FWC to complete Medard stocking with last of 100,000 largemouth bass
News Release
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Media contact: Gary Morse, 863-648-3200
On March 30, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) will stock Edward Medard Reservoir with 15,000
Florida-strain largemouth bass fingerlings, the last installment of
a project to add 100,000 bass to the newly refurbished reservoir
near Plant City.
It stocked the reservoir with 85,000 juvenile bass on March
25.
In December 2010, the FWC also stocked Medard with 300,000
bluegills.
This week's bass-stocking is scheduled to be followed by the
stocking of approximately 74,000 redear sunfish (shellcracker),
later this spring. All stocked fish were spawned at the FWC's
Largemouth Bass Research Center in Webster.
Currently closed to fishing, Medard Reservoir will reopen when
the lake naturally refills to its 770-acre capacity.
A popular freshwater-fishing destination for local anglers, the
lake was drained in November 2009 to refurbish the water-control
structure on its southwest end. Construction was completed on
that structure in spring 2010, and the lake began to refill.
Other improvements include the placing of more than 2,000 tons
of concrete rubble from the old water-control structure into long
furrows made by draglines when the area was an active phosphate
mine. Once the lake completely refills, these rubble beds
should attract significant numbers of native sport fish.
For more information on freshwater fishing opportunities in
Florida, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing.
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