Stick Marsh & Farm 13
Capt. George Welcome
February 29, 2004
Stick Marsh-Farm 13 - Freshwater Fishing Report
Our last report of February ends with a bang as Mike Hammer of Green Pond, NJ
realizes his goal for fishing on the Stick Marsh. Mike and I left the ramp at
daylight and went to the SW area of the Farm. The wind was moderate and I
immediately went to a spot that I had found some fish the other day. Sure
enough, I was still marking, and although they weren't biting yet, I knew it was
just a matter of time.
The weatherman had predicted winds of 10-20 out of the SE, but mother nature
had them on hold first thing. However it was long before the wind came up and on
the horizon we were watching the rain that the weatherman said we had zero
chance of getting. It finally made its way to the Farm, but luckily we were on
the up side of it and only experienced a few minutes of it. The wind then
stopped completely and we had a immediate increase in air temperatures of over
10 degrees. Picking up the drift anchors that I had deployed we returned to
where I wanted to fish.
Five minutes later up came the wind again, except it wasn't 10-20, but rather
25 solid out of the east. This forced our move to the east side of the Farm on
the south end as I set up for a long drift westward. For the balance of the day
we picked fish here and there on Senkos, #164 purple/w large blue flakes. With
20 minutes left in the day I set up for one more drift. As previously Mike
picked a couple more on the drift. With a few minutes left I cleared the decks.
As Mike made his last cast for the day I told him to make it a good one, and
started pulling in the drift anchor. I heard the line twang on the hook set and
turned to see Mike with rod bent in half battling a fish to the boat. She
swirled one time but never broke water and she came rather readily. As he got to
the side of the boat I lipped her into the boat pushing away grass that she was
buried in, and it was then that we realized that Mike did what he came for.
This 11.25 pound lady was landed at 2:59 PM and was caught on the Purple/w
large blue flake Senko. Mike cast all day for this beauty and I would have to
say it was certainly worth it.
Mike has two more days with me to see if he can better his best fish of his
life and we are certainly rooting for his success.
See you on the water. Say hi if you get the chance. We have 31 trips booked
for March but with two boats that still leaves with quite a few openings. Give
us a call if your thinking of some last minute plans.
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