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Stick Marsh & Farm 13
Capt. George Welcome
February 20, 2001
Stick Marsh-Farm 13 - Freshwater Fishing Report
Water levels continue to drop but getting around is not a problem. Getting from the ramp to the canal to head to the Farm requires idle speed and caution, but can be done safely. Also, caution needs to be practiced at intersections of canals on the Farm and in the south and southwest areas. Another area that you need to be careful is in the vicinity of the pump house. There are three areas there that are mere inches below the surface. On the south end of the first N/S ditch of the Farm there is a sand bar and likewise on the south end of the center N/S ditch. When running the canal south along the east wall to get to the center divider ditch, be aware that the safe zone is narrowing. There are stumps and lay downs on the west side of that ditch, and it is very shallow on the right side.
Fishing tactics have been shiners for some and artificial baits for others. The best bite with the shiners has been with free-lined shiners. Location is everything however and fishing with shiners is no guarantee of good results. If you get on a school the bite will be fantastic. If you drift about or troll around your results will probably be far less than if you anchor. There is a lot more to shiner fishing than most want to give credit and most when first trying it admit that it is quite more involved then they ever anticipated. The action can be dynamic and getting the hook set down takes a bit of practice. Placement of the hook is important based on the conditions you are fishing in. Depending on where the fish are holding based on the cover available could mean that you need to hook the shiner in the top or bottom, forward or back, or even through the lips. If the fish are biting like crazy then none of this knowledge matters, but then shiners aren’t needed either. Good instruction in all of this might just pay for itself as shiners are not cheap, and lack of fish for lack of location, missed hits because the shiner was hooked incorrectly, and missed hook sets for lack of knowledge all add up to dollars.
The artificial bite this last few days has come primarily for our people using chug bugs, buzz baits, spinner baits and floating or swimming worms. Fish have been found in and around hydrilla on the Farm. We have not been fishing the Stick Marsh due to low water but I am sure the fish are there.
Friday John Grooms and David Hacker boated over 40 bass using shiners. Mo Premblay and his grandson Allen using artificial saw the flip side of the Marsh and only boated 5 bass. Although a lot of casts were made and many baits tried, nothing seemed to be able to coax the finicky bass as one of the tough days showed that sometimes fishing can be only fishing.
On Saturday, Mike and Tucker Ehresman opted for shiners and had a banner day boating bass after bass. Bass were all good size with Mike boating one 8.5 pound. Tony Moresca and friend Roy went the artificial bait route and today was quite different than yesterday. Bass slammed buzz baits, chug bugs, spinner baits, and the occasional worm. Quality was there and bass were caught to 6 pounds. Over 30 found there way to the boat and there were a few misses here and there.
On Sunday, Bart Jones, John Jones and Greg Jones repeated the shiner performance with bass to 7 pounds coming to the boat. At the end of the day they went off with great memories and over 30 bass in the boat. Tony Moresca and Roy were back with the same baits and then some for a repeat attack on the bass. This day they were a bit more finicky but the catch was still over 20 quality bass in the boat.
Monday, Jack Harris came for his third trip to the Marsh joined by Carl Jennings. Opting for shiners Scott set them up in the right location and they boated 32 bass with an 8 pounder to top out the catch. Again quality was outstanding. I had two friends from NJ out and we went with artificial baits. The wind didn’t cooperate, the bass didn’t cooperate and the catch of 5 bass reflected the same. Sometimes we go out catching and then others Mother Nature shows us that we should not let our egos get too big. However, any day on the water beats most other places one can be and we had a great day.
Be careful out there. See you on the water.
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