Stick Marsh & Farm 13

Date Fished: 8/14/2000 Water Temperature: 90 Water Clarity: 2-3 feet After wending my way through the countryside to return the grand-kids to Baltimore and then on to NJ to clear up some property I finally found my way back to the Marsh to clear my head. The weather cooperated by supplying a light breeze in the area that we fished to help keep things cool. First thing in the AM we checked the spillway area and found the water not running. However we were still able to pick up several nice bass using crank baits and a chug bug. Leaving the spillway we started working the heavy hydrilla areas just outside the spillway area. Using a soft jerk bait we worked any open water that we could find and along the hydrilla lines. The quantity of past trips was down, but the quality was right up there. Bass to 6.5 pounds found their way to the boat. Early storms forced us to depart but not before we caught about 25 really nice bass. As we ran back to the ramp we found that the area we were fishing had been protected from a good solid 15+ MPH wind and the chop would have made other areas quite uncomfortable to fish. Yesterday I had a young gentleman out who was down from Georgia. He has fished the Marsh several times in the past and we left the ramp with great anticipation. Returning to the SE areas of the Farm we proceeded with top water jerk baits. The results were good size fish but not quantity. The wind was blowing when we left the ramp and continued to increase throughout the day but the SE area provided protection from the worst of it. We did try some of the more open areas with little results. We returned to the area we started at in the AM but got little time to try as the storms started moving in. Thunder and lightening told us it was time to depart and our retreat to the ramp was done at no slow pace. All in all we had a fair day but not one to Stick Marsh standards. The fish are moving back out from the spillway with the water flow off and are scattered throughout the heavy hydrilla of the south areas. I would expect to see schools again to the west of these areas in the next couple of days. Rattle traps, spinners, and shallow diving crankbaits should be the ticket as well as soft jerk baits worked along the hydrilla edges. I would also expect as we proceed into the fall to see the bass moving northward in the Farm and orienting themselves along the north ends of the boat trails. All of the above baits should be good with the addition of Carolina rigged lizards worked along the trails. Areas of grass are showing up in the Stick Marsh and fish are being found there. It's the time of the year to get out the thinking cap and experiment to find what the bass want.