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| My friend Steve !! From Ft Pierce |
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| 3-29-08 16iN!!!! |
| EVEREST BORKOSKI!!! FEB 08 |
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Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Bass Fishing In December 07 CrappiesTOOO!!!
31 December 2007 Well, I think the 2007 fishing season
is done – over – fini – about to go out with a bang! It has been in the 80’s the past few days, but Mother Nature is about
to make a 30-degree change on that. 52 to 55 for a daytime HIGH right after New Year. Holy Mackerel, Andy, them is some ‘cold
feets weather’ down here. We postponed a couple of trips slated for the New Year period just because it isn’t right to spend
money for a fishing trip we know will be in the pits. Gonna make ‘em up a little later. The waters in the Farm 13/Stick
Marsh impoundment continue to be clean, but dark. The fishing is excellent, PROVIDING you know the better places to work.
Bass are scattered, with many still running in schools. Find a school and it is ‘Katie, bar the door’ time! Many bass are
starting to move into the very shallow areas (examples: south end of the Farm; west side of the impoundment; north palm tree
line of the Stick Marsh). JuneBug RIPPIN’ Sticks and red Rattlin’Raps have been our best offerings. Crappie are still a bit
scattered, with our submerged levee top pattern remaining hot. The coming cold front should start the panfish bunching up
in big schools and that will make drift fishing a lot better. Garcia continues to be great fishing for bass. They are just
much smaller than the Marsh bass. We sure have had some year-end ‘magic’ during this past week. I am again amazed
at how lucky a certain guide can be. I know there has to be a big bust coming soon, as we are just catching fish on a hot
streak. It is scary to have things keep falling in place so well. Read the reports below and I’ll bet you will be amazed,
too. 27 December 07 We got a call from a Father who wanted to send his son and grandson on a holiday fishing
trip. Of course, we always like family groups. They tend to rag one another a lot and just have fun. And, so this trip went.
 Shawn Walters and his son, Lincoln, were our guests and they opted for both bass and some of the Farm 13/ Stick Marsh impoundment’s
giant crappie. So, our first stop was our crappie hot spot on a submerged levee in the north end of Farm 13. I handed each
angler an ultra-light with a cinnamon and chartreuse PERFECT Crappie Jig attached to it. Man, were those crappie BIG ones.
And, they were eating that jig so well that I had to call a halt after a short while because we were about to crowd our shiners
out of the livewell! Those things are too expensive to kill. I told the guys that we could come back to the giant crappie
after we had used up our shiners.
 Setting up on some choice wooded areas in the south end of the Farm, we found a waiting period before we finally started to
catch bass. Apparently, they just we not on our chosen location. But, we waited and, sure enough, some finally came in on
us. This was a day when we saw no really big bass go one the shiners. We had a lot of blow-up and a lot of hooksets. But,
the fish were just ‘fish’ – fun, but no really heavyweights in the bunch. Shawn did one nice old gal and we made her a movie
star.
Moving to another location, we picked up 6 good bass to maybe 3.5 to 4 pounds. But, the sun was getting low
and we were running out of time. After a brief discussion, the pair of anglers decided they’d rather go back and catch crappie
than try for more bass in the time we had left (that tells you just how good those giant crappie were doing!!).
Back at the crappie area, we picked up a few more, until the sun just got red in the west and we had to pull it in.
Pretty good crappie day, but somewhat less than average on the bass. Still, a great time was had by all.
29 December
2007
The night I came in from fishing with the Walters crew, the phone rang and Richmond Carter was on the line. Seems
as though he and his partner, Sam Kennedy, had been fishing the area for 3 days with not too much luck. They had been looking
at the pictures of our recent trips down on the board at the Stick Marsh Bait & Tackle Shop and decided to see if we had
an open date. Richmond said they wanted at least an ‘educated shot’ a getting a trophy bass before they went home. Heck, I’m
not the luckiest angler I know for nothing!! I told them the flat truth – you never know if you will catch a giant bass on
one of our trips. But, if you keep a lure or shiner wet all the time you are out there, the chances are pretty good. The impoundment
just has so many big bass that it sure helps sway the odds in a persistent angler’s favor.
