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FARM 13 / STICK MARSH FISHING REPORTS
FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL, 2006
April 29, 2006
A front and pretty stout winds 26-28 April caused the Farm 13 water to become somewhat silt-laden again. However, it is not nearly as bad as has been the case in the past. Even with the steady 15-20 MPH breezes, the water at the south end of the Farm has visibility to 8-10 inches. The water in the center and north ends of the Farm is poor. The Stick marsh portion of the impoundment has good water on the north side and west end, with the NW section being best. Garcia remains beautiful, with great vegetation and clear, cleans waters.
Water is presently flowing through both Garcia and the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundments, as water management officials try to dump marsh waters into the St. Johns River to stem emergency low water conditions. That means the inflow points in Garcia have bass clustered on moving water. Plus, the big spillway in the SE corner of Farm 13 is running strong. Unless we get rains soon, this flow will stop.
After watching one of our well-known local guides and two clients go fish-less for over an hour at the Farm 13 spillway, Lee and Greg Tuttle and I took their place and never moved for 3 hours (refer to the report, below). Lots of good big bass there on that water flow. I really can’t understand why the other guide went fish-less, as he is a great fisherman who knows his stuff. It may have been they were using artificials. We had some fine shiners from Stick Marsh Bait and Tackle and they can make a real difference at times.
We tend to 'underfish' the Stick Marsh side of the impoundment. There are so many bass down in all that wood that it would blow our minds if we could see them. I suppose the primary reason is that the south end of the Farm is so productive, plus easier to fish. I am going to start concentration on the Stick Marsh side more, as it is virtually NEVER fished by anyone. Here’s how I think it would be best to approach the place.
First, I would work the western half, fishing right down the middle from east to west. With the present low water condition, I would use the RIPPIN’ Stick (or, similar soft jerk bait of choice) and just let it drop in all that brush down there. Pull and drop, pull and drop, ----. It will work and was, at one time, one of the most powerful ways to fish the impoundment.
The second way I would address the Stick Marsh would be with an 8-10 inch dark, Texas-rigged plastic worm. Team it with a 1/16 – 1/8 slip sinker and 14-20 lb. Fireline or braid (for maximum ‘feel’, plus the ability to horse the bass up to the top without line stretch). The south portion of that western half of the Stick Marsh has a lot more submerged brush than old tree remains and is easier to work a worm through. In addition, the far western end of the Stick Marsh, where you see a number to old standing tree remains is fairly open, with brush and sparse stumps underwater. The worm will come through that well, too. Finally, the NW section of the Stick Marsh, with all the old dead palms still standing, is a great place to drag shiners, while tossing the RIPPIN’ Stick, the Texas rig, or even a rat-L-Trap (if you hold it high). Once you find an area that seems to produce, work it hard and home in on the primary density of the fish school. Stick Marsh bass schools are LARGE and cover a wide area, as they disperse in all the wood remains. But, the school, spread out though it may be, still seems to be able to move together.
You will be seeing a lot of this ‘togetherness movement’ very soon, as the schools of bass start to herd the baitfish to the surface for some great topwater action. It will happen in the western half of the Stick Marsh and mostly in the northern half of the Farm 13 side.
Finally, topwater action has started to pick up rapidly in the south end of the Farm side. The bass seem to prefer that the topwater lure be fished near visible wood (i.e., wood that extends out of the water), although you will strikes out over totally submerged wood. I took a good number last Tuesday, using the Green Pumpkin 5.5-inch RIPPIN’ Stick as my topwater lure. Most took the bait HARD just as it came to a piece of visible wood. The next best lure would be a ChugBug (three pops and let it rest for five seconds; repeat). Both the RIPPIN’ Stick and ChugBug approaches are working all day, even when it is sunny weather. I suspect a small buzz bait (bladed type, or the plastic Horny Toad style) may work, especially real early and late.
April 28, 2006
 Lee Tuttle is one of the nicest, most pleasant gentlemen to be around that I have had the pleasure to meet. He and his friend, Tommy Hooks, came for a great fishing with us 26 October 2005 and, boy, did we have a good time. This time, Lee called and said he wanted to get his son, Greg, out for a day of fishing. Greg is due to get married in a few weeks, so wanted to make sure he had a good trip. Those new grooms usually have to go to work for real and his fishing time might be limited for awhile!
