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FARM 13 / STICK MARSH FISHING REPORTS
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19 April 2008
This report will close out our active season on the Farm 13/Stick Marsh Impoundment until next fall. It has been a difficult season, to say the least. November and December were great, with lots of giant bass and crappie and other fish. Then, on 2 January 08, the first major cold front blasted through and the winds have whipped us badly ever since. The waters of our grand old impoundment have stayed muddy, or at least filthy dirty near continually. (If you ventured down to fish the place, you know exactly what I mean!!) There were more busted fishing trips than ever before. Most of us guides warned our clients in advance and wound up canceling a lot of trips. Others, with the customer’s full knowledge as to why, we shifted to Garcia Reservoir. Garcia did well for most of the time. The fish were smaller, but numerous. We usually managed at least one 5-6 pound fish each trip.
Here is what I think about the future of the Farm 13/Stick Marsh Impoundment. These are just my humble opinions.
Without submerged grass to filter and aerate the water, provide a nursery and safe haven for newly hatched spawn fry, and provide feeding zones for predator fish, I believe the impoundment will gradually go downhill and finally reach some level of sustainability for a certain size population of fish. The excellent trophy fishery, as we have always known it, will shrink dramatically, as the alligators catch the slower, clumsy large bass. The spawns will have a very high mortality rate, as the young-of-the-year fry will be easy for predators to catch. That means low future crops of game fish. The water quality will continue to deteriorate and the water may have significant algae bloom problems, with resultant fish kills. Who knows what else may be effected by the poor condition of the water. As an aside note, this past week I saw dozens of dead bluegill and shellcrackers and eight dead alligators in the impoundment. All in all, I personally think an old friend may die unless the hydrilla and milfoil grass start to root and thrive again.
14-16 April 2008
 What a week and what a way to close out our Stick Marsh Guide Service fishing season!!!
 Here comes the crew in from all over the country – six clients who come as a group each year for a get-together of old friends and some fishing fun. Frank Fagan, Dave Jurjevich, Dave Hennessey, Ron Procarione, Bill Butler, and Gary Arling take a number of trips together each year. This one was a repeat to try and finally fish the fabled Farm 13/Stick Marsh Impoundment. Last year, the weather blew them away and they spent their time on Garcia Reservoir.
 This time was little exception, as the last cold front of the year came through as they were getting off the plane in Orlando. A 20 (+) degree temperature drop and winds gusting to 35 MPH. How unlucky can you get!!
 But, they had the two luckiest guides I know – Stan Daniel and myself. This year, Stan and I have been fighting bad weather and muddy water most of the season. So, we had enough experience and ‘honey holes’ to try and make the Stick Marsh work for our gang of visiting fishermen. No Garcia this time; we were going for broke at the big pond!!
 It was a tough nut to crack, too. Danged cold for Florida, especially in mid-April. And, those winds just howled. It was pretty miserable for two days, with the final day getting just a little better. But, no one gave in and quit. We adhered to the cardinal rule – ‘You can’t catch a bass with a dry shiner, so keep one wet at all times.’
 Guess what? While we didn’t set the World on fire with quantities of bass, we once again pulled off those ‘minor miracles’ with some big bass! Yep, it’s always better to be lucky than good!!!What a fine way to finish up -- great company and some big bass!!
13 April 2008
The Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment fishing continues ‘hit and miss’ as the water refuses to clean up very well. It is remaining very dark, with limited visibility from 6 inches to 1.5 feet on any given day. An interesting thing is that some sections are cleaner than others are, but only slightly so. A key to catching fish is to find the cleanest water. Another key is to have 17 years experience fishing the place and having developed a number of ‘high percentage holes’. Finally, a lot of pure luck sure helps.
The parking area only has a few vehicles in it, as most anglers appear to be shying away from the poor fishing.
I have admittedly been very lucky with my guide trips on the impoundment. While I am doing only 14-25 fish a day, in most cases, the clients are getting their big bass nearly every time. I am at a loss to explain that, other than those factors stated in the first paragraph above. I did have a 35 fish day last week. That can be attributed to finding a small, obscure ditch and some old stumps that I had never known of, coupled with some decent water conditions. Because it is a pure open water area, many boats have passed over it. But, probably no one has ever really concentrated their fishing on it. It is just too small an area to notice.
