Future of Fishing, Boating on Agenda for Medard Park Meeting (Sept. 22)

The public will get a chance to give their views on the future of fishing in one of Eastern Hillsborough County’s most popular parks at a public hearing Sept. 22.

The public meeting, sponsored by Hillsborough County and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, will center on a proposed Fish Management Area for the reservoir in Edward Medard Park, 5737 Turkey Creek Road.

Meanwhile, boating at the park is expected to resume by year's end.

Fish Management Area status is a designation the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission assigns to a publicly accessible water body to improve its populations of game fish. 

The Southwest Florida Water Management District drained the 800-acre reservoir in 2009 to do repair work on a dam. Native fish like large mouth bass were transported to area ponds as the pond drained. Other exotic species, like plecostomus catfish and tilapia, were allowed to die off.  

Dam repair work was . Earlier this year, Florida Fish and Wildlife placed 300,000 baby large mouth bass, bream, crappie and catfish in the reservoir.

Just when locals will be able to cast a line for those fish is one of the questions officials hope to resolve at the public meeting.

“We hope, through discussions with the community, to identify their wants and needs. We want to know what the fishing community would like to see in the future out there," said Jeff Mauch, a general manager with the county’s Parks, Recreation & Conservation Department. “I know people are chomping at the bit to get back in there to fish.”

They might have to chomp a little longer.

Florida Fish and Wildlife is believed to want a two-year ban on fishing in the reservoir to allow the fish to grow.

Depending on the public meeting, the solution could be anything from a two-year ban on fishing to a catch-and-release policy, Mauch said.

Mauch encouraged the fishing community to come to the meeting and float their own ideas with county and Florida Fish and Wildlife staff.

The meeting is slated for Thursday, Sept. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Turkey Creek Recreation Center, 5936 Connell Road, Plant City.

Boaters who want to use the reservoir can take heart, though. The county is expected to announce a date for the resumption of boating on the reservoir at the meeting.

“We are going to suggest Dec. 31 for an opening for boating on the reservoir,” Mauch said. “We would like to open a little earlier but Florida Fish and Wildlife wanted to get in some spraying first to kill off some vegetation that has popped up.”

For more information, the public can contact Mauch at 813-987-6284.

NOTE: Edward Medard Park extends along 1,284 acres owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD), where a water control structure and reservoir offer flood protection along the Alafia River. In 1972, under an agreement with the District, Hillsborough County developed this site as one of its largest and most popular regional parks.