Saturday morning found us
launching the big Blazer in some pretty dense fog. But, a GPS can sure be a helpful device to point you in the right direction
in those circumstances. We made it our to the vicinity of the giant crappie hole and I suggested we stop for awhile and fish
for them until the fog thinned a bit. It was really thick over on the Farm 13 side. Passing each angler a spinning rod with
the PERFECT Crappie Jig attached, I positioned the boat alongside a submerged canal levee. Boy, Richmond sure knew how to
use that jig and started boating them right away. It was some fun fishing with the crappie running around 2-pounds, on the
average. Really NICE fish. But, as with the Walters a couple of days before, we had to stop lest we endanger the shiners in
the same livewell as the crappie.
We eased through the fog to the east shore pump station. It was not running, but we anchored and free-lined anyway
waiting for the fog to thin out. I don’t think we ever even got a bite there, so it was really great that the fog lifted quickly.
Moving to the south end of the Farm, we anchored on a high-percentage hole and set the shiners out to swim. The bass were
not home and we waited a good hour for the first strike. It was an average 3-pound fish. Then, possibly 15 minutes later,
Richmond’s bobber went down hard and he set the hook into a giant bass. There was quite a fight with this big gal, as she
really had a lot of speed and stamina for a big bass. As she went into the net, I noted that her head and mouth were both
huge. As I lifted her from the net, I noted she was not full of eggs and had very little pot belly on her. However, she was
a very LONG bass, right at 27 inches. On My Berkley digital scale, she went 10 lbs. 2 oz. In looking at the pictures today,
she sure doesn’t look quite that big, what with no big gut. But, the scale is usually right. It was, by far, the largest bass
Richmond had ever caught.
 A few smaller bass later, Sam got into the act. A big old sow chased his shiner to the top and devoured it with a bang and
a crash. This bass, too, was very long, with a huge head. But, it also did not have a big belly. It scaled around 8 pounds,
another surprise. After that, we bass started to come pretty regular. We saw no more giant bass, but most were the average
3 to 3.5 lbs. It was a great bite, to the point we ran out of shiners.
Guess what?! Those giant crappie had hit the spot with Richmond and Sam, too,
and they wanted to go finish up on them. When we left the crappie hole, we had a heck of a nice bunch of 1.5 to 2-pound crappie,
with one big Mamma scaling at 2.3 pounds.
31 December 07
We decided to close out 2007 by catching a fish
or two ourselves. Where we thought it would be windy, this day was actually warm and calm. In fact, the water was slick the
whole time. I ran into Glenn Bolten on the impoundment. Glenn has fished with us before, but does just fine from his own boat.
Today, he caught me with a marker in the water and probably saw I was nailing them pretty well. As he drifted by, Glenn jokingly
asked me to leave that marker right there when I was finished.
I started out on the levees of the center north/south
canal and found the usual crappie, bluegills and shellcrackers still there. They were not as thick as the past couple of weeks,
but we have caught a LOT of them. So, I decided to find a new school, or two. I moved to the west north/south canal (coordinates
B, 5-7 on our interactive map) and started working the PERFECT Jig along the top of the levees. Boy, did I get lucky again.
Within a 100 yard stretch, I caught well over 50 big crappie, 8 big shellcrackers, and a zillion bluegills and catfish. It
was steady action. So, don’t forget that canal. But, I expect all the submerged levees have fish. You just have to locate
the shellbeds.
I wonder how much better this crappie fishing will get after this coming cold front? They will start
to bunch up then and it should get even better, especially for those drifting minnows in the open flats of the Farm.
23 December 2007
We had our first good cold front work its way to
central Florida this past week. Temperatures in the north Florida got to the upper 30’s/low 40’s, while we here in central
Florida saw high 40’s. Of course, it warmed back to the mid-70’s in a couple of days. Those cold fronts act as a ‘trigger’
of sorts to start our fish on their spawning cycles, so we have been waiting. Now we watch to see if the positioning and movement
patterns of the bass and crappie change. They are normally very predictable, which is a big advantage to those of us to fish
a lot of the time.
Garcia continues to be beautiful and productive. In fact, even if the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment
turns out to be poor fishing, Garcia is an excellent alternative. I love the place for its sheer beauty and wilderness look.
Plus, of course, it is full of fish that can be caught on just about anything at anytime.