The crappie spawn is basically over and I found some giant crappie back on the shell beds of the levees in Farm 13 a week ago. The bluegill and catfish were there, as well, but no shellcrackers were in the bunch. As prior to the spawning period, the fish were all related to the shellbeds. You can expect the big bluegill and shellcrackers to bed starting about mid-April (which happens to be NOW!!). In the Stick Marsh/ Farm 13 impoundment, look in the shallow parts of the wooded area in Farm 13. In Garcia, go to the borrow pit and fish in-between the grass beds on the high spots.
7-8 April 2008
This two-day venture was a true ‘family affair’. The first day, we had Grandpa Dexter Martini, with his son, and his 10-year old grandson , Zach.
 The ‘prime directive’ was, again, Zach catches fish. So, Zach was glad to oblige and crank them in. Zach informed me that these were the first bass he had every caught from a boat and the largest he had ever seen. He was ready to fish the second day, too. But, alas, that day was for Grandma Francis and Zach’s Mom, Gail McMillian.
 Grandma Francis and Mom Gail probably had an interesting time discussing their day on the water with Zach when they got back to their hotel. Where Zach had caught big bass, Grandma and Mom had caught GIANT bass!!!
 In fact Grandma Francis caught the big bass of the trip, a giant old sow that nearly pulled her out of the boat. But, Francis declined any help, put her feet against the side of the big Blazer boat and winched that bass right on in.
9-10 April 2008
 My first roommate in college was Tom Massey. That was some zillion years ago. Back then, we fished whenever we could cut class and get away (which was pretty often). My last fishing trip this past week was Tom Massey. We didn’t have to cut any classes this time. Tom came down from South Carolina and brought his friend, Bob Drost. Bob was a big football star at the University of South Carolina, when Tom and I were playing baseball and golf at our school.
Our first day on the water was tough. Farm 13 was dirty and the fishing very poor in that area. We did slip into the spillway basin in the SE corner of the Farm and catch some big crappie on the PERFECT Jig. But, the bass were tough. Finally, we slipped into the ‘Back 40’ behind the boat ramp and managed some bass on shiners. Old Tom wound up with a big bass, too.
 Our second day out proved fateful. We decided to approach the fish a lot different than the first day, targeting places we had not fished in awhile. Finding some water that was a bit cleaner than other locations, we also noted some new bottom variation on the depthfinder. It turned out to be a very small ditch, not more than 1.5 feet deep and maybe 2 feet wide. Being so small, it may have been hand-dug. But, the dirt from its excavation was piled to one side, making a small, but discernible, levee. On that levee, we found some small stumps and brush residue. A Rattin’ Rap (some that IN-FISHERMAN Senior Editor, Doug Stange, had provided at last year’s filming sessions) produced well ripped right across the top of the shallow levee and wood. The green pumpkin RIPPIN’ Stick also did great. Plus, the shiners produced well when trolled slowly along the small levee and when still-fished under bobbers just off the levee and the wood residue. In fact, the larger fish came on the shiners, with Bob getting the giant of the day. My GPS now knows exactly where that ditch and wood is, too!!
29 March 2008
I have calculated that Florida’s winter spanned 2 January to 23 March 2008. All our cold (well, cool to most of you) weather was during that period and the winds blew almost constantly. On the night of 23 March, the winds from the weekend cold front died off and it has been very since the 24th. Afternoon winds have been blowing around 12-15 MPH and that has made the clearing of the water in the Farm 13/Stick Marsh Impoundment a bit slow. As of yesterday, 28 March, it was still pretty poor, but it was sure a lot better than earlier in the week.
I cancelled or re-scheduled a LOT of trips during this period, so fishing reports are a bit slim. However, we have a 14-trip waiting list to work off on an ‘on-call’ basis as the water becomes decent and the fishing improves. Yesterday, we actually caught a pretty fair bunch of crappie and a ‘zillion’ bluegill on the submerged levees of Farm 13. A couple of the crappie were giants, too. So, things will be getting better. By sheer ‘luck’ and just knowing alternate ways to address the impoundment, as well as Garcia Reservoir, we have been able to get nearly all our clients a big bass, even if not a lot of numbers. The pictures in the reports, below, look a lot better than the fishing actually was, in most cases.
There was a brief period when one of the three pipes was opened in the spillway basin in the SE corner of the Farm 13 side. That brought a lot of crappie into the basin for a short while (as long as the slight current was running), but few bass. That big spillway can’t be opened at present due to the large mass of swamp debris that has accumulated behind it. To open it would clog it and then it could not be closed, thus draining Garcia. See our 25 November 07 report, below, for the initial report on the problem. That gate hasn’t be opened since September or October 07.
Still no returning grass growth to report. If anyone tries to tell you there is some, ask him to prove it. It just ain’t so.
