|
|
FARM 13 / STICK MARSH FISHING REPORTS
FOR OCTOBER 2004
OCTOBER 29, 2004
Well, this was a surprise day. As I was writing all this week up, Charles Goodson from Maudlin, Missouri, called and said he wanted to go fishing. I ask when and he said, very emphatically, “NOW!”. I said I needed the exact date to see if I was open and Charlie repeated ‘NOW’.
I think the man meant ‘let’s go NOW’. So, we did.
I just got back and finished cleaning up and even MY head is still spinning a bit. I think you’ll understand why in a moment.
Charlie had finished up his business in the Melbourne area (I think at Harris Corp.) and had until 7 PM to be at the Orlando airport. It was 9:00 AM when he called. I told him we could get in a 5-hour half-day and he could easily make his flight. 50 minutes later, with some good directions, Charlie and I pulled up to the ramp at almost the same time.
Here Charlie was, dress pants, shirt and shoes. All he had done was take off his jacket and tie. This guy was ready to go fish!! He didn’t even have a hat to shield the sun, so I gave him one of my slightly stained ‘I Survived the Stick Marsh’ specials.
By now, I knew Charles Goodson was my kinda fisherman.
With a short day ahead of us, we zipped out the to the west side of the Stick Marsh. I opted for shallow crank plugs, in that the RIPPIN’ STICK was a slow lure and we had little time. After 4 bass and six snags on crank plugs, we decided to go to the Farm 13 side and try for faster action without the snag delays.
I stopped the boat on the center north/south submerged canal about midway from the north end to the center east/west ditch. Getting out the Carolina rig for myself and a crank plug for Charlie, I told him I would find a big shellbed that was close to here and he should burn that plug over the levees of the canal.
I never did find the shellbed. But, two bass ate my Carolina-rigged RIPPIN’ STICK and Charlie, bless his heart, caught 6 bass in 6 casts. I dropped the anchor and he caught another 12-15 before they finally gave out. One was around 6 pounds and the rest just 2-1/3 to 3. Heck, that was a GOOD start.
I tried to find another shellbed on the center east/west canal, but Goodson found the fish first with the crank plug. So we fished them for about thirty minutes, until they either left the location of Charlie had caught them all.
Dang, I thought. This guy has caught 30 fish in two hours. Am I a great guide, or what?! (Well, I still hadn’t found a shellbed, but nobody really cared much!!)
Moving to the south end of the Farm, we started in on a north/south submerged canal.
This one has a couple of ‘different’ features and, if you haven’t seen them at a low water condition, it sorta fools you and the depth finder. About halfway down this canal from the center East/west canal, the size and shape of the channel trace changes twice. First, it narrows and the sides get less steep. Then, another 100 yards to the south, it actually splits into TWO parallel canals, with a high place and stumps in between them. I have caught a LOT of giant bass off this area and have to attribute it to the amount of good and varied structures in so close a proximity to each other. Here is a submerged canal, with a submerged levee on each side of it. Then, we add another submerged canal with the same levees, with both canals sharing that center levee.
The fact is, all three north/south canals in the Farm 13 side have this same feature of splitting into two canals at the south end. Two are very hard to discern, probably due to being silted in some. But, at very low water, during our previous drought periods, the lines of visible stumps show them very clearly. An old aerial photo from the Indian River County Plat Books shows them, as well.
Since it was ‘snag city’ in all these stumps, I advised Goodson to hold his rod tip high and reel fast.
I forgot to say ‘tie your butt to the boat seat’, as well.
In the next 1-1/2 hours, I weighed 9 fish over 6-pounds. Charlie must have caught 40 between 4 and nearly 7 pounds. Only two fish were less than 4 pounds. Now you know why I said ‘even MY head is still spinning a bit.’ It was absolutely scary.
I guess we just hit everything just right. It was a bit overcast, with a spit of rain occasionally. But, there was no frontal activity moving in and nothing out of the ordinary. But, like I said earlier, Charles Goodson was my kinda fisherman. I think he just brought a pocketful of rabbit’s feet for this short trip.
