# Lake Hancock (fish ID please)



## out-cast

Looks like a shad.


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## Brett

threadfin or gizzard shad


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## Cody_F

Looks like a gizzard


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## Recidivists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_gizzard_shad

Interesting to read about their contribution to eutrophication, which by your description has happened at lake Hancock already.


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## firecat1981

Looks like Gizzard shad is the winner. And the process of eutrophication is definitely complete! The water is the brightest green and it's amazing to see in a lake this big. All the locals will tell you there are no game fish in this lake.

There are tilapia, shad, and catfish by the ton. From what I read a while back, before the freeze a few years ago, the commercial fishermen going for tilapia were getting up to 35,000lbs a day at one point . That's impressive numbers, hopefully the lake bounces back quickly.


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## Recidivists

35,000 # a day...Wow!


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## DEEK

looks like a thread fin shad


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## Recidivists

Bendback is right, it is a threadfin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threadfin_shad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Hancock


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## firecat1981

After looking at multiple pictures I'm leaning towards threadfin shad too now, not that it really matters since I can't do much with them. It really is amazing how much life there is in this lake. I know it's mostly shad and tilapia, but everywhere we went things were hoppin.

Some locals told us to nail the throttle and look behind us, we did and there were shad jumping out of the water by the hundreds! It was a cool sight to see. I am looking foward to going back for some catfish and maybe trying for some tilapia.


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## Snookdaddy

*Quote: There are tilapia, shad, and catfish by the ton. From what I read a while back, before the freeze a few years ago, the commercial fishermen going for tilapia were getting up to 35,000lbs a day at one point . That's impressive numbers, hopefully the lake bounces back quickly. *    

     This is exactly the reason my family and I do not knowingly eat Tilapia (Nile Perch)...  I know for a fact that most seafood stores and probably a good number of seafood restaurants sell these fish to unsuspecting consumers... Often masked a a "Grouper Sandwich" or "farm raised" Tilapia..  I see a lot of commercial fisherman with Jon Boats pulling into Lakeland Seafood on a daily basis selling their tilapia and most of them are caught from some very unsavory lakes in the area.  I do not want to eat a fish from a lake that I wouldn't feel comfortable swimming in...  

     Look up the meaning of eutrophication and you'll see what caused the condition...  Nitrogen, Phosphorus and even Human Waste from sewage plants in amounts greater than the body of water can handle...  

     Firecat, I seriously would not eat anything out of Lake Hancock... In fact, I wouldn't even put my boat in that lake...  If you fry up a mess a catfish and it tastes like human waste, you'll know why...

Lake Hancock is a s*%t hole that has been in bad shape for the last 35 years and will never "come back"... 

I'm not biased tilapia either... You ought to see where some of the blue crab comes from in Tampa Bay... 

Just my 2 cents...


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## DuckNut

Look across the street (Winter Lake Rd) and what do you see? The county landfill. And behind that out of sight? The sewage treatment plant. Both are on the shoreline of the Peace River and where do you think the goodies are flowing too?

There used to be teal by the thousands out there and whistlers and woodies were also abundant. Then teal started showing up dead and they cleared the lake of all of the vegitation and the lake started its transformation. The duck no longer even stop by for a rest. They are all gone. The gators used to be out of control and eating the cows in the nearby pasture - even those guys are gone. A few smaller ones remain but the monsters have either moved on or died.

I know a commercial fisherman that used to get tilapia out of there but no longer puts his boat in there at all.


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## firecat1981

I get what you guys are saying, but if I go by every report that says certain fish are dangerous and to stay away I wouldn't eat fish at all. Eat fish from the ocean you get mercury, eat it raised from a farm and the fatty acid balances are off and eating them does more harm then good. There really is no "good" source for fish anymore IMO, but some are better then others.

That being said I did contact the FWC to get there's and swiftmud's pollution reports. I know they survey and test the lake and surrounding area several times a year, if it comes back clean then I don't have an issue with it. If not then I can still catch the cats for fun, but I don't think the lake is worth giving up on, it feeds the peace river, how many people fish that.

As far as wildlife, gators and eutrophication goes. We saw a crap ton of gators out there, just in the little cove we checked out there were a few in the 7-8ft range, granted not monsters but not babies either. Can't say much for the ducks, there were a ton of osprey picking off the shad and a flock of snakebirds(what we call them), didn't see much else. 

I'm familiar with the eutrophication process as someone else pointed me that way a while back. But Gizzard and threadfin shad from what I'm reading can do the transformation as well, and since they are the lakes biggest population I wonder what came first? chicken or the egg?



> Gizzard shad contribute to eutrophication, both by fertilizing algae with their copious feces and by preying on "grazing" zooplankton that normally feed on algae.
> 
> In spite of the possible benefits to trophy-size bass, gizzard shad generally have a negative effect on sport fish. Most wildlife management agencies try to prevent their spread. Using them as live bait is illegal in most public lakes, and deliberately introducing any fish into a public body of water is illegal as well.


I appreciate the warning guys, and maybe it isn't an ideal crystal clear spring fed lake, but I can't see the FDA and FWC allowing toxic fish to be harvested. Well at least not anymore toxic then the fish we buy from publix or catch around here in Tampa Bay. I look foward to the response I get from the FWC, should make for some interesting reading.​


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## Recidivists

Phosphates and nitrogen runoff are the inevitabilities of living in a state run by agriculture and mining.  Everything south of the big lake is risky eating.  Why do we have to subsidise cane sugar, when beets provide over 80% of our sugar in the states? In your area and south to Lake Wales, the phosphate miners rule.

Runoff definately came first, as well as the depletion of the aquifers by over developement for people that can't claim multi-generational status in our fine state.

Florida has definately devolved in my estimation; but so has the globalized world.


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## kentvanhook

Sorry a little late on this one but.....a buddy and myself went out there last duck season hearing about all the ducks killed there over the years (scouting didnt even bring the guns, did bring a few rods though). We could hardly get the boat past all the buzzards at the "ramp" haha. I literally had the dry heaves [smiley=puke.gif] as we were pulling out!! lol. We were surprised by the color ourselves! it really is a shame because like firecat said it is a big lake with some awesome shorlines. We couldn't stir a duck up and left. Dunno about eating fish out of it but probably eaten worse out of better looking places. Have a question about it though, The river on the south west side of the lake.....Peace river?


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## Wrh6489

The shoreline is nice,, because it means your not in the lake. Now I was thinking of painting my hull a off green do you think if I put in that lake a few times it would put a solid coat on it ?


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## firecat1981

> Sorry a little late on this one but.....a buddy and myself went out there last duck season hearing about all the ducks killed there over the years (scouting didnt even bring the guns, did bring a few rods though). We could hardly get the boat past all the buzzards at the "ramp" haha. I literally had the dry heaves as we were pulling out!!


Lol, was that after the freeze? I hear the dead tilapia were stacked up 6-10ft thick around the whole lake! We didn't see any buzzards, and didn't really smell anything out of the ordinary for a lake around here.



> We were surprised by the color ourselves! it really is a shame because like firecat said it is a big lake with some awesome shorlines. We couldn't stir a duck up and left. Dunno about eating fish out of it but probably eaten worse out of better looking places. Have a question about it though, The river on the south west side of the lake.....Peace river?


Yes that is the peace river. The color, while not very good for the lakes ecology, is pretty amazing.



> The shoreline is nice,, because it means your not in the lake


I have no idea what you mean by that. And I don't think the water would stain your boat very quickly unless you never rinsed it off, but still it will probably turn brown instead of green.


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