Lake Blue Cypress
Fishing
Blue Cypress Lake is
located on the Treasure Coast of Florida about 20 miles west of Vero
Beach, covers 6,555 prime central Florida acres of land. Perfectly
situated beneath Farm 13, the lake's name
comes from the bluish glow off the lake's cypress trees, as the
brilliant morning sun reflects off the lake's surface. .
Lake Blue Cypress is
reportedly the headwater of the St. Johns River, which flows
northward more than 300 miles to Jacksonville and the Atlantic
Ocean. The St. Johns River Water Management District owns most of
the 21-mile shoreline which is surrounded by 29,000 acres of
marshes, swamps, and cypress forests. The lake is about 7 miles long
and 3 miles wide. The area is part of the District's 150,000-acre
reclamation project to reverse decades of pollution and restore
marshes. Blue Cypress Lake is one of the cleanest in the St. Johns
District. Indian River County's Blue Cypress Park on the lake's west
side provides 2 boat launches, a floating dock, parking, 2 covered
pavilions, primitive camping, canoeing and hiking, and restrooms and
showers.
The lake's average depth
is only 8 to 9 feet, which allows for a good deal of water
vegetation to grow. Though not ideal for swimmers, these aquatic
conditions create terrific opportunities for bass fishermen. As
anglers will gladly tell you, Blue Cypress Lake is a fisherman's
paradise: some of the cleanest water in Florida makes the perfect
home for bluegill, catfish, chain pickerel, crappie, largemouth
bass, shellcrackers, and warmouth. Best known as one of the premiere
destination in Florida for bass, the largest largemouth on record at
the lake weighed in at an impressive 18 pounds, 2 ounces. Makes
sense, as the lake's shallow depths create prime conditions for lily
pads, sawgrass, and submerged logs to weave among the cypress roots,
the perfect homes for all the lake's fish. The
FWC has done a
restocking of the lake in 2008, to watch the
video please click here!
To start your fishing
day, put-in at the boat
ramp at Indian River County's Blue Cypress Park. Head under the bridge and out the
channel to the lake. Turning north will take you along the most
picturesque part of the lake, and you'll be sure to see many osprey
in the cypress trees. Within the first mile north of the boat ramp,
there are several small creeks feeding off the lake. The first one
you'll spot is Thum Creek, followed 1/2 mile later by Blue Cypress
Creek. These make interesting side-trips and an opportunity to
explore the cypress swamps, complete with sub-tropical ferns,
alligators and mosquitoes.
At about 2.5 miles, you hit the north end of the lake.
going east for another mile takes you to Moonshine Bay. After
fishing there, head southwest for 3 miles
across the lake. If you still have energy to burn, south of the fish
camps the
scenery changes dramatically with Kissimmee grass replacing the
cypress trees. At 2 miles south, you'll come to Fisher Creek and a
small canal with limited access.
Blue Cypress Lake Photographs
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Bald Cypress Trees
Taxodium distichum
With a name like Blue
Cypress Lake, you'd expect to find the reddish-brown and
green trees painted blue. While they are definitely not
blue, these irregular shaped members of the cypress family
grow up to 130 feet tall and have enlarged trunks at the
base and conical "knees".
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Osprey
Pandion haliaetus
You'll find plenty of these
large, fish-eating members of the hawk and eagle family at
Blue Cypress Lake. Osprey are frequently confused with the
Bald Eagle due to its white head. A full-sized adult has a
body length of 23 inches with a wing span of over 5 feet.
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Blue Cypress Village
Located next to Middleton's on the west side of the lake,
Blue Cypress Village is the only development in the area.
Constructed of mostly cabins, mobile homes and a few
stilt-houses, these weekend get-aways serve as base camp for
big bass seekers and those seeking to escape the congestion
of the coasts. |
Lake Blue Cypress is located at
27°45′15″N 80°44′37″W.
It is the headwaters of the St. Johns River. The lake is
21 mi (34 km) in diameter
and it is over 6,500 acres (26 km˛) in size. It is directly west of
Fellsmere, 11 miles away. To the north is Palm Bay, to the west is
Yeehaw Junction, and to the east is Fellsmere.
Additional links,,
http://www.floridaconservation.org/fishing/forecast/ner.html#blue_cyp
http://www.clubkayak.com/cfkt/trips/blue_cypress.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Cypress_Lake
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