Stick Marsh & Farm 13

Date Fished: 2/11/2001 Water Clarity: 0 Those that travel the 6.5 mile long, dust laden, and wash boarded Fellsmere Grade Rd. on a daily basis can appreciate these comments fully. This road leading to the Marsh is not meant to be a speedway, but is in the condition it is in due to the inconsiderate idiots that race its length because they think that two more minutes of fishing will get them a fish that they would otherwise miss. Then when they leave they must think that their house is on fire and they have to get there quickly so they speed their way out. Well, last week the inevitable happened! Three in a pickup truck, (I'm not sure if they were coming or going), in their haste to get nowhere important, spun out, flipped several times, and ended up in a ditch. Rumor has it that one is dead and the other two in sad shape. Saturday this was repeated as two fellows either coming or going went over the bank. The road now has speed limit signs every mile but I doubt that it will do much good. The speed limit is 35. Thursday the wind got to a steady 20 MPH on the Marsh and when it does, even if the fishing is good, it makes things very difficult out there. The water levels of this lake, even at full pool, churn into some serious chop and make fishing very difficult. There is no place to hide from it that will be holding much in the way of fish. With present water levels, (at least 3 feet low), wind will take you out of the game. However, Skip you got hit with a combination of, too much wind with no place to hide and fishing conditions that could be called difficult at best. Consistent high barometer pressures have made finding the fish difficult without having some of the intimate knowledge that we who fish it daily have, and even after finding them, putting them into the boat can be difficult. My trip on Thursday was one using live bait and the fishermen on board were very astute at getting a hook set and landing the fish we were able to get on, but I think that for most that were there that day, the results were akin to yours. However, things are slowly coming around and this warming trend that we are having will definitely improve conditions here. Now all we need is a little rain to help with water levels. Friday, the wind in the morning was non-existent but by the afternoon was blowing pretty strong. My people opted to fish with artificial baits. We covered a lot of water, threw a lot of baits and finally located cooperative bass on one of the old roadbeds in the Farm. Working the windblown side with spinner baits we had a moderately successful day. Eric Anderson and his father Jim, down from Atlanta, are both experienced fishermen and they were able to handle the wind. Their successes came because they were able to pinpoint their casts to the fish that we found. Scott’s trip was with shiners and the success that they had was because he put them on a school that we know about and he didn’t have to drift about looking for fish. However, the bite that we had been used to had turned more difficult and sporadic. We are so spoiled down here that when we have a day of 20-30 bass we call it only a moderately successful day. Saturday we had the same clients out and for our artificial trip things would be quite a bit different. Returning to the same area we found yesterday the morning bite was excellent on spinner baits, jerk baits, and floating worms. As things slowed down a bit we moved off and tried some other areas of the Farm without much luck. Returning to the same line of hydrilla on the roadbed we finished out the day with a bite on jerk baits. Today, instead of windy conditions we had no wind. Scott had a super bite going in the AM and then, just as with the artificial bite, things started to slow down. However, persistence and patience paid off and they finished up the day with 25-30 bass in the boat. I think we beat out the shiner bite today. Be careful out there and have a great day. George & Scott Welcome are full time guides and full time fishermen on Stick Marsh/Farm 13. Our goal is to share these fantastic areas and our love for the sport. Two boats allow us to accommodate to six people. Contact us; you will be glad you did!