As it always seems to be, the poor old Florida Weathermen all got part of the forecast right and a good part of it wrong. Of the four or five forecasts we check daily, none ever fully agree and nearly all turn out to be less than accurate in some respect. The important aspect we were concerned with was wind, hoping not to have poor water conditions to contend with. The forecasts were anywhere from 5 to 15 MPH. What we got were sustained 15-20 MPH, with a few periods possibly higher.
When we arrived at our ‘Super Secret Hawg Hole #1’, the winds were possibly 10 MPH and the water clarity fair. We set out some really nice shiners and watched them swim. And, we watched. And, then, we watched some more. I figured we were in deep Do-do at that point. Suddenly, Greg caught a decent fish. Then, he got another. Then, Lee decided to top it all with a 7-8 lb. fish.
Then, it all died. And, the wind started to howl. And, spray started to break over the side of the boat a bit.
So, we decided to go to the windbreak of the SE spillway basin.
There were two boats in the basin. One was crappie fishing with no luck. The other was a local guide and a party of two. He was fishing in front of the spillway, which was running a good bit of water.
Meanwhile, we set up on the submerged barge and Greg immediately hooked and lost a nice 5-lb. fish.
Then, Lee’s shiner got up tight and started to run in a circle, a sure sign of being stalked. We waited for the fish to take the hapless shiner. Suddenly, the shiner came to the surface, struggling to get away! Then, the strike came in a blast of water and spray and grass. Lee had him on!! And, the friendly guide simply said, “You got him. He’s all yours now!”
I knew the question was coming and I still did not have an answer. Lee looked over and simply said, “What do we do now, Chief?” I wanted to give him that old reply, “What do you mean ‘we’?”. But, words escaped me at that moment, as Lee Tuttle held on while the 10-foot gator decided to take his stuff over to Fellsmere. Luckily, the line broke quickly, or I am sure Lee would have had the gator up to the net quickly. Sure he would!!
Watching our local guide and his party, we were surprised that we did not see him catching any fish at all. The guy really knows his stuff well. But, he soon packed it in and left. Debating whether to go back out into the wind or just try our luck on the spillway’s current flow, we opted for the latter.
Free-lining the shiners out into the current flow, Lee was immediately into a nice 6 lb. bass, while Greg had two that went 3-4 lbs. apiece. The action was fairly rapid and got to be predictable. There were some false strikes from pickerel and possibly catfish. But, 50% of the strikes were bass. Lee added two more 6-7 lb. fish to his tally, while Greg hammered the 3-4 lb. bass.
We spent the rest of the fishing day in that one spot with fish coming to us continually. It always helps to have a bit of luck to help counter the high winds!!
April 26, 2006
Joyce and Jill Tamber were visiting relatives from Port Orange and decided to break away a day to see the famous Stick Marsh. I happened to be at the ramp when they drove up. The two had not realized that you really would not be able to see the impoundment from the launch area and asked where they might bank fish. I offered them one better and invited them to go out with me for a few hours, since I was headed out exploring anyway.
As luck would have it, I did not have my camera aboard, since I did not plan on a fishing party that day. So, I can’t show you how well these two nice sisters learned to fish the RIPPIN’ Stick. From past experience, we know that it is usually much easier to teach someone who is inexperienced how to fish the finesse lures. If they do just what the guide tells them, with no weekend semi-pro skills applied, they usually do well. This trip was no exception.
We spent a bit over two hours at the south end of the Farm, with nearly dead calm conditions. In fact, it was hot!! But, then, so was the fishing. I had just fished this area the day before and knew the bass to be holding around wood that protruded past the surface. All one had to do was toss the RIPPIN’ Stick near a stick-up, or log/stump, and let the line lay completely limb as the lure sank. You could easily see every strike, as the line twitches and started to swim off.
It was a neat way to spend an unexpected afternoon on the water. Joyce even caught a 6-lb. fish, the largest one both ladies had ever even seen.
