Fishing in Stick Marsh
Category: Sports

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..TR> ..TABLE> 12 Hour Drive ..TR> ..TABLE>..TABLE> Written by Dean Herdman    Apr 10, 2008 at 02:12 AM 12 Hour Drive   Danny Paxton, of Richmond Virginia , loaded up a rental car and drove 12 hours with his son Chad and friends Bill and Marty to fish for two days at the Stick Marsh.  It was a long drive but well worth the effort as these anglers boated nearly a hundred fish in two days.  The weather was much nicer here than what they missed in Va. which was reported to be 35 degrees and sleet.  All the fish caught were nice quality with a good number of them over five pounds including at least a couple in the eight pound range.       Danny and Bill were in my boat both days and had a real nice time pulling in fish after fish and just relaxing.  Two days in two boats, this foursome had no problem finding enough fish to eat up 24 dozen wild shiners. All four knew how to set the hook which helped give them a success rate of better than 60% bite to catch ratio.  They had a real good time and I look forward to seeing them again.     The fishing continues to improve as does the weather as of late.  The post spawn fish are hungry for shiners and there still seem to be a few fish that have not yet spawned.  The outside area of the SW corner of the farm has been doing well if the wind stays calm and the back lot area has produced lots of quality bites.  Live bait or artificial does not seem to matter when the bite is on.  If you have been wondering if the time is right, I would say yes it is.  C'mon out and see for yourself.     ..TR vAlign=top> ..TABLE> ..TR> ..TABLE> 8:57 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove   This site was created by Brightwork Creative Design

April Fishing w/ Jim Porter Current mood: artistic Category: Sports I have admittedly been very lucky with my guide trips on the impoundment. While I am doing only 14-25 fish a day, in most cases, the clients are getting their big bass nearly every time. I am at a loss to explain that, other than those factors stated in the first paragraph above. I did have a 35 fish day last week. That can be attributed to finding a small, obscure ditch and some old stumps that I had never known of, coupled with some decent water conditions. Because it is a pure open water area, many boats have passed over it. But, probably no one has ever really concentrated their fishing on it. It is just too small an area to notice. The crappie spawn is basically over and I found some giant crappie back on the shell beds of the levees in Farm 13 a week ago. The bluegill and catfish were there, as well, but no shellcrackers were in the bunch. As prior to the spawning period, the fish were all related to the shellbeds. You can expect the big bluegill and shellcrackers to bed starting about mid-April (which happens to be NOW!!). In the Stick Marsh/ Farm 13 impoundment, look in the shallow parts of the wooded area in Farm 13. In Garcia, go to the borrow pit and fish in-between the grass beds on the high spots. 7-8 April 2008 This two-day venture was a true 'family affair'. The first day, we had Grandpa Dexter Martini, with his son, and his 10-year old grandson , Zach. The 'prime directive' was, again, Zach catches fish. So, Zach was glad to oblige and crank them in. Zach informed me that these were the first bass he had every caught from a boat and the largest he had ever seen. He was ready to fish the second day, too. But, alas, that day was for Grandma Francis and Zach's Mom, Gail McMillian. Grandma Francis and Mom Gail probably had an interesting time discussing their day on the water with Zach when they got back to their hotel. Where Zach had caught big bass, Grandma and Mom had caught GIANT bass!!! In fact Grandma Francis caught the big bass of the trip, a giant old sow that nearly pulled her out of the boat. But, Francis declined any help, put her feet against the side of the big Blazer boat and winched that bass right on in. 9-10 April 2008 My first roommate in college was Tom Massey. That was some zillion years ago. Back then, we fished whenever we could cut class and get away (which was pretty often). My last fishing trip this past week was Tom Massey. We didn't have to cut any classes this time. Tom came down from South Carolina and brought his friend, Bob Drost. Bob was a big football star at the University of South Carolina, when Tom and I were playing baseball and golf at our school. Our first day on the water was tough. Farm 13 was dirty and the fishing very poor in that area. We did slip into the spillway basin in the SE corner of the Farm and