Back at the ramp at 3:30 PM, both of us were mentally drained. We sat in the boat at the ramp and just looked at each other. It was one of those afternoons oft wished for, but rarely seen.
I know I am glad Charlie called me to share a boat with him. I think my previous predications about the fishing in the ‘new’ Stick Marsh impoundment were right on target!!
Hey, next week we kick off a VERY busy November of guiding on the Stick Marsh. Bob Polce, from south Florida says Lake Okeechobee is a mess after the hurricanes and wants to bring his SC friend to the Marsh to fish with us. I hope he brings those rabbit feet, too!!!
OCTOBER 28, 2004
 With no customers scheduled, I decided to go to the Stick Marsh and find as many productive bass locations as I could. The nearly total eradication of the grasses in the impoundment, especially on the Farm 13 side, had me a bit concerned as to how the bass might react.
As I have said before, without grass the baitfish will obviously have to use wood and what little bottom structure there is in the impoundment. The same, then, is true for the bass. Until the grass returns, those of us who have spent goodly time on more northern reservoirs and are really experienced with depthfinders should have a great advantage over the other anglers.
And, I expect those words be just about the truth, because here is what I found. First, there are still a lot of bass in the south end of the Farm, in all that more thick timber remains. You can often spot their hangouts by seeing them chase hapless baitfish on the surface. Second, the submerged wood in the western half of the Stick Marsh, itself, has fish. I tried using a shallow crank plug, or two, but got hung a lot. So, the RIPPIN’ STICK was, without any question, the best lure choice.
I spent more than half my time exploring the submerged canals and levees in the farm 13 section. I have an advantage there, in that I know approximately where the shellbeds and other feature are, having fished the place for so many years. However, I first have to find a reference point. Sometimes those reference points are canal intersections. Other times, they may be certain irregularities along the canals/levees that can be seen on the depth finder. Some of these are the old equipment parking areas, which were a bit higher ground and were graveled, and additional drainage ditches which were randomly placed at selected points in the Farm.
I think I can say with certainty that concentration on those canals and levees are going to be a sure way to catch a lot of bass. I found four good groups of fish on places I can find again. One school appeared to be tremendously large. Two of the groups of fish cooperated with me by chasing baitfish on the surface and helping me to hone in on them quickly. (Remember, with no grass to hide in, the baitfish are going to get pushed around and to the surface a lot. Watch for them!!
OCTOBER 27, 2004
 Wayne Winters called and said he wanted to take a shot at the Kennansville slab crappie. So, Wednesday morning found us making the highways 192 and 441 run to the dirt road turn-off in beautiful downtown Kennansville.
‘Downtown’ is a convenience store, the Red Gator Lounge, and the Cow Palace Café, plus one brand new metal warehouse the hurricane demolished. The Red Gator Lounge is a concrete block building, painted white with hand-painted letter for its name. Last time I looked inside, it still had a dirt floor. It was one of those friendly, ‘local’ boy hangouts where they check you for guns when you go in. If you don’t have one, the loan you one.
Wayne and I went back to the same success canal as I had taken George and Judy Stevens two days before. Things had not changed much and we finished up with a big load of slab crappie. I expect Wayne was up until ‘0’late-thirty’ cleaning fish that night.
OCTOBER 25, 2004
 As we stated in our last report, we had George Stevens and his lovely wife, Judy, scheduled out on Monday, 25 October. After blowing George and one of his fishing buddies completely away with Stick Marsh bass the week before, this trip was to target crappie. I had decided the Marsh crappie were not ready yet and made a reconnaissance run to nearby Kennansville Lake to check it.
It is very safe to say that George and Judy were both blown away by the huge crappie from Kennansville Lake.
Having found the big papermouths right where I expected them to be, it was almost a ‘given’ that George and Judy would do well. Possibly, ‘well’ is a bit too much of an understatement. My best estimate is that 60-65 fish came to the boat in the 3-1/2 hours we spent fishing. Tossing back anything under 10-11 inches, we wound up keeping about 37 for eating purposes. That should easily take care of the big fish fry George was planning. Plus, he wanted to ‘rub it in’ to his relatives back in Kentucky about the great fishing in Florida.