11 March 2008
 Dan Welch and his son, Brad, decided to take a shot at the local bass population. With the farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment being a total disaster at the time, we opted for Garcia Reservoir. Boy, the wind let us have it at about 30 MPH and it was tough fishing. They would come up on the shiners as we dragged them across the grass and were poor at chasing the bait when we anchored.
 We managed to catch a few bass and, luckily, Dan got a really big old sow. Smiling like a 'possum, ain't he!!
25-26 March 2008
Keith Poole has two delightful young sons. Jackson is 10 and Aidan is 8. Neither has fished, so it was interesting to see how they reacted to a day on the water. Keith decided we should take each youngster out separately, for a half-day each.
 On the first day, we had Jackson. He is the quiet one, pretty reserved and calm. Well, at least until he started to reel fish in. It didn’t matter what type fish it was. If we could get it to bite, he was ready to ‘get with the program'.
 For his first time fishing, Jackson did great and was ready to go again.
 The second day, we teamed up with Aidan. He was a typical 8-year old. Ready to go do something, no matter what it was. Once we started to catch bass on the shiners, Aidan got excited enough that he even wanted to be the ‘Shiner Captain’ and handle getting the shiners, too. Another thing that added to the building excitement was that the fish would get a little bigger with each new catch.
 Once we got Aidan oriented to holding and cranking the big shiner rod, he proved that he could handle anything short of six-pounds. His Dad had to provide a little ‘rod’ support’ on that final fish of the day!!
28 March 2008
 Ed Dozier and Tom Murdock make a trip south to go fishing every winter. Upper Maryland State gets a bit brisk at times, so they really look forward to the weather change. They sure hit it right this time. The temperature was in the mid-70’s, the skies clear and the winds stayed down nearly all day. The only problem was that the water in the south end of Farm 13 was still pretty dirty and the bass would not come to shiners. However, we did mange to find a few in the ‘Back 40’ area.
The good thing we found was that the crappie and big bluegill still hang out on the submerged levees of the Farm. The little PERFECT Crappie Jig again proved its worth and caught us a fine mess of crappie and a LOT of bluegill. Catfish even worked on us pretty good. Ed caught one of the giant crappie the impoundment is famous for, scaling in around 2-1/4 lbs. (estimated; our scale’s batteries went dead).
8 March 2008
It’s been a full month since we posted the last fishing report. Plus, it’s almost been a full month that we did not fish!! First, we lose two weeks with an illness and eventual passing of a family member back in Arkansas. Traveling back and forth there twice was not fun. Then, we get out for a couple of good fishing days and BLAM --- we catch the danged flu bug!!
Let me tell you about this year’s flu. It is R-U-F-F!! I am just now coming out of a 12-day bout with it. It’s mean and it does not care that you had your flu shot. A ‘word to the wise’ – if you even think you are coming down with the stuff, go to that doctor NOW. And, then, you tell him that you expect him to treat you AGGRESSIVELY! None of this bad cold and cough garbage. You tell him to also treat you so that you WILL NOT get any sicker. Err on the side of safety and common sense. Mine gave me the usual nose sprays and junk when I first went in. It was four days later (and a 102 temperature) that I managed to convince him I was a SICK puppy. So, I was really bad for a lot longer than I needed to be.
Something that I think you will see soon is a scandal about the past year’s flu serum. After shortages of the medicine for a few years, our Government officials made big words about how they had assured ‘no more shortages’. What I think they did was let someone in the drug industry sell them sub-standard vaccines. Probably made in China or Mexico, like other cheap, cut-rate goods. Whatever the case turns out to be, it is a fact that the flu vaccines this year did not do the job at all and the flu is rampant. Just read the papers. It will be interesting to see all the spin and cover-ups that start when they finally get pulled on the carpet about this. Lots of tax dollars, insurance plans, and individual ‘out of pocket’ payments went towards this bogus vaccine this year. Not to mention all the ‘sick puppies’ that resulted.
The fishing --- since the first of the year, we have averaged about 8-10 days a month that the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment was fishable. The winds kept it blown out a lot. That equates to a two-thirds non-fishable rate. So, Garcia Lake has been getting a lot of pressure. Of course, Garcia turns a LOT of fish – it’s just that they are small. The good news is that the last 10-12 days have been really great fishing at the south end of Farm 13. The bass are basically off the beds and have moved out towards the northern half of the wooded band across the south end of the Farm. Rat-L-Traps and soft jerk baits have taken a zillion bass (of course, that’s the period I have had that flu). The folks who have taken my trips for me (Stan Daniel, Roger Hayward and Randy Sanders) have all had excellent results. Now that we are into March, we can expect fewer strong cold fronts and hopefully more stable conditions.
