
Stick Marsh & Farm 13
0 likes
By George Welcome
Submitted by George: 5/2/04 There isn't much to say about the above. It came out of the SW corner of Lake Washington as did the one below. We had never been to Lake Washington so on the 29th we decided to give it a try. Lake Washington is located in Melbourne with the ramp located at the end of Lake Washington road. They have a fair 2 lane ramp and limited parking for trailers. One big plus is they have real water flowing bathrooms at the park. For more information about the park and ramps: Lake Washington Park: 6000 Lake Washington Road, Melbourne. Boat ramps, airboat launch, St. Johns River access from Lake Washington, restrooms, pavilion, picnic tables, playground, fishing pier. Reservations: (321) 255-4307. Not knowing anything about the lake we asked some of the guys putting in and they suggested that we fish the north and west shores. Another suggestion was to fish the canal that heads out of the south end of the lake down towards route 192. As we headed out we decided to see the south end of the lake first to have a look around. The lake is a big shallow oval without much in the way of cover from what we could see however we did find some wood and lily pads in the SW corner. The SW corner appeared to be a large flat of about 2.5 feet of water so we felt that if we found the break to deeper water we might find some decent fish. (we never got to it but the west shore appeared to be more of the same and worth looking at) We worked with spinner baits, top water, and Senkos. The Senkos paid off with the fish above. With the wind blowing hard out of the east and the clouds moving in quickly we opted for an early departure so we didn't get to fish all that much of the lake. This is a lake where getting some local knowledge before launching would be well advised. Breaking into the month Scott had out Bobbi Tolbert and his friend from Dora, Alabama. There first day out they had over 40 bass including about 15 early in the morning on top water baits. Their catch consisted of some nice bass up to 6 pounds with a couple that didn't make it too the boat that were probably bigger. Most of the fish caught came from the south end of the Farm between the center and west N/S ditch and most came on dark Senkos. There 2nd day wasn't as good with the same area producing less fish and smaller fish. I had out Walt Wilson from Littleton, Colorado and his son Ollie who lives now in Boynton Beach, Florida for an interesting day of mixed catch. Walt is an aficionado of light tackle and spent the day throwing smaller baits that drew catches of bream and bass. It could have proved very interesting if he had hit a bigger bass as the light line would have made landing anything of size quite difficult with all the weed that is in the south end of the Farm. He did manage bass up to about 2.5 pounds however. We also managed a few on top water as the guys threw small torpedoes early on. My next day started with returning customer Jeff Jacobs and his brother Jack. They arrived a bit late because of some messed up travel caused by the airline. Lost luggage and such made the start of their trip a bit tough but they were raring to go. We headed back to the south end of the Farm but missed the limited top water bit. I moved away from the matted areas early on and went to the south end of the west N/S ditch and we spent most of the day right there. Senkos proved again to be the best producer and we landed fish throughout the day up to 5 pounds. We managed a respectable day of 35 plus bass but the big gal was yet to come. Yesterday we started again in the area between the center and west N/S ditch on the south edge of the mat. Not finding much that wanted to play with top water I moved to the north side of the mat and our first good fish hit a chug bug. Unfortunately she was the last fish to hit top water. We managed a couple more out of this area and then went back to the south end of the west ditch where we had been yesterday, but today the bite just wasn't there. With the wind blowing from the SE, I set up a drift that carried us from the end of the center N/S ditch and we hit fish immediately. However the wind was going to be unfriendly and we couldn't get the same drift twice. For that matter, the wind was moving about so erratically we couldn't even get a complete drift without changing directions several times over a matter of 15 minutes. I moved us eastward and set up a drift to fish the area between the center and east N/S ditches. By this time the wind was blowing from the SW and each drift was producing fish. As early afternoon progress the wind moved back to the SE and by 2:00 it was coming directly out of the east. We noted a pretty good thunderstorm building out to the east which was probably the cause of the complete wind change. The change was going to work to our benefit and it wasn't long before Jack set the hook on a fast charging lady. Measuring 26 X16.5 and weighing 9 pounds on the nose, this gal gave Jack quite a run for his money as she skimmed over the shallow submerged mat. As she got close to the boat she surged down into the grass but Jack kept his cool and used his rod to pull her up and out. After pictures and weighing she was released and with a powerful flip of her tail disappeared down into the mat. At 2:30 with thunder and lightening spitting out of the storm to the east we headed for the ramp Safety is a key issue out here and lightening is not one of nature's phenomenon to play with. Jeff, Jack, and I will be back out there today to see if we can better that 9 pound mark, and I for one think we can. See you out there. We have openings so if you have the chance we have the equipment. Give us a call. You just might get that fish of a lifetime. At the very least we will have a good day on the water.