We set out 10-foot long poles (fiberglass) with 9-feet of line on them. To that we attached a gold #1 wire hook a couple of #4 split shots. We tight-lined the poles, setting the minnows about 7-feet deep. Our technique was ridiculously simple: we just drifted about in the north-south canal on the east side of Kennansville Lake and let the crappie do the rest. Whenever we got two, or more, bites close together, I would look at the outside shoreline and make a palm tree or clump of reeds a reference point, so we could circle in that location for the school.
Judy proved to be pretty good at this ‘lazy fishing’ technique and really laid it to George for awhile. She was snatching toss slabs left and right, while George was mostly watching. There is really no explanation for that, in that they were both fishing the same bait, on the same setups, at the same depth, and out of the same boat. But, sometimes, that’s how fishing goes.
As I said, there was really no explanation for Judy’s singular success, and so it was not suprising when George started his streak. He really got into it for awhile, too, with both poles dipping at the same time continuously. Swinging two slab crappie into the boat at the same time on those long, limber rods is really sort of a comical sight. Fish are swinging around all over, sideswiping the angler and his companions. Then, they swing out over the side of the boat again and you are afraid one will drop off the hook. Finally, you just drop them anywhere in the boat that they pass over – the minnow bucket, your wife’s hair, your sandwich lying on the deck – just wherever is convenient.
And, in the end, I think George about caught up with Judy in quantity of crappie caught. But, I will have to give her the edge on size. She really caught a lot of slabs.
OCTOBER 21, 2004
This report covers our adventures from 15 Oct 04 until 21 Oct 04.
The fishing in the Stick Marsh continues to get better. That’s a ‘hard saying’ because it has been unbelievably great since a week after Hurricane Jeanne. The water is clean and clear, but the bottom has so much silt and debris remaining that it can get a bit murky if we have high winds. The water remains about 14-16 inches high.
The best bet for Stick Marsh bass is still the south end of Farm 13 over wood, the submerged levees in the Farm, and the submerged wood in the western half of the Stick Marsh. In the farm, go with shallow crank plugs and Traps in the south end of the Farm. Watch for the bass to chase the baitfish on the surface. A shallow crank, a Texas rig and a Carolina rig are the tickets along the submerged levees. We had George Stevens and one of his buddies out this week for a shot at all of it, with great success. See below for the story.
We found our 4-inch RIPPIN’ STICK in Junebug and in Watermelon Seed was so much better than the standard worm for the Texas and Carolina rigging. I think a soft jerk bait presented in either of these two ways basically makes the long, slender worm obsolete. It’s that much better. We have compared the two type lures over a good bit of time now, and it seems to be the fact.
In the Stick Marsh proper, we suggest you employ the RIPPIN’ STICK(or similar soft jerk bait) over the submerged brush in the western half. With the absence of grass there also, the baitfish are actually in huge schools on the surface when the winds lay. That means they are also JUST UNDER the surface when it is blowing. The lack of grass to hide in makes the baitfish school together tightly and in large schools for protection. We stopped and fished them for 1 hour and 20 minutes this week and had 24 from 2-5 pounds. All we did with the RIPPIN’ STICK was play dumb! We tossed it into the baitfish schools and let it sink on a slack line. The bass below did the rest.
16 Oct 04
 We had David pace and his two sons, Carson and Gordon, out this past week. The have fished with us before, when the boys were really young (see http://www.stickmarsh.com/stickmarsh/reports/dec2002.shtml). They were 7 and 9 then and did around 50-60 bass on a few shiners and a lot of crank plugging!! Now, they are just about grown bassers. And, they proved it again.
This trip, we took the Pace crew to the south end of the Farm and gave them Rat-L-Traps and shallow crank plugs. The bass lined up and loaded on for awhile. Then, they just stopped. It appeared there were not really too many on the stumps, for some reason.
So, we headed to a submerged levee. Again, things started like gangbusters, only to fade quickly. Well, the boys had caught a goodly number at these two locations, but the day still had a long way to go.