19-21 December 07
Derrell
Miller has been a long-time friend and fellow ‘fish-head’. He is now a full-time RV’er who goes and lives whereever he wants
for as long as he wants. Then, he pulls in the slide on the motor coach and moves it on down the road. Derrell is wintering
in west Florida, knowing that somewhere today someone is shoveling snow. When we decided to fish for a few days, the fish
just sighed and muttered, “Well, here comes ‘Old Lucky’ again.” We put in three days. But, at our age, they were more like
half-days. We had fine weather and just sorta stayed laid back the whole time.
 Day 1 found us on Garcia Lake. The cold front a few days earlier had blown the Farm 13/Stick Marsh out and the water was in
pretty poor condition. This day was warm, with lots of sun and only light breezes. Derrell started with a Rattlin’ Rap crank
plug and I alternated between a JuneBug RIPPIN’ Stick jerk bait rigged ‘wacky’ style and a small spinnerbait. We sure guessed
right this time. Derrell’s second cast netted a 4.5 lb. largemouth, which is a fine bass on Garcia. He wore them out pretty
good on the crayfish pattern Rap, while I did best on the RIPPIN’ Stick. Everything went great until my friend got a fish
on that jumped and broke his line (literal translation: ‘that sucker got the Rattlin’ Rap’!!)
 Day 2 found us check the Stick Marsh/ Farm 13 for water conditions. Actually, they were pretty good, with the water clarity
only slightly dark. We decided to try for crappie and big bluegills on the submerged levee tops first. Working a couple of
hundred yards of levee tops in three places indicated fewer fish than had been using the levees over the past few weeks. Whether
that was true, or not, we did not find that many fish in these locations. Some big crappie and bluegills were present, but
not in large numbers. We are awaiting the crappie to start to bunch up in preparation for the late-February spawn and they
usually do this when the cold fronts start to drop the water temperatures. So, this may be why the fish had left the levees.
Our next stop was the south end of the Farm to look for bass. This was very successful and resulted in some great
fishing. Plus, we discovered an important piece of information. We took advantage of a southeasterly breeze to push our boat
out over the wood. Accordingly, we went back into that submerged timber (to the south) a bit further than usual and then let
the wind push us out towards the open water. One of my first casts with the Rattlin’ Rap resulted in a huge bass that ate
my lunch!! She was just uncontrollable and wound up getting down in the wood. It sure got my blood going good! As we drifted
further, Derrell popped two nice fish on the Rap, while I had another at 3 lbs.
Once we cleared the majority of the
wood, we noted that ALL the fish had come way back to the south. So, for our second drift, we took the boat back further into
the southern wooded area. Sure enough, we picked up a number of good bass again on this drift and they were all well back
into the wood. It was starting to look like the bass were moving to the very shallow areas in preparation for the spawn (which
runs late December to mid-February in the Farm 13/Stick Marsh). This movement to the shallows happens every year at about
the same time, so we who fish the impoundment regularly recognize it when it shows up.
On our next drift, we went
even further back to the south, with the boat hanging on stumps with regularity. Plus, the Raps got hung a good bit, too!
However, they also got hung on bass lips a lot, as well. As I was releasing a fish, I happened to see a whole school of bass
come up chasing baitfish about 50 yards from us! It was directly in our line of drift. Looking around the breaking area, I
marked two stumps for reference so I could stop and fish exactly where the fish broke. I told Derrell that, if there were
some grass trying to grow in that spot, it might be why the baitfish were there. Plus, the grass would hold the bass and baitfish
in that same spot. Those baitfish need that grass to hide in and get away from the predators.
Sure enough, the school of bass was right there when we got to it. We did not note any evidence of grass growth. But,
there was a very heavy amount of old logs and stumps underwater. The school was quite large and the average fish was 3-3.25
lbs. Some were larger, one of which ripped Derrell a new one before spitting the Rap back at him! It was such a good school
that we anchored the boat and caught them for 30 minutes. At the start of this fishing spree, the school was large enough
that we caught 2-at-a-time on the Rattlin’ Rap and Rat-L-Trap sometimes.
The information gleaned this day was valuable.
It told us the bass schools were moving way back into the shallows for spawning (they will break up into smaller groups and
singles as they reach desirables locations in the prime spawning zones). It also said that baitfish are plentiful back in
that wood and that we should be attentive for any action or movement.
