Guana Dam: What You Might Not Know

If you are looking for a great place to fish or bring the family for a memorable weekend experience, Guana Dam just might be the place! It's a popular fishing, crabbing and shrimping area. The GTM Research Reserve manages the Guana River, south of the dam, along with the dam parking lot and entry station.

Since the 1950s, the Guana River has been divided by Guana Dam with the northern waters becoming a lake, originally named Lake Ponte Vedra, but popularly know as Guana Lake. South of the dam, the river flows into the Tolomato River, part of the continuous Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Kayaking on the Guana River
 

Damming the river in 1984, originally for hunting waterfowl, created a unique situation for fishing. From the southern end of the lake near Guana Dam, brackish to salty water gradually turns to fresh water toward the northern end, resulting in both saltwater and freshwater fish species inhabiting the same lake. The saltwater fish include redfish, black drum, catfish, jacks, croaker, ladyfish, bluefish flounder, mullet, and numerous others. Only a small number of freshwater species inhabit the northern edge of the lake.

Check out this video of someone catching a fish at the Guana Dam.  

Seining at the Guana Lake

This area has many recreational opportunities such as kayaking, family seining, canoeing and many miles of upland hiking and biking trails through the same wilderness once inhabited and fished by pre-Columbian Indians and farmed by early Europeans. The best part is that it's free!