catch some big crappie on the PERFECT Jig. But, the bass were tough. Finally, we slipped into the 'Back 40' behind the boat ramp and managed some bass on shiners. Old Tom wound up with a big bass, too. Our second day out proved fateful. We decided to approach the fish a lot different than the first day, targeting places we had not fished in awhile. Finding some water that was a bit cleaner than other locations, we also noted some new bottom variation on the depthfinder. It turned out to be a very small ditch, not more than 1.5 feet deep and maybe 2 feet wide. Being so small, it may have been hand-dug. But, the dirt from its excavation was piled to one side, making a small, but discernible, levee. On that levee, we found some small stumps and brush residue. A Rattin' Rap (some that IN-FISHERMAN Senior Editor, Doug Stange, had provided at last year's filming sessions) produced well ripped right across the top of the shallow levee and wood. The green pumpkin RIPPIN' Stick also did great. Plus, the shiners produced well when trolled slowly along the small levee and when still-fished under bobbers just off the levee and the wood residue. In fact, the larger fish came on the shiners, with Bob getting the giant of the day. My GPS now knows exactly where that ditch and wood is, too!! 29 March 2008 I have calculated that Florida's winter spanned 2 January to 23 March 2008. All our cold (well, cool to most of you) weather was during that period and the winds blew almost constantly. On the night of 23 March, the winds from the weekend cold front died off and it has been very since the 24th. Afternoon winds have been blowing around 12-15 MPH and that has made the clearing of the water in the Farm 13/Stick Marsh Impoundment a bit slow. As of yesterday, 28 March, it was still pretty poor, but it was sure a lot better than earlier in the week. I cancelled or re-scheduled a LOT of trips during this period, so fishing reports are a bit slim. However, we have a 14-trip waiting list to work off on an 'on-call' basis as the water becomes decent and the fishing improves. Yesterday, we actually caught a pretty fair bunch of crappie and a 'zillion' bluegill on the submerged levees of Farm 13. A couple of the crappie were giants, too. So, things will be getting better. By sheer 'luck' and just knowing alternate ways to address the impoundment, as well as Garcia Reservoir, we have been able to get nearly all our clients a big bass, even if not a lot of numbers. The pictures in the reports, below, look a lot better than the fishing actually was, in most cases. There was a brief period when one of the three pipes was opened in the spillway basin in the SE corner of the Farm 13 side. That brought a lot of crappie into the basin for a short while (as long as the slight current was running), but few bass. That big spillway can't be opened at present due to the large mass of swamp debris that has accumulated behind it. To open it would clog it and then it could not be closed, thus draining Garcia. See our 25 November 07 report, below, for the initial report on the problem. That gate hasn't be opened since September or October 07. Still no returning grass growth to report. If anyone tries to tell you there is some, ask him to prove it. It just ain't so. 11 March 2008 Dan Welch and his son, Brad, decided to take a shot at the local bass population. With the farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment being a total disaster at the time, we opted for Garcia Reservoir. Boy, the wind let us have it at about 30 MPH and it was tough fishing. They would come up on the shiners as we dragged them across the grass and were poor at chasing the bait when we anchored. We managed to catch a few bass and, luckily, Dan got a really big old sow. Smiling like a 'possum, ain't he!! 25-26 March 2008 Keith Poole has two delightful young sons. Jackson is 10 and Aidan is 8. Neither has fished, so it was interesting to see how they reacted to a day on the water. Keith decided we should take each youngster out separately, for a half-day each. On the first day, we had Jackson. He is the quiet one, pretty reserved and calm. Well, at least until he started to reel fish in. It didn't matter what type fish it was. If we could get it to bite, he was ready to 'get with the program'. For his first time fishing, Jackson did great and was ready to go again. The second day, we teamed up with Aidan. He was a typical 8-year old. Ready to go do something, no matter what it was. Once we started to catch bass on the shiners, Aidan got excited enough that he even wanted to be the 'Shiner Captain' and handle getting the shiners, too. Another thing