 
So, we took our contingency supply of 3 dozen shines and went looking. This turned out to be a great move and free-lining was the ticket. Gordon, the younger of the Pace brothers, once again mystified us all. He caught the least fish, but he also caught all the big ones. In fact, Gordon had three in the 6-pound range and lost one bigger. Carson, steady as a rock, just raked the fish in, one after another. He caught a LOT of bass. But, he never did get over 5.5 lbs. Daddy David fished a bit and caught his share. But, his pleasure was watching the boys. He was as proud of those youngsters as any Father could be.
19 Oct 04
George Stevens called and said that he really enjoyed our web site. He also said he wanted to learn to fish the Stick Marsh, as he and his wife had formally retired and moved down from Kentucky. His intent was to do at least three trips with us – one for bass, one for crappie and another for the giant bluegills/Shellcrackers.
Being right on top of a huge school of bass, I suggest we go quickly. The next day was quickly enough.
Arriving in the south end of the Farm, I gave George and his young fishing friend, Adam, (the wife had to stay home for other matters) a rod apiece, adorned with a crank plug. First casts always foretell the future and these first vast said things were going to be great. Bass came flying through the air, turning cartwheels and doing tricks. Having never caught more than a few bass, both George and his pal were constantly exclaiming how fantastic this fishing was and that they had never experienced anything like it before.
 A whole bunch of bass later, George asked if we could teach him to fish a plastic worm. So, we headed to a submerged Farm 13 levee that had a rough surface and usually held a big bunch of bass.
Pulling up adjacent to the levee, I pulled out a crank plug and fired it across the target levee. Bam, a good bass went on it immediately. I stowed my rod and told the guys that they should get ready to do some catching. Brining out a Carolina Rig, I put a 4-inch Junebug RIPPIN’ STICK on it. I instructed the anglers to watch how I heaved, rather than cast, the lure out. Then, I explained that it was to be pulled slowly across the bottom and exactly how to detect a strike. As my good luck had it, I caught a bass on that cast. I gave the rig to George and said ‘cast right there’, pointing to the southwest. George did not get a bass on his first cast, unfortunately. But, he did get one on 5 of his next 10 casts!! Not bad for a newcomer.
While this was going on, I set up a Texas rig with a 6 inch Pumpkinseed RIPPIN’ STICK and a 1/16th oz. Slip sinker. The lure sinks fast enough that only a small bit of addition weight was needed. I demonstrated it to the other another angler and again caught a bass right off. After 2-3 cast, Adam got the hang of it and started to catch fish.
George soon stated that he wanted to spend the last hour of our half-day trip going for crappie and bluegill. So, I pulled the anchor and started looking. We found little concentration of either fish. A few ere caught, but I was not prepared for those species that day and had none spotted. We did manage to find enough crappie to make a meal and that at least said we were on the right trail.
When we got to the dock, George stated it was more bass in one trip than he had ever dreamed of and he was already looking forward to the next outing. Hopefully, he stated, that could be within a week.
21 Oct 04
The morning of 21 October found me tooling down the sandy road to Kennansville Lake. If it was crappie George Stevens wanted, I figured Kennansville could provide them. With the lake, itself, being so shallow, the crappie are captive in the bordering canals on three side of the lake. And, I knew about where to look!
It took 1.5 hours to catch a 25-crappie limit. Fishing for a total of four hours, I culled them down to 25 that weighed a respectable 19 lbs. As they approach spawning ands body mass increases, these fish would weigh more like 24-26 lbs., I estimate.
If you want to try them, I suggest drifting live minnows 5-7 feet deep in the canals and tossing the PERFECT Crappie Jig to the inside of the canal. Where it falls from the field. Both worked well. Everett Sharpe, an old friend of ours, indicated he was also catching them, but he was vertical jigging in the grass.
Well, today is Friday and I expect George Stevens, his wife and I will be trying the Kennansville crappie, and possibly the bluegill, too, on Monday. We’ll let you know how we do!!
OCTOBER 8, 2004
On 8 October, we hosted John Baker on a trip to the Stick Marsh. We figured the waters would be settled enough now to start getting the fishing back to normal. It has been our contention all along that the hurricanes have actually done the Stick Marsh impoundment a big favor (that about the ONLY favor they have done!!). The waters would get flushed out by all the rain and runoff and all the stagnant areas would be cleansed. We also predicted the fishing would come back better than ever, even with virtually no grass left in the place.