Day 3 caught us by surprise. We had intended to fish a few shiners for fun and then go back to the shallow south end
of the Farm for bass using artificials. But, Mother Nature pulled a fast one on us and the winds started up at 15-20 MPH out
of the northwest. That completely blew out the south end of the Farm and made it impossible to hold the boat. We noted the
pumphouse running on the Farm’s east wall. But, those same NE winds made it impossible to hold a boat there. So, we went to
the big spillway in the SE corner of the Farm. Remarkably, not another boat was there. We set the shiners out, only to find
a few catfish and one skinny bass. I moved the boat a short piece to a different position with about the same results. We
tried another position and put the shiners out free-line style. That didn’t do much either. Finally, I moved the boat where
we could put the shiners into some deeper water. Boy, did that do the trick. I don’t think there was any water coming through
the spillway. If it was, it was just a bare trickle. But, there were bass there and they ate the rest of the shiners like
candy. Even with high winds, we managed to salvage the day with some fine catching!!
So, ya'll come on down and enjoy
some of this warm weather and great fishing. The bass will be fine, unless the winds blow the impoundment out for a couple
of days. The Farm 13/Stick Marsh bass are still plentiful and BIG and ready. If the weather gets rough, Garcia is still a
great fishery!! The crappie can be hit-or-miss right now. But, by mid-January, they will be bunched and a lot easier to catch.
Then, as mid-February rolls around, they will be hot to spawn and it will really become super fishing!
8 December
07
 Mike and Marc Boucher brought their Dad, Will, to fish with us as a kind of 70th birthday gift. This was a trip with the wind
blowing us a bit. We went to Farm 13 and took a few fish. But, the winds started to roll us and the water was a bit dirty.
So, we decided to go and fish a protected area with a somewhat poor-looking vegetation line. Most anglers pass the spot by,
looking for more ‘fishy’ waters. But, I have found the location to be excellent at times, as it appears to be a movement route.
It also helps that the bottom in covered with the remains of old orange trees that once stood there!!
Setting the
shiners out to swim, we sat and waited. Then, we waited some more. Finally, we waited longer. I have seen it start slowly
in that location in the past, so I kept telling the guys to have faith. When the bass come along this grass-line and find
shiners, they will stop and we’ll catch a bunch. I sure hoped that would happen, too. You can never tell about fishing, or
they would call it ‘catching’ instead.
 Suddenly, it started. The first two big blow-ups on the shiners were missed hooksets. Then, we started to connect. Will got
a couple of small bass and then Marc got a big old girl on. She ran him from one end of the boat to the other, with Marc trying
to keep her out of anchor ropes. Soon, she came to the net. Then, Mike got into the act with some 3-4 pound fish. Will caught
a bass every so often, too, but just could not get a bite from that giant bass.
Normally, the ‘Mudfish Hole’ brings bites from more mudfish, gar and catfish than anything else. But, this time, we
could raise a strike from anything. For 20 minutes we let those shiners vacation back there, without a care in the World,
it seemed. As the sun turned red in the west, I took in and stowed two of the three shiner rods, leaving Mike with his until
the last minute. Just as I got the rods put in place, Mike grunted and said he had one. And she was a good one, at about six
pounds. Sure enough, the ‘last minute magic’ had befriended us again. It’s sure better to be lucky than good! Always keep
a shiner or lure very wet at all times and there is always a chance!!
10 December 07
This trip was with
Bryan Robb and his lovely wife-to-be, Tamara Forrest. From Ontario, Canada, these two kids were enjoying the Florida sunshine
and the balmy 80 degree days as they played ‘tourist’ and visited Bryan’s Mother.
 We started at ‘Jim’s Magic Stump’ at the south end of the Farm (not to be confused with ‘Stan’s Magic Stump’ in the Nursery;
mine has a fork on it). Things went slowly, and then the bass started to come. Shiners were blown up into the air and caught
by the bass as they came back down. Tamara got a couple of big bass, while Bryan seemed to be afflicted by the ‘little bass’
curse.
