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FARM 13 / STICK MARSH FISHING REPORT
FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY 2004
January 23, 2004
Flash!!
Stick Marsh Crappie May Spawn Early!!
We are back on the crappie good!!!
 After a half-day bass trip yesterday, we did a little boat maintenance and then went 'crappie looking'. Ands, we found them puppies, too. It was in a place we had never fished for them, but we always knew some must be there. It was the edge of a canal, with grass and reeds along the edge. The 14 feet of water in the canal, itself, did not hurt any, either!
We kept a half dozen for supper tonight (darn good, too). When cleaning the fish, we found the eggs to be fully ripe and swollen. In fact, some of the egg sacs burst open when touched. That means they are ready!! The fish are thick-bodied and at their best physical condition. Spawning usually starts for these fish at the next full moon, or the next new moon, whichever comes first.
As you can see from the above picture, nearly the entire body cavity of these fish is filled with ripe roe.
Compare that to this picture taken 18 November 2003, just 2 months ago.
So, it's time to starting looking for those huge spawning schools. Going to our interactive map, you might key your search to coordinates B and C, 2 and 3. That expanse, encompassing the Nursery and part of the adjacent eastern area of the south end of Farm 13, has ALWAYS held spawning crappie. It is just a matter of finding them.
We usually search for the spawning crappie by trying to catch bass with a Rat-L-Trap. Crappie are extremely aggressive in the protection of their spawning areas and will readily strike a big Trap or a full-sized spinner bait. That gives them away immediately. Of course, using the PERFECT Jig will do the job, too. Only, it may be a bit slower.
Additionally, my wife and I visited Kenansville Lake last Saturday, looking specifically for crappie. As usual, we drifted minnows at 6-7 feet in the East canal. When this did not immediately produce, we started to also toss jigs at the grassy, outer bank of the canal. The crappie responded well to the jig and we caught quite a number, with most being just keeper size. A few were in the 'slab' category, but not more than a dozen. The fish appeared to be near the grass lines, but just a bit out from them in the open water. That should mean they are staging to spawn.
So, whereas our crappie in this area have, in all past years, normally started to spawn somewhere around 20 February, give or take a week, I predict they will start around the first of February this year. It might even be sooner for some that are further along in the development stage.
Stay tuned and we'll let you know where we run into them.
January 14, 2004
We were lucky enough to host Johnnie Jenkins and Bambi O'Dell recently. These two are engaged to be married around Valentine's Day. It sounds like a winner for Johnnie because Bambi is the one who suggested they go fishing while visiting Florida. Hey, every guy should have a fiancée like that!!
The lady was a pretty darn good fisherperson, too. It didn't take long until I could see that she had done this sort of thing before. She knew how to put a shiner on a hook and could place it on a dime with the baitcasting outfit. She knew exactly how to set the hook and did it with authority. Plus (a big plus!), petite Ms. O'Dell did not want any help getting bass off the hook and back in the water. She could handle it all. Yep, old Johnnie is a lucky guy.
Well, maybe Johnnie is 'lucky in love', but he sure had his troubles with the Stick Marsh bass. No, he didn't do anything wrong. The fish just all seemed to gravitate to Bambi's end of the STRATOS. I had set out two shiner rods per person and, before long, we had to give Bambi's second one to Johnnie. Bambi's bites were coming so fast and furious, she could only handle one rod. It was that kind of action on her end of the boat!
About two hours into our half-day trip, Bambi must have started feeling a little sorry for Johnnie-boy. She had boated 17-18 bass and her man had only had four. So, as any caring wife-to-be would do, she insisted Johnnie change ends of the boat with her.
(Here, I have to tell you how we were fishing the shiners, as it would not seem which end of the boat you were on would make any difference. We were positioned in 8 feet of water over a large expanse of submerged grass in Farm 13. You could not see the grass, except on the depth finder. I had happened across it because I am an old reservoir fisherman who 'lives' by the electronics, even in Florida. I rarely ever fish anything you can see. Such was the case this day. So, the shiners were basically indiscriminately placed, with no real target to key to. The only thing I can think of is that there was some mixed grass, or some such difference, where Bambi was placing her shiners. After we had used up the shiners (5 dozen in 3 hours), I looked at the place with the depth finder and found nothing different that I could discern.)
After my two clients changed places, Johnnie immediately caught a fine 8-pound specimen. It looked like he was about to 'let the good times roll'!!
But, it didn't happen. The hapless angler landed seven more 2-3 pound bass, while Ms. O'Dell started to yank them from the opposite end of the boat like she was picking apples off a tree. She also managed to pick up one that went 8.3 on the digital, so the lady also had the big bass of the day.
