NEWS RELEASE

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

FISH ORLANDO! Turkey Lake Fishing Boat Program on line!

DATE:  31 August, 2001
CONTACT:  Jim Sweatman (407- 317-7329)

On August 2, 2001, the FISH ORLANDO! Fishing Boat program at Turkey Lake Park was officially launched in good fashion. The general public may now call to make reservations to use the five Bass Tracker boats graciously donated by BASS PRO SHOPS Outdoor World in Orlando. The boats are available, weather permitting, Thursday – Sunday from 6:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. For reservations via a credit card, interested fishermen can call Turkey Lake Park at 407- 299-1248. There will be a few weeks where the boats will not be available due to large scale Park activities so interested out-of-state prospects are encouraged to call first.

Earlier press releases, magazine pieces, newspaper articles and T.V. coverage advertising the concept of the Fish Orlando! Turkey Lake Fishing Boat Program resulted in hundreds of calls to our office and Turkey Lake Park. Now that the program is on line I am sure they will want to know!

FISH ORLANDO! is a program designed to “Bring Quality Fishing to Families” in the greater Orlando area. Spearheaded by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), it is supported by the City of Orlando, City of Ocoee, Orange County and BASS PRO SHOPS Orlando.

Turkey Lake is a FISH ORLANDO! FAB FIVE. Unveiled to the public in November 1999, the FAB FIVE are five water bodies managed to provide the opportunity to catch (not necessarily harvest) a quality-size fish.

In Turkey Lake the management focus is catch-and-release for largemouth bass and catch-and-keep for black crappie (no size limit; bag limit of 25). In order to keep the quality atmosphere on the lake, there are no boat motors allowed except during sanctioned City or FWC events. The new Bass Tracker boats are equipped with trolling motors and an outboard motor shell to accommodate this regulation. The general public must also note that when the City of Orlando received the deed to Turkey Lake Park from the state, the stipulation was no public boat access of any kind. This means that notwithstanding the rental boats, there is no fishing or launching of any type of boats within Turkey Lake Park.

As part of the FISH ORLANDO! activities associated with Turkey Lake, the FWC and the City of Orlando have conducted a $100,000 lake enhancement project, installed 5 brush fish attractors, constructed 3 informational kiosks, refurbished the dock facilities, built 2 floating fishing piers, initiated a bait and tackle rental program and installed two state-of-the-art fish feeders on the fixed fishing pier. Additional work planned for Turkey Lake in the next several months includes refurbishment of the fixed pier and planting some of the more unproductive areas of the lake with the “fish loving” aquatic plant, eelgrass.

The other FAB FIVE water bodies in addition to Turkey Lake are Starke Lake (largemouth bass catch-and-keep), Shadow Bay Park (limited catch and keep for channel catfish; 30 inch minimum size), Kirkman Pond (hybrid bluegill/bluegill catch-n-release) and Clear Lake (hybrid striped bass catch and keep). In addition to the FAB FIVE, Fish Orlando! has five URBAN PONDS (lakes Ivanhoe, Santiago, Richmond, Lorna Doone and Bear Creek Park) that are routinely stocked with catfish, and managed for the beginning fisherman and those who prefer to eat their catch.

For questions please call Jim Sweatman (FISH ORLANDO! Coordinator) at 407- 317-7329 (w) or 407-510-0925 (p).