That month I basically missed put some holes into the study and tracking we were doing on the big crappie. We know they were leaving the shell beds on the levee tops slowly and we were hoping to follow them sufficiently to determine spawning locations. The day before the flu bug struck, we did find that a lot of big, egg-bearing crappie we down in the wooded area at the south end of the Farm. Basically, they were in the same areas as all those bass. They were not spawning, it did not appear, in that they were not overly aggressive. (Spawning crappie are VERY territorial and protective of the spawning location. They will readily attack most any lure that comes close.) I will explain more about what was found in the report, below.
I recently had the chance to try out a couple of products you may find interesting. One was a transducer protector that fits on the trolling motor. The other was the slickest, most cost-effective depth sounder/GPS combo unit I have run across.
 The STUMP-BUMPER product is made by an outfit called Pro-TECT Devices in McComb, MS. If you have ever fished in that area, you can probably imagine why it originated there. Lots of shallow, stump-infested waters in that part of the state!! It is a pretty simple, yet highly effective device that fits around the trolling motor transducer to protect it from underwater impacts. The transducer is secured within the protective housing to prevent it moving around. Then, the housing and transducer installs using the same big clamp that normally holds the transducer in place, making for a easy and quick installation. The price is around $35.00, but just go look at what a replacement transducer will set you back. It is a good product and I can vouch that it works fine. See it better at www.stumpbumper.com
I have finally reached the point that a GPS map device is essential to my fishing. First, it always gets me back to the ramp on a new lake. I can cross the Stick Marsh in a heavy fog and never deviate from a straight line. And, I can go right to that 20 X 30 foot shell bed out there in the middle of Farm 13 just as though I could see it. Intersections of submerged canals are a snap to find quickly. It’s even easy to find a few old sunken bushtops someone put in the place years ago!! I also have some way points marked on mine that tell me when to start slowing down for the submerged wood at the south end of the Farm. In a nutshell, I can get within 20 feet of any location, anywhere and never have to look at anything but that GPS display. Modern technology is where it’s at, my friends.
The problem is that modern technology is often expensive, with a capital E. But, there are some trade-offs that can bring that cost within reason. First, big screen displays are nice, but really not necessary. Second, a color display is going ‘up town’. But, it likewise is not necessary, just ‘nice to have’. Finally, the pixel count factor sure influences the detail you can see. But, it also drives the price.
 I recently tried out an Eagle Cuda 250 depth sounder/GPS combination unit that appears to give the user all he/she needs, plus it is at a very comfortable price. If fact, it is more cost-effective than most small, hand-held GPS devices that have a background map. Normally, I have always seen this unit as a portable pack, complete with a carrying case and a separate battery pack going for around $250. This time, I found it as a stand-alone unit for $190 (go to Cabelas web page and enter the keyword ‘Cuda 250’). Please take note that this is BOTH a sonar unit AND a GPS map device. The Cuda series is a compact instrument, which will mount just about anywhere. It has an excellent pixel count (resolution) of 240Vertical x 160 High on a 4" diagonal display. The display, whether in the sonar mode or as a GPS, was exceptionally crisp and clear. That is one feature that really sold be on the unit. The GPS background map showed major roads and the like, plus most all bodies of water. As it is a lower priced unit, the level of detail diminishes as you zoom in. But, the unit still has more detail than you normally will need. I would have liked to find a Cuda until with just the GPS map, as I did not need the sonar feature and might have saved a buck or two. But, it does provide a ready sonar back-up if the main system ever fails. If you are in the market, you can’t go wrong with the Cuda 250.
25February 2008
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 Steve and Danny Ingram are old friends from the frozen north. Each year, they stop by to fish with us during their mid-season thaw-out vacation to Florida. Steve is a special guy who I admire greatly. He has a permanent disability that affects his right side, but he has shown that it will never stand in the way of anything he wants to do. Especially fishing. Every year, Steve gets a bigger bass. It started with a four-pound fish a couple of years ago. Then, a five-pounder the next year. This year, he again bested his personal best record. He put me on notice for a 10-pound fish next year. I'll bet he does it, too.