April 25, 2006
 After a fine 2-boat trip with Stan Daniel on Sunday, I decided to take this open date and see if I could find any new ways/places to catch a bass. Going directly to the south end of the Farm, I took the Green Pumpkin RIPPIN’ Stick and made sure the bass were still holding around the visible wood. I’ll say that they sure were. In fact, most of the location that turned bass would have 3 or 4 in that same spot. And, the fish were all in the 4-6 lb. range. That was bass fishing as it should be!!
I rigged out 4-inch RIPPIN’ Sticks, 10-inch Mann’s Jelly Worms and some 5-inch ZOOM worms on 1/8th oz slip-sinkered Texas rigs. All worked very well, plus I only got hung twice. Then, I took a ˝ oz. jig and added a 4-inch plastic trailer. Pulling it slowly and carefully through the wood, I only got hung once (and I got that one back), while catching six more fish. I successfully tried the RIPPIN’ Stick as a rapid topwater lure, working it steadily and erratically just under the surface. Finally, I took a Pop-R and worked some of the southern shallows. Here I found that the bass would eat the topwater plug fine, but you had to fish it slowly and let it sit for periods between twitches. In fact, all the strikes came on the pause. One big gal took my Pop-R home as a souvenir, too. All that wood and her giant size were just too much for my light tackle.
April 23, 2006
This date, we provided a second boat for Stan Daniel. Ben Blanton and his son, Rob, were due to go with Stan, while I was to provide guide services for Sam Manley and his Dad. It turned out that Sam’s glad was unable to make it, so we redistributed the new party of three with two in my big Blazer (Ben and Sam) and one (Rob) in Stan’s smaller rig.
We made a deal with the crew to start in an area of the Stick Marsh that none of us had been fishing. The deal was, if that did not work, we would extent the fishing day to make up for the lost time. Moving out, Stan went Twin Palms (now Twin Stumps since the hurricanes blew through). I went a bit further south to a single large stump almost in the geographical center of the Stick Marsh. At this stump, we had heard of a 12-lb. largemouth that magically became 16-lbs. within a six-hour period. I was looking for one of those!! But, we found nothing, except a pickerel and two catfish. So, we re-started the trip clock and headed to the south end of Farm 13.
Stan and Rob started with the RIPPIN’ Stick, while I tied the ‘little green plug’ on Ben and Sam’s lines. Almost immediately, Rob took a nice 5-lb. bass, followed immediately by a 3-lber. Coming over to our boat, Rob held the larger bass up and started to lay it on his Dad a bit. (Dad’s have a way of getting even, as we shall see later.)
Well, Mommy didn’t raise any idiots, so soon we all had RIPPIN’ Sticks on. Among us, we used JuneBug and Green Pumpkin about equally. The results were about equal, too, showing that color was not a factor. Ben and Sam followed our instructions to fish the RIPPIN’ Stick by just basically ‘doing nothing’. All watched what Rob was doing and sort of imitated his presentation, which is exactly the way to fish that soft sinking jerk bait. Quickly, both started to catch fish.
Moving along a submerged ditch, we worked stumps, as well as the open water over the ditch. And, it wasn’t long until Ben did his ‘Dad gets even’ trick with a good bass near 8 lbs. That got Rob back in the competitive spirit and he started to bear down hard. Pretty quickly, the son hooked into a big bass. It may have been bigger than Ben's. But, we’ll never know as the big gal shook the hook. You could hear Stan groan all the way to Palm Bay on that one. Then, just to rub it in, Ben got one around 5-lbs.
The three guys caught a lot of fish in that short half-day trip. And, while Rob led the way in numbers, Ben wound up with big bass of the day. Sam also got his share and learned an exciting and productive new way to fish, too.
