 |
Stick Marsh & Farm 13
Capt. George Welcome
August 5, 2003
Stick Marsh-Farm 13 - Freshwater Fishing Report
Date fished: 8/2/03 - Saturday had to be one of the hottest day I have ever spent on the water, and also one of the shortest. I could actually feeling the sun burning my arms.
However, some 48 SPF sunshield kept me safe as I worked rattle traps and C-rigs in the spillway area. Simply put this area produced 50 fish to 6.5 pounds by 10:00, and at that, Scott and I headed back to the ranch for some AC.
Date fished: 8/3/03 - Sunday I was going to take a rest from work and go fishing. As I drove through the center of Fellsmere on my way to the lake I saw what many would consider a strange sight indeed. It had rained pretty hard Saturday afternoon and there was a lot of water along the side of the road. Sitting on a milk crate at the edge of one of these puddles was a hapless looking individual working a chug bug across the surface of the water. Since it was still dark I thought the right thing to do would be to warn the fella that not only were there no fish in road puddles but that it was very dangerous to sit so close to the road. As my truck slowed to stop the fella jumped up, and before I could say a word he was sitting in the truck. I had seen Don (World's Worst Fisherman) pull this trick once before, but today he caught me totally by surprise. As you can guess, I ceded to his pleadings and took him to the Marsh with me.
We were a full hour before daylight when we arrived at the spillway and as any of you know these Marsh fish don't like to get up early. However the first cast of a red Senko by Don into the dark and swirling waters produced a nice fish. I heard Don mutter something to the effect of "I'll show you how to do that someday", as he cast to the same spot again. As daylight came upon us we could see that the current flow had been greatly reduced from previous trips out here and with the bite sporadic we opted to try some other locations.
Next spot to check was the pump house and although the pump was moving water on the farm's fields it wasn't doing a thing for the waters of the Marsh. We moved SSW and started working top water baits around the grass patches. As we neared one of the big patches that has been producing for months we picked up several more fish. At one point we had a double. My guess was that since the grass was so thick the bass couldn't make out that it was Don so they were biting pretty good. However as my bass got near the boat Don got down to grab her. All it took was that nearness and she became terrified and ran. She must have spread the word quickly because we only caught a few more there before they stopped biting and seemed to disappear.
From there we worked the south end of the center ditch with traps and bugs and Senkos; Casts 85, fish 0. Moving from there we headed to the Marsh. 10:00 AM and it was already raining quite heavily to the east and I wanted to be closer to the ramp. We hit the cut into the Marsh with a few casts as we headed to Twin Palms but nothing wanted to play. Once at Twin Palms I started circling until I found the fish. Rattletraps and Senkos are both good choices here. As the rain got closer and the heat rose we headed for the ramp. 10:30 seemed like a good time to leave and 23 fish seemed like a pretty good day. I left Don off at his puddle and wished him well as I headed off for my AC.
Date fished: 8/4/03 - Yesterday after some boat cleaning, Scott and I got a late start and opted to keep the boat clean by going to Garcia. We worked our way out to the pit area, made a few casts, confirmed that there were bass where we thought they would be and headed back to the ramp. The southwest corner of the pit looked pretty good as we marked bass scattered about and watched some shad busts occur. Scott is escorting an 8 year old for his first IGFA Junior Tournament on Saturday and hopefully he will pull a big one out of here to make his day.
See you on the water.
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
