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FARM 13 / STICK MARSH FISHING REPORTS
FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2006
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!!
 
March 26, 2006
Even with the water still ‘looking’ dirty, we have visibility down to about 12-18 inches at times. The winds come around and mess it up from time to time. But, if we get decent water clarity, we have been having pretty darn good trips. The larger bass, in the 6 to 10 pound range have been continuing at a great pace. In fact, when we have those tough days, we still get at least a 7-8 lb. bass, or two. Everyone this past week got their big bass. Some even got a giant. Nearly all caught the largest bass ever. The Old Fishin’ Tipster’s rabbit foot continues its magic!
We just had a front pass through and our temperatures went down 28-20 degrees. Plus, two days of high winds have blown out the water in the Stick Marsh and Farm 13 areas. About all you can do it some of that ‘whatever fishing’ in the Back 40. By now, those few fish have been caught so many times, their mouths are in tatters. But, it’s all some have been able to do to make up for their limited success rate.
Of course, there is some great fishing in nearby Garcia Reservoir. The fish are smaller on the average and there are not as many giant bass. But, it is a beautiful place and fun fishing (we will have a good informational article up on the web site about Garcia very soon).
We have a 7-10 day period of good weather before us, it appears. The temperatures will climb back to the low 80’s by mid-week and the water should clear out some by Wednesday. I expect fishing will get hot again in a few days and go on at least for a week.
March 24, 2006
Steve Harrower and his son stopped by on a trip from North Carolina to fish with us. Unfortunately, the pair also brought the latest cold front and all the associated high winds. We worked very, very hard all day at finding fish, plus a decent PLACE to fish. Boy, was that wind strong and cold! We tried to go to the south end of the Farm before the winds got too strong. But, a wave that put water over the front end of the boat took care of that!!
When all the dust had settled, both had caught a big bass. Who says that luck and clean living don’t count?!
 
March 23, 2006
Jim Lowery and his Dad, Lee, came to try their hand at fishing with us. Our day on the water was right on the front edge of a cold front, with strong southwesterly winds and overcast skies. In fact, it even rained on us a bit. We expected these condition to provide great fishing, especially right after two super days just before (see the 21-22 March report below). But, it was T-O-U-G-H.
We started out like a ball of fire. Our trusty chartreuse spinner baits immediately captures a 4 and a 5 pounder. Then, we got a number in the 2-3 pound range on the same lure. Fish taken on a spinnerbait have seemed to go absolutely wild lately. Even a small bass fights like a Brahma Bull when hooked on the blade lure! While doing our catching on the spinnerbait, we dragged shiners behind the boat. As has been the case for the past couple of weeks, that was wasted effort. The shiners thought they were on vacation.
Suddenly, the spinnerbait action stopped. It was like turning of a light switch. So, we started to anchor and still-fish the shiners. That worked, but the strikes did not come as rapidly as expected. We did get a couple of big bass using this method, plus a good number of small fish. Occasionally, we tried the spinnerbaits again. But, they were still silent.
When it was all over, only Jim had taken a couple of picture fish. Fishing is sometimes hard to fathom.
March 21-22, 2006
 Clarence Cope and Pete Robbins were due to fly in from Dallas, TX, just to fish two days with us. With a cold front coming in on their first day, and high winds expected for the second, I tried every way I could to get them to delay the trip. But, after a lot of discussion, the pair finally made a decision – “We still want to fish, even if we get blown off the water!”
Now, that’s dedication.
The first fishing day, the 25-MPH wind was from the SW and stayed that way all day. We could handle that on the south end of Farm 13. Had it turned to westerly, we would have been blown off. A little luck goes a long way.
Then came the second day. Much to our surprise, the old Florida Weatherman continued to bat .024 in his predictions. The winds had been stated to be 20-30 MPH from the NE, which would have blown out everything. But, it blew for about an hour (8-9 AM) and, then, it just died! I was amazed, Clarence was flabbergasted, and Pete just lit another big cigar and smiled like a ‘possum.
The shiners were not too happy, though. They thought they would get a reprieve. Instead, they got to go fishing! And, fish they did. So, we actually got in two days of absolutely great fishing.
Clarence landed one giant at 10 lbs. 3 oz., another around 9, and several in the 6-8-lb. category. Pete didn’t get a giant bass, but he got a bunch of those big ones. I lost count of the number of fish caught for both days, but it was well above average.
And, just think, the dumb guide tried to get them to reschedule the trip! I guess I should have been a Weatherman. Then, I would have had an excuse.