When the bite tapered off, we decided to move and try another wooded area. As I pulled up the front anchor, the wind
changed a bit and brought the sound of a diesel engine running. Scanning around, I realize that the sound was coming from
the Farm 13 pumphouse. So, I decided to go by and see if there was any current flow. Boy, that turned out to be a good move.
The water flow was only slight, but it was apparently enough to bring the bass in. Anchoring the boat off to the side of the
moving water, I rigged up some free-lined shiners for each angler. Tamara, at that time, was running away with all the big
bass catches. But, that would soon change dramatically.
 As the free-swimming shiners made their way out into the current flow, bass would eventually find them. There were not hoards
of bass, as there sometimes are on moving water. But, there were enough that we had a steady flow of action. Strangely, we
seemed to have few strikes from catfish and mudfish that usually use moving water location a lot. Both anglers started to
catch solid 3-4 pound fish. Then, Bryan started to come on strong with the larger bass. It must have been boat positioning
that gave him the edge. We never did make it to that other location, as the moving water produced bass until the shiners were
gone and the sun was low.
12 and 14 December 07
 David and Beng Spletzer hail from that cold state of New Jersey and were down vacationing (and thawing out) for a week. In-between
theme park visits and outlet mall excursions, the couple made time for a couple of outings with us. The weather was nice for
them during their stay. But, the day they flew home, the big snowstorm hit the Northeast. I hope their delays were short.
Our first day out found us stopping on a submerged levee in the north section of Farm 13. This pair of anglers wanted
to try some crappie and bluegill, as well as bass on the trip. We would soon find out that this was to be ‘Beng’s Big Day’!!
I gave each a light spinning outfit with 6-lb. test Fireline on it and rigged with a cinnamon/chartreuse tail PERFECT
Jig. With the winds very light, it was easy to control the position of the boat so both could work the jig slowly across the
top of the levee. We fished along about a 150-yard stretch, finding plenty of bluegills and a few crappie. Using marker buoys,
we marked the places we caught crappie and then concentrated on those levee locations. Beng suddenly got a strike and her
rod just kept bending over and down. I could tell it was something big, so I grabbed the net and moved to her side. From the
pull on the line and rod, I expected to see a big catfish. But, it turned out to be the first 3-pound crappie of the year!!
Wow, what a whopper.
 But, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. A little later, we boated the largest shellcracker I have ever seen. It weighed 2.4-pounds
and dwarfed any others we have caught. It was so huge as to defy the imagination. A couple of weeks before, Stan Daniel and
I had caught some around 1.5 –lbs. In a report below, we showed one that was as big as my hat. But, this fish was way, way
above those in size. Man, alive. The Farm 13/Stick Marsh sure grows big fish of all kinds.
From there we went to the
Farm 13 pump station. It was running, but the water was moving only slightly. A few fish were there and went on the shiners
quickly. In addition to the free-lined shiners, I also put one out under a bobber. Sure enough, they ate the bobbered shiner,
too. In fact, David blew off a giant bass on the bobber rig right near the boat. It may well have been the big bass of the
trip.
 Our next stop was at the south end of the Farm, over submerged wood. Setting out the shiners, we waited for about 30 minutes
with no action. Then, the strikes started to come. It was not fast action, but just enough that you could not take an eye
off the shiners. Beng seemed to have the ‘charmed’ end of the boat at this location. While the bass were nearly all 3-pounds,
or better, Bend was averaging closer to 4-lbs. Then, she got the ‘big bite’. A monster blew up on the shiner! She went down
to a tight line, set the hook well, and somehow missed the fish completely. Since Beng said she never felt any contact on
the hookset, I think the big bass spit the shiner out. Quickly baiting her up again, we put the shiner back in the same location.
10 seconds passed and BANG, the giant bass went on Beng’s hapless shiner again. This time, though, she hooked him perfectly.
The huge bass’s surges stood the slight girl up on her feet trying to hold on. But, she kept the big bass’s head up and out
of the wood just fine. After a couple of passes across the front of the boat and one near an anchor rope, 10 lbs. 4 oz. of
fine looking pre-spawn bass came to the net. With a flawless complexion and a giant, protruding belly, the big old gal was
a prime example of a giant Florida largemouth.
After a few more good fish, the action slowed and we decided to go
look at a final spot for crappie. This location was not intended to be for giant crappies, but just to anchor and fish minnows
under bobbers for fun. I only think six were caught. Not much fun in that. We called it a day and went in.
