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Stick Marsh & Farm 13
Capt. George Welcome
March 1, 2001
Stick Marsh-Farm 13 - Freshwater Fishing Report
A new week has started and although water levels are no worse they haven’t improved either. Small boats and big boats are having problems alike, but you can avoid the more serious by raising the engine and idling your way from the ramp to the canal. If you come in contact with something that is raising the bow drastically stop and back off before you are wedged there. It’s the treetops and brush that are creating the havoc. When coming through the cut from the ramp into the Marsh continue straight ahead past the two trees passing them on their right. Continue into the Marsh until 90 degrees from the center of the cut into the canal. Make the turn to the cut via an arc and you will find the ride more comfortable.
Once out on the Farm, the fishing is fantastic if you are using live bait. You only have to ask Tommy and Lynn Anderson who fished with me on Monday and boated over 40 bass. Tommy hooked and landed several really nice fish as did Lynn, but the fish of the day came to Tommy, and weighed in at a hefty 14+ pounds. Mark Middleton and friends fished with Scott and also covered several areas of the lake, as they would be fishing here for the rest of the week. Fish landed on this excursion exceeded 50 with their biggest being in the 5-pound range.
Tuesday Scott Tinchor and friends arrived alert and ready after escaping from the cold of Kentucky. Their trip also included a tour of the lake as they brought two boats to fish out the week on. Three fished with Scott and two with me, with 6-dozen shiners per boat. The fish cooperated and the shiners quickly disappeared. Big fish of the day didn’t exceed 7 pounds but most were in the 3-5 pound range. Both today’s bass and yesterday’s bass came from the south end of the Stick Marsh. All bass caught during the both days came on free-lined shiners and not on bobbered ones.
Today Scott had Tommy and Lynn Anderson for their second day on the Marsh. Starting with 7-dozen shiners they free-lined over 40 to the boat by 11:30. With shiners gone the rest of the day was spent with artificial baits and an additional 9 bass were placed into the boat using black/chartreuse-tailed worms. They found the fish active in the canal right in front of the fishing dock where the pipes are. Water was flowing towards the farm and the current played an important part in making the fish active. I had Jack Goldsmith out again and he brought his Son-In-Law, Mike Kiedrowski. Some of you might know Mike as he is a long time member of Team Suzuki and involved in off road Motor cross racing.
Mike doesn’t get much time off from his busy schedule so this was a special day with great hopes. Jack is an avid artificial bait person but opted for shiners to give Mike a better chance. We fished the E/W canal just east of the first N/S ditch intersection and also the north end of that same ditch. By days end they placed over 40 bass into the boat and had a disappointing miss on one that I think would have been in excess of 10 pounds. We were out of shiners by 1:30 and then reviewed some of the areas that Jack and I will be fishing next week.
Scott got out yesterday afternoon doing some artificial fishing and found over 20 bass in less than 3 hours in several locations. First he worked the east edge of the center N/S ditch, north of the intersection and picked up several bass using a T-rigged black worm. He then worked south of the E/W ditch, east of the center N/S ditch with spinner bait and picked up several more. He then went to the front of the Marsh and found the canal with flowing water and placed the balance of the fish in the boat on a black/chartreuse-tailed worm that was Texas-rigged.
The bass that we have been catching have been in all stages around spawn. The big gal on Monday was as loaded with as much eggs as she could possibly be, and came out of an area that had bass of all sizes and conditions. We have found them also on the south side of the grass line that runs across the north end of the Farm from east to west. Most of the bass that were found relating to the hydrilla, were found at the outer edges and not inside the hydrilla mats. Another thing that we have found: top water bite comes and goes throughout the day and is something not to be forgotten. Both chug bug type baits and buzz baits have been successful. Stick jerk baits have worked in the openings of the hydrilla in areas where the hydrilla is not matted. Toss the jerk bait in and twitch it to get a strike. The technique for twitching the jerk bait without moving it great distances are to have slack line between the rod tip and the bait. Jerk the rod tip quickly and the jerk bait will dance in place. Work it slowly in the openings and you just might aggravate a lunker into striking.
Good luck out there, be careful, and enjoy the day.
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