Citrus County Duck Hunters

[Dennis]

Anyone hunt up at the Chass NWR?

[duckmanhar]

RE chazz,

Dennis, Chazz can be good if ya scout hard find the fresh water holes and you may have a great hunt. Beware of the tides real fast and the mud will trap ya untill the turn.

Make dam sure ya have the permit and tide tables the boundry is hard to read.

In the past it was a mecca but due to the storms and rain in the past 4-5 years the vegitation is bad find the grapes and you will have some luck.


Be safe.

Phil

[Pirate91]

Is that a daily use permit? Or good for the season permit? Do you need the hunter safety course to obtain it like at MI or no?

[duckmanhar]

No the permit works for all season and no HSE needed but everyone needs a little safty now and then.

[RICH BURMANN]

i HAVE HUNTED CHASS IN THE PAST AND HAVE HAD GOOD DAYS AND BAD. I HUNT CHASS INLAND FOR DEER AND DUCK BUT THIS YEAR ALMOST ALL THE INLAND PONDS ARE DRY! redheads and bluebills come to the inland ponds for fresh water to drink. I have scouted OZELLO and NORTH to CRYSTAL RIVER and think that I would have better luck in that area. I used to hunt LAKE ROUSSEAU before they killed ALL the weeds . Back in the 80s when we had a special 10 day 10 a day bluebill season I used to limit out every time I went out. Ducks I have shot at Lake R were bluebills, cans, goldeneyes, gadwells,spoonies, greenwing and bluewing teal,and 1 greenhead mallard. I have not hunted there in the last 5 years as I have found a better lake but they are killing ALL the weeds at PANNASOFFKKEE so I will probably be FORCED to hunt the gulf at CHASS but like the opther fellow said, its a killer with the tides. (once got caught out there at low tide and couldnt get in untill the tide came in. GOOD LUCK and let us know how you do!

[N. Cook]

CAn you find out WHO is "killing all the weeds".....WMD, ACOE, FDEP, some local agency....and what "weeds" are they targeting, hydrilla? or something else.

We will be attending the FDEP workshop on herbacide spraying in FL in a few weeks....we want the waterfowl to figure in the spraying equation.

Just post it here and I will take the info for use.

Thanks
Newton

[DUCKWHACKER]

Newton, I'm not sure of the "who", but I was on Pana for early teal and they were suckin' muck along the west shore and runnin' the paddlewheel weedeater boat :rolleyes: back and forth on the mid south section.

[Wilbur]

I think the FWC has a part in this opperation. Lake Pan has a real problem with silt, and its wiping out the native grasses that covered the bottom in alot of places. The story I got was that the dredging would improve water quality and allow the eelgrass and other plant life to come back to what it used to be. They went to work on the project before it got out of hand and it might be worth while... but I'm no biologist so I cant say for sure. I was told by an FWC person that when they are done the boat ramp at Coleman might be replaced with a new one and re-opened.

[N. Cook]

What you are reporting is often the case....and that is why we don't go running to the agencies and complaining until we have the details....often the work is legitimate and even helpful. Docks have to be kept clear, canals as well and the normal open water areas....dredging is often needed. But we do have a chance now because of our improved relationship to work with the agencies to "manage" the hydrilla and allow food plants to remain in the marsh areas frequented by waterfowl instead of just killing all plants in the lake.

As I posted elsewhere....get the facts and send them to David and we will address the issues when we can.

[Lawrence]

THere is a tremendous dredging project going on at Lake Pann. The main reason is all the years of spraying have caused the place to have a tremendous amount of muck.

Once the project is done the lake hopefully will be fantastic. Back in the 50's and 60's it apparently was an incredible place to hunt.

It was also great in the 90's but obviously times have changed. Reguardless, this is a big time project and all you can do is hope it will improve the hunts in the future. I wouldn't disagree that something needed to be done. I have hunted it many times in the past and the south end was a bottomless pit of ooze.

[Pirate91]

Is the only time you can hunt waterfowl on Chass during the short small game season, Dec 1-Jan 8?

[duckmanhar]

all season for ducks

[Pirate91]

Just wasn't so clear in the regs.....

[matthersjr]

You'll have better luck on the With River and Talsa Apopka chain.

[matthersjr]

I was hunting pigs on Chass this evening; no luck; saw some tracks and what was consumed by them. Anyways, I did see a couple dozen flights of some big ducks as I approached Spring Hill Drive on 19. They were flying towards the west. I guess they were flying out towards the ponds off of Hernando Beach Rd or Little Pine Island Bay.