that added to the building excitement was that the fish would get a little bigger with each new catch. Once we got Aidan oriented to holding and cranking the big shiner rod, he proved that he could handle anything short of six-pounds. His Dad had to provide a little 'rod' support' on that final fish of the day!! 28 March 2008 Ed Dozier and Tom Murdock make a trip south to go fishing every winter. Upper Maryland State gets a bit brisk at times, so they really look forward to the weather change. They sure hit it right this time. The temperature was in the mid-70's, the skies clear and the winds stayed down nearly all day. The only problem was that the water in the south end of Farm 13 was still pretty dirty and the bass would not come to shiners. However, we did mange to find a few in the 'Back 40' area. The good thing we found was that the crappie and big bluegill still hang out on the submerged levees of the Farm. The little PERFECT Crappie Jig again proved its worth and caught us a fine mess of crappie and a LOT of bluegill. Catfish even worked on us pretty good. Ed caught one of the giant crappie the impoundment is famous for, scaling in around 2-1/4 lbs. (estimated; our scale's batteries went dead). 8 March 2008 It's been a full month since we posted the last fishing report. Plus, it's almost been a full month that we did not fish!! First, we lose two weeks with an illness and eventual passing of a family member back in Arkansas. Traveling back and forth there twice was not fun. Then, we get out for a couple of good fishing days and BLAM --- we catch the danged flu bug!! Let me tell you about this year's flu. It is R-U-F-F!! I am just now coming out of a 12-day bout with it. It's mean and it does not care that you had your flu shot. A 'word to the wise' – if you even think you are coming down with the stuff, go to that doctor NOW. And, then, you tell him that you expect him to treat you AGGRESSIVELY! None of this bad cold and cough garbage. You tell him to also treat you so that you WILL NOT get any sicker. Err on the side of safety and common sense. Mine gave me the usual nose sprays and junk when I first went in. It was four days later (and a 102 temperature) that I managed to convince him I was a SICK puppy. So, I was really bad for a lot longer than I needed to be. Something that I think you will see soon is a scandal about the past year's flu serum. After shortages of the medicine for a few years, our Government officials made big words about how they had assured 'no more shortages'. What I think they did was let someone in the drug industry sell them sub-standard vaccines. Probably made in China or Mexico, like other cheap, cut-rate goods. Whatever the case turns out to be, it is a fact that the flu vaccines this year did not do the job at all and the flu is rampant. Just read the papers. It will be interesting to see all the spin and cover-ups that start when they finally get pulled on the carpet about this. Lots of tax dollars, insurance plans, and individual 'out of pocket' payments went towards this bogus vaccine this year. Not to mention all the 'sick puppies' that resulted. The fishing --- since the first of the year, we have averaged about 8-10 days a month that the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment was fishable. The winds kept it blown out a lot. That equates to a two-thirds non-fishable rate. So, Garcia Lake has been getting a lot of pressure. Of course, Garcia turns a LOT of fish – it's just that they are small. The good news is that the last 10-12 days have been really great fishing at the south end of Farm 13. The bass are basically off the beds and have moved out towards the northern half of the wooded band across the south end of the Farm. Rat-L-Traps and soft jerk baits have taken a zillion bass (of course, that's the period I have had that flu). The folks who have taken my trips for me (Stan Daniel, Roger Hayward and Randy Sanders) have all had excellent results. Now that we are into March, we can expect fewer strong cold fronts and hopefully more stable conditions 8:49 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