(FISHIN’ TIP YOU SHOULD KNOW: In the most basic terms, the following in how the RIPPIN’ Stick is most effectively fished. After you have gotten the ‘feel’ of the lure and been successful using this presentation method, you can develop your own modifications. BUT, please note that the angler is normally HIS OWN WORST ENEMY when it comes to learning to effectively fish a new lure style. If he/she doesn’t realize IMMEDIATE gratification (i.e., quickly catch a fish) with a new lure style, they quickly take it off and go back to their old lures. DO NOT do that with the soft sinking Jerk bait!! It is the most astounding, bass-producing lure style to ever come onto the fishing scene. MAKE yourself learn to fish it. It will add unlimited success to your fishing!!! The lure is rigged with a wide-gap 3/0 or 4/0 hook. Insert the hook point approximately one full inch down the length of the lure body before you bring it back out. We want that hook to be positioned mid-way in the lure body so it will flutter as it sinks, rather than falling headfirst. The lure is fished with no weight. Use a short leader and tiny swivel, if you feel the need to. But, most don’t rig it that way and just tie it on the main line. Cast it out over or around cover, or shallow structure features, and drop slack line on the water. We want the lure to slowly fall straight down and not fall in a pendulum-like arc on a tight line. Let the lure sink on that slack line for at least five seconds. Do not try to ‘feel’ the lure; just watch the slack line for movement. Even when not trying to do so, you will still ‘feel’ most strikes even as you are seeing them in that line movement. After the five second drop, reel up the slack line very carefully, keeping the rod tip pointed at the lure, and ‘feel’ for a bass holding onto the lure. Often, a bass will gently take the falling lure and there will be no indication of it at all. If you do find resistance on the line, tighten up slightly and see if the ‘resistance’ moves! If it is a bass on the other end, he WILL NOT let it go, so long as you don’t do anything sudden and are gentle. If you feel something alive on the other end of the line, take up the slack fully and set the hook. But, if nothing is there, take up the slack with the reel and then raise the rod slowly to 12:00 o’clock. This will pull the lure back towards the surface. Now, drop the rod tip and repeat watching the line and ‘feeling’ for a strike on the lure’s fall. Trust me – this lure and this presentation is the most effective bass lure in the World today. It’s that good!!)
April 22, 2006
The fishing this week started off great, with two fine trips and some giant bass. Then, it suddenly slowed dramatically and I have no idea as to why. Nothing changed except the water warmed to the mid-80's, the air temperature got to! 90 and the winds went away. Fishing is a strange sport at times.
Guess what?! We got back on some crappie yesterday. It took about an hour to get 20 good slabs on the cinnamon, with chartreuse tail PERFECT Jig. We fished in the center East/West Farm 13 ditch near the inetrsection with a North/South ditch (ccordinates 4-F, 4-E on our interactive map). The water is maybe 9 feet deep in the ditch and we kept the jig at 7 feet and SLOWWWW.
The water is decent at the south end of the farm and poor in the middle of the impoundment. It looks good at the west and N/W sections of the Stick Marsh side. No one is fishing in the Stick Marsh part, so I think I will explore that next time I have a chance. The botom line is that the water remains pretty dirty and the winds started again today (Saturday). It is just a crap-shoot on how fishing may be tomorrow. Beware anyone who feeds you the line that the water is fine and you will catch 50 fish per day. Remember him/her for future reference.
Garcia is still a bright stop. Beautiful water, great vegetation, lots of fish, and you will not normally be bothered by the wind. It doesn't have the population of so many giants, but you should be able to catch 20-40 on RIPPIN' Sticks and flukes. The Green Pumpkin RIPPIN’ Stick and the same color ZOOM fluke work very well over the grass and along the ditch edges. You just must make yourself fish it so slowwwlllyyyDon't be afraid of a lightly weighted Texas rig, either. It will work in Garcia. Another popular presenation with many has been flipping plastics in the dense lily pad fields. Bigger bass usually come from there.
Finally, remeber that the Farm 13/Stick Marsh is about 20-24 inches LOW!! It is getting dangerous to run that boat if you are not intimately familiar with the water. Be extremely careful until we get some much-needed rain.
April 21, 2006
We hosted Jerry Caillouet for a few hours of crappie and bluegill fishing. Taking a chance, we went to the south end of the Farm to the spillway basin looking for the panfish. The bluegill we found were small and no concentration was located. So we opted for crappie. Going to the E/W ditch across the middle of the Farm, we found them schooled at about 7 feet deep in the eastern half, in the vicinity of coordinates 4-F and 4-E on our interactive map. We spent about an hour and caught probably 25-28, keeping 20 nice slabs. The PERFECT Jig in cinnamon and chartreuse did the job. We had to really fish it steady and slowwwww.