All in all, the two picked up a LOT of bass that afternoon. I know Johnnie wanted to say that he was just letting his future wife catch all the fish, being gentlemanly so to speak. But, it was really and truly one of those days of pure 'luck' for one angler and a lot of frustration for another.
P.T. Ryan and Jack Lowery are quite a pair. They have been fishing buddies for years and years, and they knew more stories and jokes on each other than I think I have ever heard from two people in a day.
Hailing from upper New York state, these two old friend hopped a big jet bird and came down to enjoy Florida sunshine and some Stick Marsh bassing. We had it all planned to put in 2-1/2 days of catching with the Stik-O's and plastic worms.
Friday, Day One went just about as planned, with bass being found in the south end of Farm 13 over submerged grass. However, the fish seemed to be somewhat inactive. In fact, there were five boats around us, all fishing shiners. One other boat, a local guide, was fishing with a friend and both were using artificials. We did not see any of them catch a fish -- not one. That was scary, to say the least. Shiners, in that location with so many bass in it, should have had the water foaming and frothing like mad. The guide is a really good fisherman, too, and knows that part of the lake like his living room. On top of this, we were right on an incoming cold front, with balmy SW breezes and a falling barometer. Perfect condition, but very inactive bass.
However, we stayed with it and wound up with a decent total, including some nice fish. The Stik-O produced -- all we had to do was stay with it and work slowwww. Luckily, we had found one line of drift through an area that held fish and had a couple of short stick-ups we could use for reference points to repeat the drift.
That night, the sky fell in on us, as did the thermometer. The cold front came screaming through with rain, wind and dropping temperatures.
Saturday morning found P.T, Jack and I looking for someplace to hide! The cloud cover was still overhead, but the rains had stopped just about at dawn. The winds were a brisk 15 to 20, gusting to 35, and it was in the high 50's (that's warm to some of you way up north right now; but, to us Florida whussies, that temperature and that wind is cold!!).
It just so happened that I did have one of those 'good guide's ace-in-the-hole' places we could go to. No one ever fishes it for bass, only crappie. Big palm trees and reed beds, plus a short levee shielded us from the brunt of the NW wind and we could anchor the boat and hold position easily.
All the conditions said this was 'shiner time' and we had them lounging in the livewell.
On our downwind side, another line of dense palms grew on a submerged levee. Intermittent maidencane patches mixed with the palms, while a continuous line of hydrilla grew in the shallow among the palms. There were also two other factors that could not be seen and made all the difference for us -- some unseen hydrilla extended out underwater towards us, plus there were submerged brush tops and stumps all along the slope of the submerged levee.
All we had to do was use anchors at the front and rear of the STRATOS to hold the boat parallel to the treeline and the cover. Then, we simply floated the shiners 3 feet under bobbers up towards the visible hydrilla. When the shiners stopped, we could tell where the unseen underwater hydrilla line ended. That is where we then fished the live baits.
It worked, too. We would give it a few moments and, if no strikes came, we simply pulled the anchor up a few feet and used the trolling motor to move 50 feet, or so, ahead. When we did get action, we worked the area for awhile. Bass sure like shiners, that's for sure. And, a nice thing was that the usual hoard of Chain Pickerel had not found this location yet!!
Sunday morning arrived cold, but not quite as windy, and with bright clear skies. Originally planned as a half-day trip, airplane schedules required that we be off the water by 10 AM, in time to make a mad dash to the Orlando airport. Again, we headed into our sheltered area of the canal, with shiners jumping and thumping in the livewell. And, again, the bass were there and waiting. We moved quickly, trying to make the most of the 2-1/2 hours we had to fish. Pretty soon, it was obvious that we should have been quicker to move the day before. This time, with time slipping away, we only gave the shiners a couple of minutes to find bass before we moved on. This really paid off and we managed to find a couple of very 'fishy' locations with some good bass on them.
In the days we fished, a good number of egg-laden females were noted. So, spawning is still going strong and should be for another month to six weeks. Keep that in mind as you make your plans to fish.
All in all, it was a hard two (+) days of hard fishing, but angler determination and the guide's prior Stick Marsh experience made it a successful trip.
Here's one of those 'hard sayings to think over:
"THE SOONER YOU FALL BEHIND, THE MORE TIME YOU HAVE TO CATCH UP!
January 7, 2004
 What a way to start off the New Year of 2004 -- I get two of my favorite kind of guide trips in a row. I really LIKE Fathers and young sons on an outing together!!
Invariably, the first thing the Father wants to assure is that the guide is comfortable with kids in the boat, especially the younger ones. Heck, that's where all the fun is in fishing now. Most of us adults have caught all the fish we ever should catch. Seeing the kids get into the act is great!
