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Stick Marsh & Farm 13
Capt. George Welcome
January 28, 2001
Stick Marsh-Farm 13 - Freshwater Fishing Report
Date Fished: 1/26-27/2001
Surface Water Temperature: 58
Water Clarity: 1 foot
Friday, as I stated in my previous report, was the day to work the Stick Marsh and the Farm with artificial baits and look for a pattern or patterns that would produce a somewhat consistent bite. The first area that we went to was the Palms, which are located in the NW area of the Stick Marsh. To get to this area it is necessary to idle all the way there. Follow the outside of the palm stumps until you get to the cluster of palm trees that are well out in the lake. Once there, a slow setting on the trolling motor is necessary or you will end up in the water as the stumps and lay downs are just below the surface. Although you can work a bait such as a rattletrap, the stumps and lay downs will take up a considerable amount of your time as you chase about to get unhooked. We found the best bait was a lightly weighted, short leader Carolina rig and it did produce. Several bass were landed using this bait worked SLOWLY. The bite was the lightest tap or weight and instantaneous reaction was needed to hook the fish. (A note: this area can be worked when you have no wind. If windy (8 mph or better, I wouldn't even recommend going to this area as the stumps will get you.) To get from this area to the Farm at idle we encountered many stumps and lay downs. Don't even think of running on the Stick Marsh. Moving to the Farm we started working the first N/S irrigation canal with both rattletraps and Carolina rigs. On the northern half we encountered one fish that would bite. We then took the middle N/S ditch to the southern end of the Farm. We did find some open area that was fishable, but most of this area is dense hydrilla and nothing but top water could or a non-weighted swimming worm could be worked here. We moved from there to the spillway area and worked beds of hyacinth, which were sparse but did land a couple of nice fish. Moving from there we went to the N/S ditch located on the west wall of the Farm and worked a split shot rigged worm on the east side of the ditch and out through the trees and stumps that are just east of the ditch. With the fish setting up in pre-spawn hold we thought this would be our best area and pattern and our gut feelings paid out. We landed females to 7 pounds in this area. All and all with a lot of work, we landed 37 bass. Slow and thorough were the keys to success and the worm the best producer. The bass in this area were keyed to hard cover and not just anything. Find a stump or lay down and find a bass. Another thing to note! On top of a lot of the hydrilla you will see a yellow algae. A yellow alga consumes oxygen 24 hours a day. Because of this the bass will shy away from this hydrilla. Although they will hang to the edges of it, the chances of any being in a pocket of an area such as this are slim. I have noted a lot of anglers fishing pockets were this algae is present and would suggest that you move outside and fish outer edges of these areas.
Yesterday we did a shiner trip and even with excessive boat traffic in the area we were in our day was a smashing success. We were working the ditch on the west wall of the Farm, south of the fisherman's shack. Free line was the best approach with the shiners and the bass were pretty aggressive. Each time a boat would pass through the channel it would take 5 to 10 minutes to get the bass active again, but for the most part they were cooperating fully. Most boats that passed were very courteous, except for ironically one. That boat, being managed by a guide from Blue Cypress Lake, passed in front of our boat with his customers trolling shiners. We had to pick up our baits so as to not get tangled with his customers. All in all we had an excellent day with over 50 bass in the boat, and very happy fishermen on board.
This week the weather forecast calls for our area to start resembling Florida. Gone will be the temperatures in the 30's and 40's with highs in the 50’ s-60, and back are the high 70's and 80's. Look for the bass to really turn on with these warming trends as our water temperatures return to more normal levels.
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