 Our second day found us eliminating other species from our plan and gunning for just bass. In particular, we were after a
giant bass for David. Stopping first at the pump station, we found it running with a pretty good current. And, we hooked into
8-10 good fish very quickly. Everyone got fish in the 4 and 5 pound range. Then, it seemed to just stop. Possibly, the baitfish
moved off the spot and the bass followed them.
So, we went to the location at the south end of the Farm where Beng
had caught the giant bass the day before. The fish were not as numerous and the strikes far between. They were good, solid
bass. But, it was slow. So, we moved the boat 100 feet to another big log pile location. Here, we had the same action – a
few good fish, but a good wait between strikes. We went back to the pump house spot, only to find it still barren.
So,
it was off to the spot where we had successfully taken the Bouchers a few days before. It was a terrible looking place, but
the bass seem to like it. Setting the shiners out, we got no action for perhaps 15 minutes. Then, as we were talking about
some obscure subject, we all heard an explosion as a bass broke the surface. It turned out to be a strike on Beng’s shiner,
which had swam almost back to the front of the boat. It caught us all unawares, but the young lady got her act together and
landed the fine 6-lb. fish.
 The action gradually heated up some and David started to get 3-lb bass with a little regularity. But, we still did not have
a really big bass for him. Plus, we only had about 15 minutes of daylight left. I was giving it my ‘have faith’, ‘keep the
shiner wet’, and ‘last minute heroics’ speech, when something ate David’s shiner all at once. No warning and no shiner action
to this one. Just a sudden strike and a bobber flying down out of sight. David let the fish clear some floating trash and
then set back hard. Man oh, man. It had happened again. It was the biggest largemouth David had ever caught!! I am again amazed!!
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November 13, 2007 - Tuesday
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Fishing Stick Marsh with jim porter
Current mood:  calm
Category: Sports
4 November 2007
 This report will cover the fall turn-on of smallmouths and spotted bass in the North Carolina reservoirs and the present fishing
situation in Florida.
It was a long time coming, but fall conditions finally made it to NC. After an unseasonably
warm summer in the NC mountains, an unseasonably warm introduction to fall came along. Normally, it is expected that the summer
disappears and fall starts in September. This year, it did cool down a bit around 10 September, but it never did get really
cool until around 20 October. That was a 1.5-month delay, with the cool down being very gradual. The question we consider
is if 'global warming' is a reality.
 The gradual cool down, though, did wonders for the fishing in the high reservoirs such as Hiawassie, Burton, Blue Ridge, Nottley
and Chatuge. With the waters very low due to local drought conditions, we were able to target good structure easily. The blow-down
seen in the picture (now 40 feet out of water!) was a great location for both smallmouths and largemouths back in May and
June. Now, it is a bit too 'shallow' for them.
 The gradual weather cooling caused a similar gradual transition of the fish to their fall feeding binge patterns. Smallmouths
and Kentucky Spotted Bass all go on a major feeding spree when the high reservoir waters cool to 65-70, and it continues until
the water gets down to 50 degrees. There is a LOT of surface action, as the baitfish school out over deep water and the bass
coming to pick them off. We saw 20-30 bass in 4-5 hours normally. Most were 1.5 to 2 pounds on the average. But, we did run
across a few 3-4 pound fish. Our best lure for the breaking fish was a fluke rigged with a treble hook trailer. We would never
miss a strike when using the treble add-on hook. Fishing out over 40 feet of open water meant we'd never run a chance of getting
hung up, so the treble was great.
The next best lure was, remarkably, the Swimming Worm. We found the bass were chasing
the baitfish up onto shallow flats and bars adjacent to deep water. So, we figured the bass must have been holding just off
the flats over the deeper areas and waiting for the baitfish to come by. We simply ran the Swimming Worm at about 4-5 feet,
very slowly and parallel to the drop from the flats to the deep zones. It worked great.