March 20, 2006
We had pretty good fishing in the Stick Marsh (Farm 13 Section) on Monday and Tuesday (13-14th). Then, the winds came in again on Wednesday and turned the water to solid slit again. So, we re-scheduled Wednesday's trip. Then, we took a two-day trip to Garcia. It was pretty good, with a lot of small fish. We could not get the canal bass in Garcia to blow up the trolled shiners, so we took a chance and anchored and free-lined the critters. That did the trick for a 6 and a 4, plus some smaller fish. (Glad I had that rabbit’s foot. Wasn’t too good for the rabbit, but it works for me!)
Saturday and Sunday (18-19th), we backed Stan Daniel as the second boat and went to Garcia. The Stick Marsh was just too filthy to fool with. Stan did a little homework with Randy Camps, another Garcia guide, and we managed to find a hoard of small bass. As we explored where these small bass we congregated, we ran across a couple of 5's and an 8.5 pounder, too. (It sure pays to be lucky!)
The next day, we backed Stan again and this time we decided to see if the Farm 13 had cleared over the past 3 days. It wasn't great, but we did get 25-30 fish on small spinnerbaits. Some were in close to the south shore, some were way out, and some between. So, it appears that, if you fish the blade in the wood, you will catch some.
We expect a front and winds on Tuesday and Wednesday, so make your plans accordingly. Garcia Res. makes a great backup for the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 impoundment. There are not nearly as many giant fish, I think, but there are zillions of small ones. Plus, a good one comes along once in awhile.
March 19, 2006
This was the 2nd day of the Dallas Miller multi-day trip where we were the 2nd boat for Stan Daniel. The day before, we had gone to Garcia Reservoir due to poor water at the Stick Marsh. This day, we decided to see if the Marsh had cleared sufficiently in three days of relatively calm winds.
The water had a visibility of a bit less than a foot at the south end of Farm 13. We decided to go with high-visibility spinnerbaits (chartreuse) for both sight effect and for a sound maker in all that murky water. If you fish with me, you know I am not much on using a spinnerbait to find bass. It is just done much faster with a crank plug (as we did the week before). But, we had found they produced earlier in the week, so we tried again.
And, they DID work. Between our two boats, we had 25-30 fish. But, none we giants. There was a solid 5-lb. bass and a few in the 4-lb. range. It was exciting fishing, though, as the bass would strike the lure hard and then go completely crazy!
March 18, 2006
 We provided a second boat for Stan Daniel, as we hosted Dallas Miller and his two sons, plus their good friend, Frank Whiting. These guys came from the Valdosta, GA, area and really knew how to fish artificials well. After discussing the Stick Marsh water situation (Stan had even gone to check it), we decided the Stick marsh was a no-go and opted for nearby Garcia Reservoir. Garcia is a beautiful body of water, teeming with wildlife and lots and lots of bass. It is full of aquatic grasses of all types, reeds, huge lily pad fields, and clear, clean water. The problem is that many of the bass are small. But, then, they are easy to catch.
Stan had checked with our ‘local expert’ on Garcia, Randy Camps (772-539-0180), and got a bit of advice on ‘how and what’ might be effective. We found fish where Randy had suggested, plus just about everywhere else that was similar cover and structure. Mainly, we keyed to the small levees that border the ditches, both in the north-south and the east-west directions. When we found a place where we got 2-3 fast strikes, we stopped and worked the area all around it. That worked great. We caught a lot of small fish in the two-pound range, with a few larger ones coming at random times. I think our two boats split pretty evenly on fish caught, with 50-60 total.
I had Dallas, Jr. and Frank in my boat and they worked on the bass quite well. Dallas, Jr. had a 4-5 lb. fish and Frank slipped up on an 8.5-lb. beauty. You don’t get many that size in Garcia. It has them, I am sure. But, there is so much cover and SO MANY small bass, it is just random selection when you are able to put a lure in front of the giant ones.
We used ZOOM flukes part of the time. But, Frank wanted to learn to fish the RIPPIN’ Stick. It did not take him long at all to get then hang of it, either! He cleaned their clock with the 5.5-inch Green Pumpkin. In fact, his 8.5 big bass came on that lure. I used both the fluke and the RIPPIN’ Stick and found that they seemed to prefer the larger profile of the RIPPIN’ Stick. Plus, I we all noted there was a definite preference for the Green Pumpkin color over the usual favorite, JuneBug.
This was a great day with two fine anglers.
March 16-17, 2006
Gary Atwell and Tommy Naumann are old friends from the Mechanicsville, VA, area. We have fished with them numerous times before. This trip to Florida, they let the wives go visit Mickey Mouse, while they opted to ‘go fish’.