April 5, 2008 - Saturday Bass Fishing April 3 in Farm 13 Category: Sports ..TR> ..TABLE> Jim and Steve ..TR> ..TABLE>Please call Tina @772-571-9855 to book you trip with Dean Today!!! 11:18 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove Written by Dean Herdman    Apr 03, 2008 at 06:55 PM Jim and Steve   Last week on successive days the boat was loaded with Jims and Steves.  On Wednesday Jim and Steve Bahrke, brothers from Wisconsin, came out for a half day of shiner fishing and enjoyed some nice conditions and good fun.  After spending the previous day with his family at Disney, Jim was ready for a relaxing and enjoyable day on the lake.  After an exhilarating ride across the lake in the Bullet Jim stated "that was better than any ride at Disney."     The next day found Jim Nelan, his wife Charla, and their friend Steve Eckert, who was visiting from Ohio .  The goal for the day was to simply have fun.  That was easily accomplished as the weather was fine and the fish bite was steady.  It was a real pleasure to have these friends out on the lake for the day, and help provide them with a quality experience and an enjoyable day of relaxation and nature appreciation.     The fishing has steadily improved as of late.  Most days have seen plenty of hungry fish falling for our shiner offerings and the weather has been for the most part very enjoyable.  April 1, 2008 - Tuesday Fishing In March Category: Sports ..TR> ..TABLE> Dear Old Dad ..TR> ..TABLE> 10:55 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove Mar 24, 2008 at 07:05 PM Dear Old Dad I got the chance to give my Dad and his buddy Bob a day on the lake last week.  We had a nice day to go fishing with warm weather and light winds.  It’s always a pleasure to have Dad out for a day even if his fishing skills are not that of his boys.  Bob was a true novice as he stated that he had never been fresh water fishing before.  That being said, I believe that Bob now has a skewed idea of what bass fishing is all about.  On his first outing he managed to boat two over 4 lbs. and a nice 7.5 lb that shot 3 ft. out of the water to inhale his shiner that just touched down. Nothing to it!  Kent Shortz and his buddy Pete, nicknamed the Admiral, also had a chance for a half day of fishing on the Stick Marsh.  After a cool start the weather warmed nicely and these two friends landed a few quality fish to complete an enjoyable morning. Continuing winds have made for some tougher days out there but the persistent and patient anglers will still manage to find quality bites.  I am excited that the topwater bite is now just a short time away and I look forward to this with eager anticipation.  Stay tuned for further updates on when this action gets going.  Better yet check your calendar and choose an upcoming date to book your trip Fishing in the Wind with Jim Porter at Stick Marsh March )8 Category: Sports ..TR> .. --> START 468X60 banner location --> ..TR> ..TABLE>.. --> END 468X60 banner location -->.. --> bass fishing and bass --> FARM 13 / STICK MARSH FISHING REPORTS BOOKMARK THIS PAGE and come back often to see the latest detailed Stick Marsh fishing reports available. 29 March 2008 I have calculated that Florida’s winter spanned 2 January to 23 March 2008. All our cold (well, cool to most of you) weather was during that period and the winds blew almost constantly. On the night of 23 March, the winds from the weekend cold front died off and it has been very since the 24th. Afternoon winds have been blowing around 12-15 MPH and that has made the clearing of the water in the Farm 13/Stick Marsh Impoundment a bit slow. As of yesterday, 28 March, it was still pretty poor, but it was sure a lot better than earlier in the week. I cancelled or re-scheduled a LOT of trips during this period, so fishing reports are a bit slim. However, we have a 14-trip waiting list to work off on an ’on-call’ basis as the water becomes decent and the fishing improves. Yesterday, we actually caught a pretty fair bunch of crappie and a ’zillion’ bluegill on the submerged levees of Farm 13. A couple of the crappie were giants, too. So, things will be getting better. By sheer ’luck’ and just knowing alternate ways to address the impoundment, as well as Garcia Reservoir, we have been able to get nearly all our clients a big bass, even if not a lot of numbers. The pictures in the reports, below, look a lot better than the fishing actually was, in most cases. There was a brief period when one of the three pipes was opened in the spillway basin in the SE corner of the Farm 13 side. That brought a lot of crappie into the basin for a short while (as long as the slight current was running), but few bass. That big spillway can’t be opened at present due to the large mass of swamp debris that has accumulated behind it. To open it would clog it and then it could not be closed, thus draining Garcia. See our 25 November 07 report, below, for the initial report on the problem. That gate hasn’t be opened since September or October 07. Still no returning grass growth to report. If anyone tries to tell you there is some, ask him to prove it. It just ain’t so. 11 March 2008 Dan Welch and his son, Brad, decided