Lake Panasoffkee SWIM Plan - Southwest Florida Water ...

present in Lake Panasoffkee, but this study concentrated on the three major species:
largemouth bass, redear sunfish and bluegill. There was approximately the same amount of
effort directed toward catching largemouth bass in 1991 as 1992, but the catch per unit effort
(CPUE) and the harvest per unit effort (HPUE) increased in 1992. The survey years showed
a trend of increasing harvest of bass (36 percent) over the survey period. Similarly, the redear
sunfish catch and harvest rose in 1992 by 75 percent and 81 percent, respectively, from 1991,
and CPUE and HPUE nearly doubled. This was supported by electrofishing data. On the
other hand, declines in bluegill harvest (62 percent) and HPUE (29 percent) were recorded
from 1991 to 1992, and declines were supported by electrofishing data.
Creel surveys from 1974 and 1977 were compared with surveys from 1991 and 1992. As with
the later surveys, the 1974 and 1977 surveys were performed over a twelve week period.
Factors affecting fishery comparisons include spring weather patterns, water levels, extent of
vegetative coverage, and year class strength of target species. One of the stated goals of
1991192 surveys was to document additional recreational use of the lake; however, other
recreational users besides fishermen numbered so few in 1991 that this element of the survey
was discontinued for 1992. Eight percent of the users on Lake Panasoffkee in 1991 were
pleasure boating and not observed fishing during the four hour sample time. No other
recreational users were observed. The charts below show some historical data by fish
species for effort in hours, harvest per unit effort, and harvest. Harvest is defined as all fish
retained at the completion of a fishing trip.
Lamemouth Bass
Effort (hours)
HarvWunit effort
10265 19704 15146
0.38 0.41 0.09
Haw& I 31 98 I 8799 I 2105 I 2868 II
0.17
II
Effort (hours)
Harvestlunit effort
Harvest
14936 22547 13909 14904
2.71 0.98 0.73 1.43
3801 1 26263 13154 23793
Effort (hours) I 2824 I 3529 I 9148 I 5762 II
Harvestluniteffort I 1.88 I 1.60 I 0.62 I 0.44 II
Overall, harvest estimates for largemouth bass, redear sunfish, and bluegill fishery have
declined between the 1974/1977 survey and the I99111992 survey.
Aquatic Vegetation
Extensive communities of submersed aquatic plants in the lake provide the habitat conditions
needed by gamefish populations, although the plants also restrict access to large areas of the
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