With the Stick Marsh blown out by the high winds a day earlier, we decided to go to Garcia Reservoir. I had not been there in awhile, so I played the percentages and went where I have always done best on that body of water. The winds were still up pretty strong, but the reed stands helped protect us. We found small fish around the ditches, their levees, the reed stands, and the pad fields. It seemed that there were a few everywhere, although we never did get in a thick concentration. Our effective lures were the Green Pumpkin RIPPIN’ Stick, a ZOOM fluke in the same color, and the new ZOOM Horny Toad. That little frog-type lure has two legs that function just like a buzz bait, with all the motion and sound. It is really neat. Wish I had thought of that one first!!
We also fished the canal from Garcia to the Farm 13 spillway. On the first day, the bit the trolled shiners a bit. Tommy watched the shiners as Gary and I worked the heavy grass beds on the edge of the north side of the canal. The best lure from the grass was our RIPPIN’ Stick in the 4-inch version. We rigged it with a small split shot about 10-12 inches up the line and fished it ‘SLIDER’ style (Thanks, old friend and mentor, Charlie Brewer). We tossed it to the edge of the grass and held a tight line while it basically ‘swam’ down the sloping face of the underwater grass, making a pendulum fall back to the boat. Hey, it worked!! The second day, the bass would not come up on the trolled shiners and we had to anchor and free-line the shiners out into the 14-foot water of the canal. That gave us a 6, a 4 and some smaller fish.
Garcia can be a very versatile fishery, with many places and methods that will work. Plus, its scenery is gorgeous!!!
March 14, 2006
Tom Propp and Bradley Grizzell wanted to fish primarily artificials in the Farm 13 section. I advised them that artificials had been a tough way to go, due to the silted water and low visibility. I would have preferred shiners, which had been very successful for giant bass the day before with the Amber and David Smith. But, these two were diehard artificial types. So, we headed out to see what might work out for the pair.
Starting at the very south end of Farm 13, we worked a variety of lures with only minimal success. It was really, really tough. We had broken down and got one dozen shiners as a possible back-up, but they were terribly small and not much value. In fact, the bass would hardly look at them.
(OLD FISHIN’ TIPSTER TIP YOU SHOULD KNOW: When trolling, or drifting shiners, ALWAYS get the largest ones you can. The bass don’t care about a shiner being too big. That is a non-issue to them. If it will go into their mouth, they will hit it. If it is too big to swallow, they will still hit it. You will get more giant bass and more big bass on big shiners. Small shiners die easily when pulled along behind the boat; the large ones are more hardly and live well.)
Sometime during the day, Bradley tied on a small spinnerbait. I was easing us through the shallow stumps when he started using it. Immediately, he started catching bass. Pretty good 2.5-3.5 pound fish, too! Tom’s Mommy didn’t raise any idiots and pretty quick he had a light green color spinnerbait on his line, too. For the rest of the day, they caught bass at a good pace. We even found one small spot that seemed to have a school. Everytime we looped back around to the spot between two old logs, someone got bit real quick.
Normally, when you are catching bass in the Stick Marsh impoundment well, the odds will give you some big bass. But, we saw none this day. Bradley got one nice fish on a hard jerk bait and that was about it. But, to their credit, the guys did well and caught fish on artificials under very adverse conditions.
March 15, 2006
As promised in our last direct Email update, here’s proof that luck counts.
We had Doug Stange and In-Fisherman TV here last week for 4 days. Did pieces on Garcia and the Stick Marsh. Got fish in Garcia on jerk baits, tubes and dragged shiners. But, nothing over 5 lbs.
Water was tough in the Marsh, having come off a week of terrible silt and cloudiness. But my rabbit's foot was still working. Everyone else was in the Back 40, fishing on top of each other. They got a few bass, while we got a lot!! And, on artificials, too (Rattlin’ Rapalas). I had a giant bass go on the artificial lure both Friday and Saturday, only to have her come off right at the boat. We got good film of her both times up to that point.
Monday, I had David and Amber Smith, from Lexington, KY, out for a trip. I told them the hard luck story of losing the giant bass twice and recommended we try to go and catch her. They fully went along with that!!
Setting up on the submerged canal, I took their shiners and set them out exactly where we had hung the big bass on those two days. We will never know for sure if it was the same fish, or not, but Amber almost immediately caught a 10 lb. 6 oz giant. Then, she got an 8. (These were the first bass she had ever caught!) Then, not to be outdone, Dave got another giant.
