oil, shows up, eats the oil, and now they cannot find any oil on the bottom of the gulf God has an amazing way of putting the right things, at the right places, at the right times. Maybe just maybe hydrillia is our answer The answers and policies of the "best and brightest" is what got us to this point, maybe we just need to let creation fix itself, it has an amazing track record STOP THE SPRAYING LET THE HYDRILLIA GROW TWO OR THREE YEARS WHAT DO WE HAVE TO LOOSE?? BUT EVERYTHING WE LOVE Thank you again for your time and consideration Best Regards Pastor Scott Wilson Facebook Page CLICK HERE  LEAVE A COMMENT
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