April 20, 2006
On this trip, Greg Mihalak, a bags of shiners, and I beat the water for 6 hours for maybe 14 fish, none of which was any size. I really don't know why they would no chase live bait. The better two spots I fished earlier in the week did not even turn a strike. We had to work some shallower water in dense wood to get the ones we did.
April 19, 2006
James Stallings, Mike Taylor and Mike's Dad, Glenn, came to fish. James and Mike had a great trip with us back in Novemeber 05, when the bass were going wild. But, this time the well had dried up. The two earliuer days were great. But, this day, everything came to a sudden halt. We caught a few in the Farm 13 spillway basin and a few out on the south end of the farm. We even caught 4 nice fish in front of the east wall pump station. But, there was nothing really concentrated. The only decent fish caught was a 6-7 lber Mike got on the last shiner of the day. Such is fishing, I suppose. But, I was as disappointed as they were.
April 18, 2006
Frank and Pat Shelp are two of our our winter residents from the far north. Each year, Frank and a friend have fished with us, looking for that double-digit bass. Frank's best has been 6.5 to date, while his buddies seem to always get the giant. This time, Frank brought his lovely wife, Pat, along. I guess I don't have to say who got the giant this trip, do I? That's right. Pat got one that would have been a 12-13 lb. giant, if she had her spawning body still on. It was still a bass well over 10 lbs, though, with a massive head and upper body to wow the camera.
We took our shiners and went to the south end of the Farm. Hoping for that giant bass, we went to our special spot where we hooked into the biggy bass for Doug Stange and In-Fisherman TV, plus have caught for numerous other guests. Sure enough, the giant was there. But, it went to Pat's end of the boat. What a great fish and a great photo!! As the afternoon wore on, a good number of fish were caught, but none would compare to Pat's trophy.
April 17, 2006
We hosted our old friend, tommy Benson and his dad, Bill this date. Shiner were the name and bass were the game. These two VERY experienced anglers did the job on the Farm 13 bass. It was a real deal, for sure. Tommy got the honors for the big bass. This pair plan fishing trips to Costa Rica and Ireland in the near future. Sailfish and giant Tuna had better watch out when these two come to town!!
The good part of the trip was that we had two big bass. Plus, in the last hour, we went to the SE spillway to catch big bluegill on the PERFECT Jig and found the water was actually running lightly. That’s the first time since December 19 of last year. We managed to catch 3 on 4-inch RIPPIN’ Stick rigged Carolina style. But, they were just small bass. From the debris in the water, I suspect it had only been running since yesterday morning and the bass had not come in to the water flow yet. It will not run long, as we still have had no rain.
April 15, 2006
We hosted Roy Martin for a half-day for fishing. Taking a chance, we went to the south end of the Farm. It was pretty poor, but not as bad as one would expect after 5-6 days of 20-35 MPH winds. We had visibility of maybe 6-8 inches into the water. But, the fishing was way off. We only had 8-9 all afternoon and that was using shiners. The artificial fishermen told us they didn’t even get a bite.
The good part of the trip was that we had two big bass. Plus, in the last hour, we went to the SE spillway to catch big bluegill on the PERFECT Jig and found the water was actually running lightly. That’s the first time since December 19 of last year. We managed to catch 3 on 4-inch RIPPIN’ Stick rigged Carolina style. But, they were just small bass. From the debris in the water, I suspect it had only been running since yesterday morning and the bass had not come in to the water flow yet. It will not run long, as we still have had no rain.
April 13, 2006
 Betty and Bill Brown qualify to be weather forecasters, if only by default. Last December, I was honored to be the guest speaker to the Florida Fly-Fishing organization. Betty and bill are avid fly casters, but got the hots to fish the Stick Marsh with shiners once. We had them originally scheduled for early January, but the winds and dirty water make us re-schedule (they are local and can go most any time). So, we re-scheduled and the weather got us again. After about five (5) re-scheduling efforts, we finally gave up and decided that whatever date the couple picked, it was sure to be right on a front and high winds.
So, we decided to just go to Garcia Reservoir for our trip and try the Stick Marsh at a later time. It was not a bad decision, either.
We had that 30-35 MPH gusting wind. I couldn’t even hold the big Blazer boat with three (3!!) anchors! Finally, I went to the north/south ditches and simply tossed two anchors into the reeds along the high levee. Pulling us up tight to the levee, we then had the ditch to put the shiners into. Plus, we had the grass line along the submerged levee on the other side of the ditches, as well as any hole in that grass line. A good cast even got us over the submerged levee into the fields.