to take a shot at the local bass population. With the farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment being a total disaster at the time, we opted for Garcia Reservoir. Boy, the wind let us have it at about 30 MPH and it was tough fishing. They would come up on the shiners as we dragged them across the grass and were poor at chasing the bait when we anchored. We managed to catch a few bass and, luckily, Dan got a really big old sow. Smiling like a ’possum, ain’t he!! 25-26 March 2008 Keith Poole has two delightful young sons. Jackson is 10 and Aidan is 8. Neither has fished, so it was interesting to see how they reacted to a day on the water. Keith decided we should take each youngster out separately, for a half-day each. On the first day, we had Jackson. He is the quiet one, pretty reserved and calm. Well, at least until he started to reel fish in. It didn’t matter what type fish it was. If we could get it to bite, he was ready to ’get with the program’. For his first time fishing, Jackson did great and was ready to go again. The second day, we teamed up with Aidan. He was a typical 8-year old. Ready to go do something, no matter what it was. Once we started to catch bass on the shiners, Aidan got excited enough that he even wanted to be the ’Shiner Captain’ and handle getting the shiners, too. Another thing that added to the building excitement was that the fish would get a little bigger with each new catch. Once we got Aidan oriented to holding and cranking the big shiner rod, he proved that he could handle anything short of six-pounds. His Dad had to provide a little ’rod’ support’ on that final fish of the day!! 28 March 2008 Ed Dozier and Tom Murdock make a trip south to go fishing every winter. Upper Maryland State gets a bit brisk at times, so they really look forward to the weather change. They sure hit it right this time. The temperature was in the mid-70’s, the skies clear and the winds stayed down nearly all day. The only problem was that the water in the south end of Farm 13 was still pretty dirty and the bass would not come to shiners. However, we did mange to find a few in the ’Back 40’ area. The good thing we found was that the crappie and big bluegill still hang out on the submerged levees of the Farm. The little PERFECT Crappie Jig again proved its worth and caught us a fine mess of crappie and a LOT of bluegill. Catfish even worked on us pretty good. Ed caught one of the giant crappie the impoundment is famous for, scaling in around 2-1/4 lbs. (estimated; our scale’s batteries went dead). ..TABLE> 10:32 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove Copyright© 2001, ’02, ’03 Bigfishtackle.com, LLC Get Fishing Funnies sent to your email click here March 6, 2008 - Thursday Fishing stick marsh NEW REPORTS!!!! Current mood: anxious Category: Sports Subject: Stick Marsh/Farm 13, Florida Submitted by Peggy & Sammy (ip 24.209.26.165) Date Fished: 2/25/2008 Water Clarity: 0 It's been about 5 years since Sammy & I have been fishing in Florida. We were able to visit family last week and decided to spend Monday at our favorite lake. We got there at about 7:00am but after we got in the water our Morning didn't start out too well. We asked another fellow if we could follow him out since we knew there had been some changes since the hurricane. As Sammy took off across the lake his motor started crapping out, (something it does periodically) so after he fiddled with it for a few minutes we just decided to stay around the north end for a while. Just in case! After spending an hour frustrated and wishing we were on the South end of the farm, Sammy fired ole blue back up again and she ran like a top. So we were off the South end without anymore problems. After picking a spot we were finally fishing! Fourth cast I caught my first fish in literally in 3 years (that's right I live in Ohio remember). It was about 2.11, using a red shad curly tail worm. Sammy got his first with a big dark red and black stick-o that he used almost all day, it was 3.4 on our scale and that would be the biggest all day. All together we got 18 nice fish. With 5 of those being mine. I used every dark color and shape of worm I have, even my pink one. We were a little disappointed that we didn't catch the number of fish that are reported on here, but we were just glad to get to fish and actually catch what we did. Had a great time, the weather was good. It was fun watching and listening to all of the people in boats around us catch fish. Hope we don't have to wait so long to come back again. Peggy & Sammy ..> ..