We ran the shiners for a few more fish, and then took the ‘little green plug’ out for some cranking action. David gave Amber a short lesson on how to cast and retrieve and I think his instruction must have been right on the money. Never having used a spinning rod or a crank plug, it was only expected that Amber almost immediately caught a 4 lb. fish on the 1/3rd oz. firetiger Big O. Then, David got it going, too. Then, the shiners we were dragging behind the boat, while we crank plugged, got going. It was like a goat rodeo for awhile.
It was a great trip and we got that big bass that got away before.
Revenge is sweet!
  
March 12, 2006
We just finished up 4 days on the water with Doug Stange and In-Fisherman TV. I guess they liked it, as they want to come back again next year!!
We worked Garcia for two days while waiting for the Stick Marsh waters to clear some. Garcia was OK, with some bass from the grass areas on jerk baits and tubes. Our best catches there, however, came in the canal connecting to the Farm 13 spillway. In the canal, we used shiners. The largest was around 5 lbs., so it was nothing to write home about. But, we did get a segment done on using planning boards to troll the shiners against the grass lines while the boat stayed out in the open water. That was interesting and has a lot of potential. It is possible to almost put the shiner out at a 90-degree angle to the boat. Doug indicated that the boat's shadow would cause walleye and some other species to move away. By planning the lures or baits out to the side, the presentation is never in the same path as the boat. It worked well and we found the planning boards easy to control (rod tip high to plane out and rod tip at the water to stop it).
Moving to the Stick Marsh and Farm 13, we found the south end of Farm 13 deserted. The parking lot was over-full and everyone was in the Back 40 all over each other. Upon talking with 10-12 anglers earlier and then late that day, we found no one had done anything in the Farm and had all moved north. One day, the Back 40 produced fish well. But, the rest of the time it apparently was very slow. Plus, the sheer number of boats made it difficult fishing.
We checked the south end of the Farm before fishing and found one small area that had water somewhat cleaner than the others. We started there, using the In-Fisherman sponsors' gear and lures. The obvious choice for the dark water was something that made noise and had vibration, plus some color flash that could be seen. I chose a Rattlin' Rap (Rapala) in Silver/Gold, having a wild shiner color-look. Doug went with a Chartreuse Shiner color. Both worked well and we got on the bass pretty good for about 3 hours. Doug's first fish went around 4 lbs. ! Then, we went through a string a 3 lbers. Suddenly, 'Old Lucky' here hooked into the giant we were looking for for that TV camera. She was obviously well over 10 lbs. and we got some nice tape of her trying to jump (she was too big to get more than half her body out of water) and running the cameraman and me all around the boat. As she tried another headshake, the Rapala came out and sailed over the boat. So, no close-up shots with smiley faces on that one. A short time later, another good fish at 6-7 lbs. loaded on. But, this one tossed the lure on the first jump. Talk about bad luck.
The final day we went back to the south end of the Farm, finding the water just a bit cleaner. Plus, that better water strip was now extended out to the north a way further. Knowing the big bass were there and could be caught, we started casting and burning the Rapalas back to the boat. Sure enough, we got into some of them again, find most to be in small groups randomly scattered across the area. And, another thing was still there --- my bad luck streak! with the big bass staying on the hook!! Once more, I was the one to get another giant on. This one was even bigger than the one of the day before! And, we had her on a longer time, too. In fact, we had her to the boat, under the boat, and then coming back out to the net. Everything was going well and the cameraman already had some great footage of the huge bass. Then, as Doug went for her with the net, the line suddenly went slack. Who knows what happened? Just one of those things, I suppose (or, ANOTHER once of those things!).
So, we got a lot of footage of some giant bass action, but none where we got to 'oh and ah' them and give them pat on the back.
However, Doug said he was highly impressed with the fishery and wanted to set up to come back next year for the bass. This time, we scheduled for a month earlier when the crappie will still be out in the main impoundment waters and so easy to catch. That will allow for making two program packages.
In t! he process of chunking those Rattlin' Rapalas around a zillion times, we also found another little bit of information to pass on to you. We caught a number of big crappie on the plugs right down at the south end of the Farm. That says the spawning crappie are bunched up back there and all we have to do is find them. It happens every year that bass anglers are the first to locate the giant crappie spawning areas. The normally mild-mannered crappie gets really aggressive in protecting the spawning area and attack full-size plugs and spinnerbaits with abandon. If anyone finds them before I do, I sure would like an email about it!!
March 4, 2006
On Sunday, 26 February, a front came through with wind gusts to 40 MPH. The temperature did not drop much at all. But, the winds blew the Impoundment out. It was as dirty as I have seen it. I did some shuffling of dates for trips to try and assure our clients decent fishing. One was Ted and Joe Felice from the next day, Monday, out to Wednesday. That was a good move, as you’ll read and see about below.