 Returning to Florida recently (and when the NC temperature got below freezing a couple of mornings in a row!!!), we found
a late tropical storm cum Hurricane named Noel heading at us. Talk about not being able to win. But, a high pressure pushing
a good cold front into Florida steered Noel out to sea. We did have about 6 days of rain and 30-40 MPH winds from Noel. However,
it turned out that the east and northeast winds were from directions that did not mess up the Stick Marsh/farm 13 badly. We
had a guide party scheduled for Friday, 2 November, and it was 'iffy' as to whether we could make the trip safely and effectively.
 We pre-fished on Tuesday and Thursday, finding the winds horrific, but the water not too dirty. Working some sheltered areas,
we actually did very well.
Any ideas that the numbers and sizes of bass in
the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment have been depleted are just untrue. Stan Daniel recently took our old regular customer,
Bill Molen, from Florida's west coast. Bill brought his Father-in-Law, Russell and said he wanted Russell to 'catch the giant
fish'. Stan and the bass cooperated beautifully, with 30+ bass being caught, including Russell's 11 lb. 4 oz. giant!!
On Tuesday, we only hooked 12 bass. We used the Swimming worm as a slow 'sreach and tease' lure and then a deep Fat
Free Shad in front of the pump station. One minute it was blue skies and the next another of Noel's rain bands moved through.
But, you could see the rain coming, so it was easy to grab a FroggToggs and stay dry. The rain and low light at times messed
up some of the pictures (see the one where the orange rain suit is saving my skinny tail from being washed away!!) we tried
to take with the automatic timer, just not having enough light to focus properly. On Thursday, we caught well over 20 bass
(with a 7 and an 8-pounder at the top end) and then about 40 crappie (PERFECT Jig, Hot Momma color). With high hopes, we advised
our party members, Bob Clark and Mike Esposito, that we were optimistic about a successful trip. They were ready to go, rain
or shine, so it was decided we'd give it a try.
Friday found Tropical Storm Noel at near hurricane strength, but turning
away from Florida and out into the Atlantic Ocean. That was the good part. The bad part was that the 3-40 MPH winds shifted
to the NW and North and blew straight down into the Stick Marsh and the farm 13 impoundments. The winds also blew out our
successful fishing location of the previous days. On top of that, it dirtied the water terribly.
Never give, the man
said. So, Bob, Mike and I ventured out into the 3-foot swells and pounding wind to try and harelip a bass. Fishing in the
brunt of the wind, we managed 3 fish. What a bummer. Dirty water, getting beat to death by the wind and waves, and no fish.
What luck!! The only protected place left was the 'Back 40', the shallow area to the north of the boat ramp and along the
canal that carries water to the exit gate of the impoundment.
 We got a bit drenched by the high waves and winds running back to the ramp area. But, we found the back 40 reasonable stable.
With all the summer rains, the impoundment is now full of water and the back 40 is at normal level. Trying to recall where
certain brush piles and structure features were in the Back 40, we laid out two anchors and floated shiners over where we
though the fish might be. I still say I am the luckiest fisherman I know! The first place we stopped turned a pot load of
bass, up to 5-pounds!! It was like a feeding holiday, with bass chasing and blowing up shiners all over the place. Those surface
blow-ups are what really make shiner fishing great! Talk about falling into it and coming up smelling like a rose. Bob and
Mike burned up nearly all the shiners in that one location.
We tried a couple of other locations in the back area
to no avail.
 Then, we went to what Stan Daniel and I reverently call 'The Mudfish Hole'. This mucky, shallow 'nothing' of a spot has turned
a LOT of big bass for Stan and I when the main impoundment waters were muddy. It saved many a fishing trip for us. We don't
know why the bass are there at times, but it always seems to turn a good one, or two (sometimes a LOT more, too!). Mike had
maybe five blow-ups on his shiner, but never had the fish take the bait sufficiently to get hooked. Mike had some chase his
around and not take the shiners, too. I suspect they were catfish or mudfish. But, their surface blow-ups sure looked like
bass. Eventually, Bob got one to take his shiner. It was not a giant bass, but we were happy with whatever we caught this
rough day.
When the dust finally settled (and the rains passed on), Bob and Mike had managed enough action and fish
caught to use up five dozen shiners. When we looked back at the day, there were actually a LOT of bass caught. One went five
pounds and the rest 3-4 pounds. Not bad at all for a storm day with high winds.
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Contact us for your speck or bass trip today!!! For best results, give them plenty of sun, frequent watering, and regular fertilization.
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