> Peggy From: Don - World's Worst Fisherman, Florida Hi Peggy. You should have let us know you were coming down. I can't beleive the pink didn't work!!! You guys did well. 18 is about what has been the average lately (except for maybe some showoff). Besides, that's about a years worth in Ohio and you didn't need an axe!!! Good to hear from you and I'm glad you had a good trip. Click here to enter a remark. .. Get next 50 reports from --> ..> ..> Go to next report Next report from Florida 2:07 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove February 28, 2008 - Thursday NEW FISHIN PCS Category: Sports Check out new pics there will be more on the way, alot of fish being caught check out stickmarshbaittackle.com for more also watch the weather being in the farm can be nasty!!! ooooh!! 3:44 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove February 11, 2008 - Monday fishing in the fronts!!!!! UGH!!! BUT WE GOT FISH!! FEB08 Category: Sports FARM 13 / STICK MARSH FISHING REPORTS BOOKMARK THIS PAGE and come back often to see the latest detailed Stick Marsh fishing reports available. 7 February 2008 "I'm late, I'm late for a VERY important date!!" Alice's rabbit said. I guess I am, too. Somehow, I have this serious affliction called 'fish scales on the brain'. It comes from trying to cram 50 lbs. of fishing into a 2-lb. Kroger sack. I am never off the water enough to write the fishing report. OR – the weather has shut things down and I have nothing to write about. We are having some difficult issues with the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 impoundment, but finding out great things about Garcia Reservoir to offset them. First, though, a quick business 'word to the wise". In the event you think you might like to fish with us this Spring, be advised that we only have maybe 8 days open through mid-April and currently have an 11 name waiting list (nearly all are for crappie; I will explain that below). Please, DO NOT send any guide trip deposits until you have talked with me first (321-951-7841, or email jporter@stickmarsh.com). My fellow guide, Stan Daniel, has a few more openings than I do, so we may be able to get you on the water. Stan is a top-notch guide, possibly the best you find anywhere and totally dependable. . Here's our situation. Up until the first of the year, fishing for bass and crappie were both simply outstanding. The only real difference in that period and past years was the total numbers of bass caught per trip were off some. But, we caught a LOT of 8-11 lb. fish. Lady fishermen really raked them in, too (see the past fishing reports and pictures!). In addition, the giant crappie cooperated VERY well, as did big bluegill and shellcrackers. Then came the New Year and it came with a blast! A major cold front came through, with days of strong winds and a water temperature drop of 22 degrees within a 24-hour period. That was a bit extreme for Florida fish and they basically became nearly impossible to catch. On top of that, the winds dirtied the water in the Farm 13/ Stick Marsh impoundment and further messed things up. This situation existed nearly all of January, as front after front prohibited the waters from clearing and warming. We did have a few days between fronts where we were able to get some spectacular fishing. But, unless you timed it right, it was mostly poor. The lures of choice are the Rat-L-Trap and the RIPPIN' Stick-type jerk bait. The PERFECT Jig, in cinnamon and chartreuse, remains a much better choice than live minnows for crappie, as we have had to very precisely fish the tops of the submerged levees. . Enter Garcia Reservoir, just south of the Stick Marsh/Farm 13. Still full of grass, pads and reed stands, Garcia is a beautiful body of water and packed full of fish. In fact, it has so many fish, it gets had to catch a giant. All the smaller, faster bass just appear to beat the big ones to the lure. We spent a lot of time at Garcia during January and caught a lot of fish. But, the average bass was less than 2 lbs. The crappie were readily available to those of us who know exactly where and how to fish for them, but their size is also smaller than we'd like. The PERFECT Jig, used very slowly in the canal going to Farm 13 took most of our crappie. You had to just touch grass at 4-6 feet to get a soft strike. The borrow pit and its usual live minnow approach did not do well. For bass, the RIPPIN' Stick, rigged wacky style was great, as was a ¼ oz. Rattlin' Rap or Rat-L-Trap. We also switched from a spinner bait to a 1/8th oz. Beetle Spin to really catch a LOT of bass out over the submerged grass in the old fields. . In both locations, the water levels are good. Garcia is very clear, while the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 impoundment varies from day to day with the winds. The water there is always dark, even if visibility becomes good. . Since our last report of 20 January, we took about 10 days off for a medical procedure. It was actually test to determine if we had any problems. The outcome was that we have no problems whatever and an earlier test had given a false indication. So, we picked back up fishing at the end of the month. . 