WE WERE RIGHT!!
John and I went to an area where there was a very light amount of moving water. This location would not even be noticed by most and only a lot of experience on the Marsh would allow it to be found. The first thing we went for was crappie. They were not overly thick on the location, but we did get 12-15 good ones. In the process of catching the old papermouths, we also must have got a dozen catfish and 20-30 big bluegill on the PERFECT Crappie Jig. John connected with 2-3 small bass on the jig, too. So, we decided to see if they were home.
Taking a 2.5-inch Fat Free Shad and a Rat-L-Trap, we started casting across the current flow and running the lures across a submerged levee top. The bass were right where they should have been and we plentiful and very competitive. We tried a Carolina-rig RIPPIN’ STICK, as well, and found the bass really preferred it to a regular worm.
After 20, or so, fish, we decided to check the big input gate in the southeast corner of the Farm. (It was tough being the ONLY boat on the impoundment at the time.)
The waters at the gate were really humming, with the adjacent 3 pipes also open. Baitfish were flying in all directions as hoards of hungry bass attacked them constantly. We even had a few run into the side of the boat as they chased the bait with utter abandon.
John said that he had never witnessed anything like that before. I told him to just get a good grip on the rod because he hadn’t seen anything yet.
Virtually EVERY cast would produce a bass 3-5 pounds. This was very similar to what Wayne Winters and I had experienced just before Hurricane Jeanne passed through. It is hard for most to grasp just how intense this fishing can be, unless they have themselves experienced it. It comes to about as close to the phrase ‘shooting fish in a barrel’ as anything one can imagine.
John is primarily a saltwater angler and had very little bass experience. But, he could handle the equipment well and that was all it took. He got the ‘biggie’ of the afternoon, too, with an old girl in the 7-pound range.
On Monday, the 11th, I had a half-day with Bryson Curre from Atlanta. We went to the moving water locations along the various levees and canal intersections in the Farm, picking up a steady stream of singles until we finally hit a school.
With no grass left, these bass were keying to stumps and old wood remains, which line the southern end of this canal trace. It was really an experience for Bryson, as it would be for any angler who has not fished much. The fish were absolutely wild!! Traps, shallow crank plugs, and any form of soft plastic presentation would immediately draw a strike. We found that a 50-yard section seemed to hold most of the bass, with the north end of it holding small bass and the lower end the big ones. In fact, the big bass were so concentrated on that spot that we had 6 between 6 and 9 pounds and got broke off in the logs a number of times. This location just happens to also be where I have guided to so many trophy bass for the past two years, only then it was using the RIPPIN’ STICK over all the grass beds that predominated the Farm 13 area.
It rained on us, off and on, the entire time. After about 2-1/2 hours, Bryson said he had caught enough bass to know that all the stories of the Stick Marsh’s greatness were absolutely true. And, he indicated that he was wet, cold, and ready to call it a day. I took him to the ramp and his car and, then, I went back to catching fish!! (The camera got left home, so I did not get any pictures of Bryson. But, he still looked fine, even when wet!!)
The next two days were exploring the newly reborn Stick Marsh water, looking for fish and ways to identify their preferred locations. I am sure I caught 50-70 fish each day just part-time fishing and part-time looking around. Here are the most important things I found:
- With no grass left of any significance, wood is absolutely a key attractor for the baitfish and the bass. Anywhere there is a significant amount of wood on the bottom, there are bass.
- The levees of the submerged canals in the Farm 13 side are the second-best locations for bass. The levees are perfect structure features, both for reference and for movement guides. The baitfish use the levees and the depths of the canals between them. The bass follow the baitfish. End of that story.
- There is a bit of grass left in a few small, very protected locations. The eastern shoreline retained a good bit of its grass, particularly along the edges of that east wall canal. I found a lot of small crappie and big bluegills along that grass the entire length of the east wall canal in farm 13. There is grass in the SE floodgate basin, of course. It should harbor a lot of crappie, particularly in Feb-Mar when they spawn. There is grass in near the ramp area, where the waters were protected. The grass that covered a good bit of what we call ‘the south 40’, on the north side of the ramp, is mostly gone. The dense mats of other vegetation survived to a degree.