This trip was a Christmas gift to Bill from Betty. But, as things would work out, Betty caught the giant bass. Bill corralled a couple of good ones, but no giants came to his end of the boat. We caught the usual number of small bass that Garcia is famous for. But, we also caught a high percentage of good bass in the 3-4 lb. range. So, the fish are definitely there. In fact, if you look back in the recent fishing reports, we are getting a 7-8 pound bass nearly every trip we make there. This one was no exception and was a fine half-day on the water with two of the nicest people you will ever meet.
April 8, 2006
The water in both the Stick marsh and the Farm 13 sections looks great! It has a LOT of algae suspended in it, but the silt material is gone. As of yesterday, the BIG bass were still in the south end of the Farm and stacked like cordwood. I watched the other boats that were fishing and the ONLY ones who caught fish were in the same general area as I have been for the past 2 weeks. I spoke with two groups who fished further west and they caught a few. But, they indicated it was very slow. Even with that, I am sure the fish are spread out across the entire south end of the Farm. But, if you will recall the last report, I noted that the SE section of the Farm has a relatively CLEAN bottom. I even caught fish on a jig-and-pig in there and the lure never came back dirty. Maybe that’s why the eastern half of the farm is so good now. The shiners still rein as the best choice to take quantities of bass, as well as providing the best shot at a true giant. But, most any artificial seems to produce, too.
April 7, 2006
My party yesterday had a family emergency at the last minute and had to leave. He had already paid for 3 dozen shiners and told me to 'go fishing' with them. ‘Heck, why not’, I thought. I don't get to yank a fish very much since I am guiding nearly every day. So I did. I didn't get that 10+ fish so many of my parties have been getting. But, I did get a 9 and some others 5 and up.
Plus, here’s that big surprise I promise in the Direct Email Update sent earlier! I caught a fish that I was not aware was inhabiting the impoundment – a Talapia. It was the same species found in many south Florida lakes and, particularly, phosphate pits. It appears the Talapia have been in the impoundment for quite awhile, as the one I caught weighed 3.2 lbs., and was nearly 3 inches across the back.
I had run out of shiners and was catching some crappie back in the SE spillway basin, when I noted a few beds along and under the grass along the basin’s east side. Some appeared to be old bass beds, visible now due to the low water. But, I saw two that were different and I recognized them immediately. Talapia actually back holes in the side of a bank and don’t like a flat bottom. They look for either a steep, sloping shallow area, or a shallow bluff bank. They then make a hole some 6-10 inches deep. Bass and bluegill make depressions; Talapia make well-defined holes.
When I saw the beds and realized what they were, I switched from a chartreuse PERFECT Jig to one with a cinnamon (brown) body. Talapia are very hard to catch on artificials, but I have caught a few in phosphate pits using very small, dark-bodied jigs (actually, 1-inch black Beetle Spin bodies on 1/16th oz. jig heads). I couldn’t see the fish, but I cast into the holes 8-10 times. Suddenly, I had what seemed like a jet-propelled, giant shellcracker on the line. Think about a 3.2 lb. shellcracker or bluegill could do to an ultralight outfit. Well, that’s where I was at that moment. All I could do was hang on a try not to get the 6 lb. Fireline or the little rod broken. I don’t think a Talapia ever really gets tired. They always seem to fight forever and this big one was no exception. It seemed a long time before she finally slowed down enough that I could free a hand to get the net.
To the best of my knowledge, Talapia will bite on dough balls/biscuit dough and small black jigs. At least, that’s what I have caught them on before. They like vegetation and they get really active in shallow. Warm water. They will school and lay in large bunches right on the surface at times during the summer months. So, if you might want to find out more from good Talapia expert and try your hand at them. This may open yet ANOTHER window for a great fishing experience on the impoundment. [ Don't forget, Talapia are really GOOD eating, too. ] (I recommend 10-lb. line and a medium-light rod, though!!)