31 January 2008 With 'iffy' water conditions and the potential for high winds, we started Larry Lynch and Gary Whitaker out at the Stick Marsh for bass and crappie. We got some really giant crappie off the submerged levees, but not a lot of them. When the winds failed to materialize and the weather appeared stable, we took shiners and moved into the south end of the Farm. Again, the quantity of fish was a disappointment, but the guys managed to stoke a couple of really great bass. 1 February 2008 The winds due on 31 January finally arrived the morning of 1 February. So, we opted to take Toby Cole, Floyd Layman, and a visiting friend of theirs to Garcia. The wind really howled out of the south as we drifted shiners over grass. Small bass blasted the baitfish. But, it was slow activity and no big fish were caught. All were small. Moving to the northwest canal, we decided to try for the finicky crappie. I had caught these fish recently, but it was tough slow fishing. You had to work that PERFECT Jig very slowly and just touch some underwater grass on the sloping side of the canal. Fishing what you can't see if always tough. I think we managed 15-18, but they were just 'eating sized' fish and not big slabs like the Stick Marsh produces. With no fish of any size, we had no pictures. 4 February 2008 < We checked the water in the Stick Marsh and Farm 13 the day before and it looked acceptable. So, we headed out with Mike Esposito and Bobby West to check the crappie and bass. We managed some nice crappie until the winds blew us away. The PREFECT Jig on the levee tops was the key. But, the wide open waters of farm 13 get pretty rough when the winds blow hard. Moving to the south end of the Farm, we set up with a few shiners and managed only a couple of fish. It was not good at all. Mike managed one big bass. But, it was poor fishing. There were some bass caught in and around the submerged timber on Rat-L-Traps that day. So, it appeared we needed to me moving around to find fish, rather than floating shiners in one place. 5 February 2008 Once again, we hosted Toby Cole, Floyd Layman, and a visiting friend. This time, the winds let us fish the Farm 13 levees for crappie. We did try drifting minnows for a short spell with zero results. But, the levees produced some giant slabs. Even with 10-15 MPH winds, we managed to keep the big BLAZER boat lined up with the submerged levee top. With everyone tossing the cinnamon and chartreuse PERFECT Jig, we put around 25 giants in the livewell, plus a bunch of big bluegills. 9:48 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove January 28, 2008 - Monday Fishing in Florida during cold fronts!!! Category: Sports 14 January 2008 The boys from the Circle Bar racing team (the Craftsman truck circuit) finished up the inspections and tests at Daytona and came down to fish with us. As last year, Stan Daniel had one boat and I provided the other. Unlike last year, we did not fish the Farm 13/Stick Marsh for giant bass, as the place was totally blown out. So, we all gathered at Garcia and did what we like to do – just go fishing. And, it wasn't bad at all. We had about 38-40 bass between the two rigs. Stan's boat had the most fish, plus a couple of good bass in the 4.5 to 5-lb. range. With the winds a good 25-30 MPH, we used two drift socks on each boat and pulled a pair of shiners behind the boat, while also tossing plastic worms and spinnerbaits. Of course, the shiners did well and got blown up a lot. The first two shiner strikes in my boat turned out to be pickerel, which duly cut the line with their razor sharp teeth. After that, we stayed pretty well on the bass. Stan's camera had a problem and my boat caught no big bass, so we took no photos this trip. An interesting development was the way the bass were caught on the plastic worms. The ZOOM Ultra-Vibe Speed Worm is a small plastic worm with a hooked tail. The little tail flutters when the lure is pulled through the water. Stan had one rigged Texas-style with a 1/8th-oz. slip sinker. Somehow, he stumbled upon a presentation method of just swimming the lure back to the boat with a slow and steady retrieve. Holding his rod tip up, he found he could generally