Steve Shultz met us at the Stick Marsh ramp with sons Logan (6 years) and Austin (8 years) in tow. Each boy had on his new White River fishing vest and a new rod/reel, courtesy of Santa. They were ready to go!
Per Steve, the 'name of the game' was 'kids catch fish'. We geared our trip to just that directive, so it was off to a good crappie hole, we went. The weather was beautiful, with light, warm breezes and a high blue sky. We couldn't ask for better. Now, all we needed was for the fish to cooperate.
Our weedline was ready and waiting. I had checked it the day before with the PERFECT jig and, although mostly just medium sized, the crappie were there. We rigged for minnows under bobbers at about three feet deep and tossed them to the weedline. And, for next few hours we experienced the pure joy of fishing with young children. The bobbers danced a bit when the small crappie nibbled. But, the larger fish just pulled them right down! Steve had taught Logan and Austin well and they knew just what to do -- pull to set the hook and reel to get him in.
By the time we finished up, there were plenty of crappie for supper. The kids were happy with the day's fishing and, at their ages, a positive experience is what keeps them coming back. But, I expect the two adults along really and truly enjoyed the day even more than the children did!!
 
Life has its rewards at time. This day was one of those.
"We'll bring our own tackle. Jason knows how to use it pretty good, too. In fact, he throws a baitcasting reel."
That's what Tony Maresca advised when he called to set up a bass-fishing trip to the Stick Marsh for he and his 10-year old son. Not only did I find out Jason knew how to handle a baitcaster, it soon became obvious that he could use that thing better than most adults I know! And, he also knew just how to fish that soft jerk bait and how to set that hook. I was impressed, to say the least.
Deciding to get the duo started on some known fish, I took them initially around behind the ramp area into what we call the 'back forty'. There are a lot of bass spawning and staging to spawn back there, so we wanted to get Tony and Jason started off for the day in  a positive manner. And, we did. It did not take long before the pair had the Stik-O jerk baits working well. Since the fish were in the spawn mode, I suggested we working along the levee shoreline, tossing right against the grass and letting the lure drop on a slack line. That worked well and a swimming line was a great strike indicator. As the guys got more experience with the Stik-O, the better they got at getting strikes. And, they had no trouble hooking the fish, as those bass just would not let go of the lure. It was quickly obvious that I had two clients here who knew how to fish and fish well. That sure made my job a lot easier and I started to concentrate on just keeping them on fish. I knew that, if I did that, they would catch them!
After 6-8 fish, Jason suddenly went cold on his hookset and missed 4 or 5 in a row. That made no sense at all. This kid was GOOD with his equipment and GOOD with that hookset technique. We needed to investigate, so I looked his lure and hook over closely..
Jason is just a whiff of a kid, probably not 50 lbs. with wet clothes on. So, he obviously had some problem getting enough weight behind a hookset to hit the fish solid. Don't get me wrong here -- he had a great technique and set that hook hard. But, it was sorta like driving a big nail with a real small hammer. So, we eyeballed Jason's hook. It was a good brand name, the correct style for the jerk bait, and fairly sharp. But, it was not nearly as sharp as when new. He had been driving into too much fish bone and the point was showing the effects. We also noted another problem -- the hook was too big. No, it was not too big in hook size; the hook material, itself, was too thick. He could have held a shark with that hook and never bent it. So, we changed out the hook for a new, sharp one made of a thinner wire. We knew it would penetrate better than the thicker one. This is a good point for us all to keep in mind about our hook choices - sharpness and proper sizing.
Sure enough, that solved Jason's problem and he was back on track with effective hookups. And, by now, we were up around 18-20 fish into the boat, but nothing of size. So, it was time to head for Farm 13 and 'The Land of the Giants'.
The bass were there, down in the south end of the Farm, and got with the Stik-O offerings right away. Everyone was hooking up and all the bass were nice, solid fish. A couple were even what we might call 'big bass'. Not giants, but really good 'uns. Jason, with that new sharp hook, put a hurt of the fish, as did Tony, who had a magic touch with that jerk bait.
Of course, the gnats were out in force, so we donned our 'designer' headnets. Just wanted you to know what those odd things in the photos were.
As the day got late, we made one last pass along a shallow, stump-laden high spot. As we got to the end of it, I told Tony (who now had on a topwater plug) to be sure and cast right across the corner of the stump line. We had caught many big fish right there. As I started getting the trolling motor up and the gear stowed, Tony's lure sailed across that stumpy corner and plunked down. It only took one twitch of the lure and we had a nice five pound bass for the last fish of the day. It's hard to beat that.
A great day on the water with two good fishermen really makes my day and this was a great one.
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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