April 6, 2006
Brothers Jeff and Larry Maitland, plus Larry’s son Jay, came to fish with us a couple of days ago. We were coming off a couple of trips where 10 lb. (+) bass came regularly, so were really hoped the lucky streak held up. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for the 10-lb. giants. But, everyone caught big fish and, as I recall, everyone got their largest ever.
We set up our 6 dozen shiners in the SE section of Farm 13, right where the underwater wood was really stacked up. This was in the vicinity of where we had taught shiners to swim for their lives so successfully in our past three trips. Jay immediately got things started with two really nice bass. Then, Larry got into the act. As it sometimes happens, Jeff just sat and watched. He was fishing the same place, but the fish seemed to bypass his shiner every time. We changed rods around, but that didn’t help either. So, I told Jeff to have faith. They would get on his line eventually. And, of course, the bass finally did start to give Jeff his share. The fishing came in spurts, as though fish were moving through, but not stopping. Just biting if they passed a shiner. We had some 30-minute dry spells, too. But, the guys went through 6 dozen shiners in about 4.5 hours, so the actions wasn’t shabby. And, the bass were great! Blowing the shiners up on the surface like torpedoes into an aircraft carrier. It was a fine afternoon to be on the water.
 
April 4, 2006
I don't talk much about quantities of fish we catch. Likewise, I don't give a lot of hype on weights of the bass. I just let the pictures do the talking. But, the Farm 13 section of the impoundment has gone absolutely wild. So, I am going to toss out a few numbers about the trips on the 2nd and 3rd of April.
On Sunday, the 2nd, my single customer had 4 in the 10-lb. range. And, so many between 5-8 that I lost count. Monday’s group had 2 at 10, 1 at nearly 9, and 3 or 4 in the 7-8 class. They were all caught on shiners. Plus, I caught some at 6-7 while tossing a spinnerbait as we dragged the shiners on the 2nd. You will see the pictures and stories below.
I have had great reports from anglers over the past few days. Those who are experienced on the impoundment have been catching quantities of bass, as well as many giants. Here is a portion of an email from our good friend, Greg McGehee: “It was a good trip yesterday. We fished the south end of the farm about 200 yards from shore in between the nursery and pinball alley. My son Gregory got an 8 lb'er on a shiner and my dad a 7. They both had two fish break off! I caught 11 using artificial with the biggest one being 7lbs. I caught 4 on the ole green crank plug and 7 using a 10" purple worm. The bass fishin’ was so good that we decided not to crappie fish.”
There are so many big fish in the south end of the Farm 13 section, it is spooky. Shiners, plugs, spinnerbaits, soft jerk baits, Texas-rigged worms -- they all seem to work right now.
Here is an interesting item for though. During our Sunday trip, we found the fish so willing to eat the artificials that I even tried a big jig-and-pig. And, I caught a couple of good fish on it. BUT, the interesting thing I found was that the BOTTOM WAS CLEAN! This was in the southeast section of Farm 13, generally around coordinates F-2 on our web site’s interactive map. There was a ton of wood down there, but the jig never came back trashy. I put the anchor down a few times and did not stir up much silt, either. We noted last year that the hurricane winds of 2004 deposited most of the vegetation debris in the west and southwest sections of the Farm. Now, it appears the southeast section may have been left pretty clean. It adds another lure to those you can use with confidence.
It has been 10 days, or so, since the last front and winds. And, the water has cleared a good bit. Still can't see more than 14-18 inches down, but that is probably due to the high algae content is always has. I suppose that is what is causing such an upsurge in the giant fish being taken. The odd thing is that we did see any others catching them like we were either day. I saw one guide catch a dink, and that was it for him. The only explanation is that we just had the right spot and the fish were there. Sunday, there were 3 of those 'spots'. Monday, we put the anchors down and never moved through 8 dozen shiners.
If you are close enough to the Stick Marsh, you should try to get in on this remarkable fishing before another front and its winds pop in on us.
April 3, 2006
 Jim Dazet had been on our calendar for a trip to the Stick Marsh for a long time, when we finally made the trip. First, I messed up, looking at the wrong page of the calendar and booking him right where we had the In-Fisherman TV crew. Then, the weather kept the waters of the Stick Marsh roiled up and silted badly on two other tries. This time, though, it all came together, for Jim and his two young friends, Joe Titus and Daniel Kistner.