hold the lure over the top of most of the grass as he retrieved it. The bass really ate it up. My guys went with a big Culprit ribbon-tail worm and just pulled slowly up and over the grass beds. That worked for them pretty well, too. If you go to a Bass Pro Shops catalog and find a picture of the Speed Worm, you will see the shape of the tail section. You can take a paddle-tail worm and cut a matching notch in it and get about the same action. I took my RIPPIN' Stick soft jerk bait, made an angler cut part way across the tail and got the same flutter effect. Apparently, they just liked the action that flutter gave. 17January 2008 Mike Durrett is a General Contractor and decided to treat some of his supervisory crew (Potts, Marek, and Adam) to a few days of fishing in Florida. We got them lined up with a place to stay at the Blue Cypress campground, so they could rent boats, cook fish and generally spend some warm days in Florida. On one of their days, they opted to fish with us. Stan Daniel again provided the second boat. The wind and rain forced us to Garcia again. With the exception of Mike, the party was a little inexperienced at bass fishing. But, before the day was over, they had caught bass on the shiners, a spinnerbait and two styles of worms. Stan started it off with the first fish of the day dragging a shiner down. That bass weighed a good 5-lbs., really nice for Garcia. Fishing with shiners usually levels the playing field among the experienced and inexperienced anglers. But, this day, Mike Durrett seemed to hold the edge, no matter what he fished with. Mike got two big Garcia bass on the shiners and a pretty good number of smaller ones on his Berkley GULP worms. His partner in my boat, Adam, had a nice one on a shiner, as well. Considered the killer weather, we had a fine day. 18 January 2008 < Danny Morgan called at the last minute and we managed to work him into the fishing schedule. He came down from Staunton, VA, to attend a wedding in south Florida. But, he confided that he had considered it a great opportunity to get out of Skyline Drive's cold winter weather and fish in warm Florida for a day. In actuality, it was pretty warm last Friday. A major cold front was due in 48 hours, so we has southerly winds bringing warm, moist air up from the oceans south and west of Florida. The rain only drizzled at us a couple of times and the winds stayed down until noon. Again, we opted to go with shiners and toss a few artificials when we could. Early in our trip, we had a lot of fish blowing up on the shiners with great regularity. Then, as the wind picked up and we had to deploy the drift socks, the bite slowed at lot. We finally decided to anchor on some of the underwater grass beds that had produced multiple bass earlier. Floating the shiners downwind over the grass, Danny got back into catching again. Then, he got 'the strike'! It was that rarely seen, true giant bass in Garcia. Danny got a great hookset and it was off to the races. The bass was actually one of those that was too big to really jump. All she could do was get her head and upper body above the surface and then wallow as she fell back. As luck would have it, the hook popped free close to the boat and we did not get her for pictures. But, we did get a good, close look!! What a fish! The winds laid back a bit and we decided to work the very eastern edge of the open water section we were fishing. It turned out to be a good move, in that all the bass in Garcia appeared to be gathered there. And, most of them were a good bit larger than average! In short order, Danny went through all the shiners and had a big grin on his face.  Thanks Jim Porter!!! Call to book your trip today 8:43 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove Fishing In Garcia During Cold Fronts Category: Sports Subject: Garcia Reservoir, Florida Submitted by Randy Sanders 10223 Date Fished: 1/19/2008 Water Temperature: 65 Water Clarity: 2-3 feet 1-11-08 Beds are abundant in the south end of Garcia and sight fishing is huge at this time of year, on this day I caught 39 fish to 4's and saw at least half of them eat the bait while protecting beds in Cypress and Redman Flats, a 1/32oz. speedworm was the ticket and conditions were perfect with bright mid-day sun and a light north breeze. 1-18-08 Not much fishing for me this week with lots of wind, a cancel, and a touch of the flu but I did make it out today. I fished 7 hours and had a blast while fishing Saviours Ditch and nowhere else, I yo-yoed a trap and caught 47 bass to 3's, not big but extremely fun and I caught 2 at a time twice, I sent pics of the double hook-ups to Bart and Steve P but they