BUT--- as of Friday, 3 March, the water was STILL pretty poor in the south end of the Farm. That is very unusual and overrides my idea that it was going to clear faster now. It looks to be directly proportional to the wind strength and blow time.
The crappie are spawning. I am finding them back in the Nursery on the stumps. Plus, they are around whatever sparse vegetation is available, regardless of the kind. There is none of the desirable milfoil/hydrilla, so just look for any bank vegetation out there.
I continue to suggest that you email us (or, call 321-951-7841) before you travel any distance to come down and fish. Let us tell you the latest, plus what we feel is a forecast.
March 3, 2006
 Jim Nelson and Bob Reardon came to crappie fish with us. We have been working on those dirty water bass so much, we haven’t done much on the crappie. But, I am not the luckiest fisherman I know for nothing!
In all the years past, some crappie have ALWAYS spawned somewhere in the Nursery area (coordinates B-2, B-3 approximately on our interactive map). So, I pointed the BLAZER boat in that direction. It wasn’t long until we had four nice slabs in the boat on the PERFECT Crappie Jig. I used cinnamon, w/chartreuse tail, while Jim and Bob used chartreuse, w/blue tail. Both worked. Then, we went stale except for really small crappie.
So, we headed across Farm 13 to a patch of vegetation along a bank. I had caught the fish well there a week earlier, so it was worth a try. ‘A try’ was all we got, too. So, it was back to the Nursery, as all the other water was just too filthy to even try to fish. Immediately, we got another 4 nice ones. And, then, they got small again.
I had gotten to the ramp 30 minutes early this day and had checked the vegetation right around the boat ramp area. There, I had caught a big gal on the PERFECT Jig and two small ones on live minnows. I really didn’t think it would amount to much, but we decided to go and try that.
Wouldn’t you know it? There were big old crappie everywhere along that vegetation. You could hit the ramp with a rock. We had it all to ourselves and finished out the day with a good bunch of big slabs. It sure pays to be lucky, rather than good!!
March 1, 2006
 Due to the poor water quality, we had delayed the Felice’s trip from Monday to Wednesday, hoping the water would clear. No such luck. But, we went with the attitude of 'Never give up’.
We dragged those shiners over three miles of stumps and logs in the south end of Farm 13 and NEVER got a strike. The shiners just swam along like they were on vacation. I mean it was really dead out there. So, we finally decided to still fish the shiners around the thickest wood I could find.
The very place we fished turned four small buck bass quickly. AND, they really went on those shiners hard!! Well, that told us that the fish were not turned off. Maybe they were just bunched up in places, waiting for the water to clear some.
We moved around a few times with no further success. Then, we found a ‘magic stump’! This lone stump had a log pile next to it that I had seen once when the water was low. So, we decided to try it. That sure was a lucky move. I’m not sure how many fish came off the location, but it was around 14. Some were big fish, too. The ‘secret’ appeared to be getting the shiner into an imaginary 6-foot circle on the right side of the stump. If you place3d the shiner there, you got a bass pretty quickly. If you were outside the circle, the shiner died of old age. We joked that there must have been a culvert pipe down there that the bass were coming out of. And, if you could get a shiner in front of that pipe, they would eat it as they came out. Who really knows? Fishing can have its quirky moments.
February 28, 2006
 Doug Dupont fished with us back on 1 February, with his friend Mick. This time, he brought his Dad, Joe. This turned out to be one of our toughest days. The water was terrible and there was no activity. We still fished shiners a bit, with only a huge crappie to show for it. We decided to drag the shiners behind the boat and hope for a miracle. Almost immediately, a 5-6 lb. fish came up and blasted a shiner. I thought we were going to have a good trip after all. But, that was the one and only shiner that got hit on the drifting. We still fished for another 4 or 5 bass, but they were of no size.
Doug had our fishing oddity for this trip. He put his shiner out, got bit, and set the hook. He had the fish on for a few seconds and it came off. When he reeled in his hook, there was not one, but TWO, shiners on that hook. I’ve never seen that before!! We accused him of using a shiner to catch a shiner. But, I suspect the fish had the second shiner already in its mouth and Doug just hooked it. That is really the only possible explanation I can think of. I can tell you that there were three dumbfounded fishermen that saw the event happen!!
 Finally, we finished out the day with an hour in the Back 40, looking for just one big fish bite. Wouldn’t you know we got that bite! It was almost time to pull out, when a 6-lb. bass went on Joe’s shiner. Those last minute strokes of fisherman’s luck. So, seven fish, I think. But, two were really nice ones.
Remember, ‘never give up’.
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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