We dragged the shiners a short period of time, getting some unbelievable blowup action, but no big fish. So, I headed for the hot spot that had worked them over so well over the past two trips out (see the next two reports below). On this fantastic spot, we put the anchors down and did not raise them (except for wind adjustments) until 9 dozen shiners were gone to meet their Maker. As I recall, Joe immediately took the first bass, a beautiful 10.6 lb. beauty. Then, he took another almost as large!! For an encore, Joe then hooked into one so big, he was never able to control her and his line was broken! It was one Giant bass, with a capital G!
Pretty soon, Daniel got into the act and he caught his largest bass ever, another giant. Then, he got a second giant!
After that initial flurry of huge bass, things settled down. The action remained steady, but not as hectic as it started out. Sometimes, one net was just not enough. With the exception of two or three small bass, all the fish caught and released were 3.5 lbs., and above.
By now, you may have noted something missing about this fish report write-up. Where the heck was Jim Dazet? Yep, old Jim was the host for Joe and Daniel. But, he didn’t intend for them to catch all the fish. After all, he had shiners in the water, too. Well, it wasn’t long before he caught a few bass, but none were even close to the size of his friends’ fish. Jim then made a ‘command decision’. He switched seats with Joe and started tossing his shiners out in the vicinity of this single lone stump. You’d be absolutely correct if you guessed Jim Dazet’s luck then changed. Now, he was the one doing the catching and , soon, he got that big old girl, too!!
An exciting Stick Marsh fishing adventure with three fine gentlemen. It doesn’t get any better!
April 2, 2006
Harry Chrzanowski was out with us 21 October 2005 for bass and giant crappie. This time, he went strictly for the bass.
We started trolling shiners in the south end of Farm 13. That produced some massive blowup action, plus one of the rods jerked out of the boat. I had somehow tripped the line alarm to the ‘off’ position and one of those big gals took it away from us. But, the technique was still a bit slow for our liking, so we started to anchor and fish the shiners under bobbers.
We had great action on three separate locations using the ‘anchor and bobber’ approach, with one of them being spectacular. Harry had three shiner bass that were in the 10 lb. class and numerous others between 5 and 8 lbs. Then, after the shiners had been exhausted, he took another 10-lb. class giant on a JuneBug RIPPIN’ Stick. It was possibly the best single ‘giant bass day’ that I have witnessed on the impoundment.
 
March 28-31, 2006
 Every year, we get the pleasure of hosting P.T. Ryan and one of his friends for a few days of Stick Marsh bassin’. This year, P.T. came with Tom Scudamore. Both are out Geneva, NY, which is a pretty cold place during their long winter. P.T. sent me a picture of his pier and pontoon boat back in January, both covered in ice and snow. It looked like a North Pole scene!
Two comments apply to this trip.
Last year, P.T. had three bass over 10 lbs. This year, his largest was 7-8 lbs.
This time around, Tom caught all of the giant bass and was shell-shocked when it was over. He found out that the Stick Marsh was all it was touted to be!
Trying to dodge the turbid waters of the Stick Marsh created by Sunday’s high winds, we opted to spend our first day at Garcia Reservoir. The reliable RIPPIN’ Stick was the ticket in all the grass and pads of Garcia. It had to be fished very, very slowly around the edges of vegetation along the ditches. As usual, many of the Garcia bass were small. But, Tom got his week started in style with a big old girl from the grass beds on a Green Pumpkin RIPPIN’ Stick!
Moving to the Stick Marsh the next morning, we were delighted to find the water in fine condition. And, it continued to improve over our next three fishing days.
We started out by catching some solid bass on chartreuse spinnerbaits. But, it was a bit slow. The bass would blow up some on the trolled shiners, but that was a bit slow, too. So, we decided to anchor and feed shiners out under bobbers. This approach had great success for the entire period. Many bass were caught. Tom scored with two more giants and P.T. got one big girl.
As we had rigged with no weight on the line, the bass would drive the shiners to the surface and explode on them. That’s the best in shiner fishing there can be!!
 
Today's Weather for
the Stick Marsh Area
Past Stick Marsh Fishing Reports
Farm 13 / Stick Marsh Information Guide
Email questions to jporter@jimporter.org.
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