- The submerged brush and tree remains on the western half of the Stick Marsh side have plenty of bass, as always. It may be difficult to root them out of that wood, but there will be little change to that fishing from the past.
- There is a LOT of surface activity on the Farm 13 side. The bass are running baitfish all over the place. It seems to go on for 30 minutes and then stop for a couple of hours. But, then, they get right back at it. I suspect early morning topwater will be spectacular around these jumps.
 My ever-suffering wife, Dot, and I went out on Thursday, the 14th. It was about time for here to get started back at fishing, after all the hurricane mess we had put up with. I told her all about the concentrations of bass on the wood and how aggressive they were. She indicated that sounded a bit too good to be true and like a fish guide’s fish story. Boy, did the fish fix her good!! Guide’s tale, my foot!!
I got up from the driver’s seat of the big STRATOS and eased the trolling motor down. Handing Dot a rod with a mid-sized Big-O on it, I said, “Just cast in any direction you like.” (How’s that for confidence!)
My better half got two turns of the reel handle and then grunted as the rod suddenly bowed over to the water. A big old sow bass ripped into the crank plug and headed for parts unknown. Dot got her wits back about her and the rod tip up. She couldn’t reel at all and just held on. After a few turns around the boat and some swirls as big as wash tubs, we netted her 6 lb. 6 oz. ‘big old good’un’. Not a bad way to start out with the first cast.
I figure we stayed with these bass for 50, or so, and then went to spot number 2. Number 2 was the top of a submerged levee, where there was either a good amount of rock or some well-attached shell beds. Either way, the 6-foot deep bottom was very rough and VERY full of bass. Here, we switched to Rat-L-Traps (actually the Strike King version), Carolina-rigged 5.5 inch RIPPIN’ STICKS, and weightless RIPPIN’ STICKS. We cast the Traps to the far edge of the levee and let it sink to the bottom. If it did not get hit on the way down, we ripped it off the bottom and tried to outrun the bass back to the boat. Trust me – you CANNOT outrun a bass with a lure!!!
The RIPPIN’ STICK is just a piece of plastic and just a soft jerk bait. Its difference is that it sinks approximately 20% faster than others because we put more salt in it. The faster sink rate allows the angler more feel and more control of the lure, to fish it Texas-rig style without weight, and seems to trigger better fish response strikes on the drop. Anyway, it does just what we designed it to do and that was to make plastic worms obsolete and to replace all other soft jerk baits on the market (especially those with an obscenely high price). I used the RIPPIN’ STICK and Dot used the crank plug, with basically equal results. I probably caught a few more bass than she did simply because I could unhook and release them quicker and easier.
This location was good for another 30-40 fish, including another for Dot in the 7-lb. class. That lady can sure do a number on bass when she gets started. Of course, she said it has nothing to do with the guide knowing where the fish were.
Well, that’s a week of fishing -- Friday to Thursday. The Stick Marsh, as we knew it with all the grass, is dead. But, long live the Stick Marsh. It is still here and better than ever. I never cease to be amazed at the place!!
It has started to cool off and the phone is ringing off the hook for guided trips on the Stick Marsh. Would you believe I already have 10 days booked for next APRIL! It’s going to be a busy season. If you are of a mind, I suggest you make a reservation ads early as possible (email me at jporter@stickmarsh.com, or 321-951-7841. If we can’t connect, I can get you set with one of my associates who guide ONLY the Stick Marsh.
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.
|
Recommended sites by The Fishin' Tipster |
A common question that we get: "Is there somewhere close to get bait and tackle?" This is where we get our bait.
Pete and Tina Heinz / 9 South Mulberry St. / Fellsmere, FL 32948 / 772-571-9855
Get your site listed here
Let us help you drive more targeted traffic to your site.
|
Rank our Site
©Copyright 2001-07 All rights reserved by Jim Porter, any reproduction, quotation or other use of this site or its elements is prohibited without the express written permission of Jim Porter
|
|
FROGG TOGGS RAIN GEAR
THE BEST PRICES AVAILABLE!!
|
|