Our strategy was to get into the submerged timber at the south end of Farm 13 and toss RIPPIN’ Stick soft jerk baits. Danny is really a master with that lure and can seemingly get bit with it at will. Steve works the lure perfectly, too. But, Danny appeared to have the touch this day. After Steve caught the first RIPPIN’ Stick bass, Danny set off in a flurry of 6-8 fish. Steve continued to get one here and one there on a regular basis, but Danny seemed to always have a fish on. The problem was --- he couldn’t land the big bass!! My best estimate was that he lost an 8, a 7 and a pair in the 6-pound range right at the boat. Steve’s fish were all smaller, but he landed his.
While the Ingrams were tossing the RIPPIN’ Sticks, I decided to see if any crappie had made it to the wooded area. Taking the needle-nosed pliers, I closed the hook on a cinnamon and chartreuse PREFECT Crappie Jig and started tossing it around the boat. Immediately, I was getting hits. Most felt to be bluegills strike, short and hard. But, a few were solid ‘thumps’, followed by a slackness in the line. I figured it about impossible to toss that little jig into all that wood without staying hung up, but I sure got surprised. Opening the hook to the normal position, I proceeded to catch about 12-15 big crappie and a bunch of bluegill, while only getting hung 3-4 times. The water and wood are so shallow in that south end of the Farm that I was always able to get the jig back, too. These crappie were not clustered, nor did they appear overly aggressive. So, I assume they were not actively spawning yet. Most did have large egg masses, with some leaking a bit.
Having a couple of dozen shiners on-board to try for trophy bass, we moved over to what I call my ‘high percentage hole’, a cluster of submerged wood that forms a big log pile over a depression. The first three shiners into the water immediately turned good, solid bass. Then, it stopped. Moving around a bit, we managed a few more. Then, we got into another dead-space. I reminded the guys that shiner bites often come suddenly and when you least expect them. Sure enough, the quiet was broken as a big old gal came up chasing Steve’s hapless shiner. He grabbed the rod, as we waited for the bobber to go. After three heart-stopping blow-ups on the shiner, the big bass took her. It was a powerful fish, big-bodied and probably fresh off the spawn. I knew Steve wanted no assistance, so Danny and I stood back and just shouted encouragement. Steve literally wrestled the bass for about three minutes, gradually working her to the boat. I breathed a major sigh of relief when she was finally in the net. The cell phone rang. I told them I’d have to call back. Moments like that are what make guiding such a great profession.
26 February 2008
Planning to just see if I could locate spawning crappie down in that Farm 13 wood, I called John Dittmer to see if he wanted to go along. John is on our stand-by list for crappie and he was available. The winds cooperated and we were able to toss the jigs easily. Again, we did not get hung much. But, we also did not find any concentrations of crappie. We caught the scattered fish again and some bluegill. But, we did not find any spawners.
That night, the ‘flu princess’ stopped by and stomped on my head. And, I’ll bet all the crappie in the World spawned while I was laid up!!
7 February 2008
“I’m late, I’m late for a VERY important date!!” Alice’s rabbit said. I guess I am, too. Somehow, I have this serious affliction called ‘fish scales on the brain’. It comes from trying to cram 50 lbs. of fishing into a 2-lb. Kroger sack. I am never off the water enough to write the fishing report. OR – the weather has shut things down and I have nothing to write about. We are having some difficult issues with the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 impoundment, but finding out great things about Garcia Reservoir to offset them.
First, though, a quick business ‘word to the wise”. In the event you think you might like to fish with us this Spring, be advised that we only have maybe 8 days open through mid-April and currently have an 11 name waiting list (nearly all are for crappie; I will explain that below). Please, DO NOT send any guide trip deposits until you have talked with me first (321-951-7841, or email jporter@stickmarsh.com). My fellow guide, Stan Daniel, has a few more openings than I do, so we may be able to get you on the water. Stan is a top-notch guide, possibly the best you find anywhere and totally dependable. .
Here’s our situation. Up until the first of the year, fishing for bass and crappie were both simply outstanding. The only real difference in that period and past years was the total numbers of bass caught per trip were off some. But, we caught a LOT of 8-11 lb. fish. Lady fishermen really raked them in, too (see the past fishing reports and pictures!). In addition, the giant crappie cooperated VERY well, as did big bluegill and shellcrackers. Then came the New Year and it came with a blast! A major cold front came through, with days of strong winds and a water temperature drop of 22 degrees within a 24-hour period. That was a bit extreme for Florida fish and they basically became nearly impossible to catch. On top of that, the winds dirtied the water in the Farm 13/ Stick Marsh impoundment and further messed things up. This situation existed nearly all of January, as front after front prohibited the waters from clearing and warming. We did have a few days between fronts where we were able to get some spectacular fishing. But, unless you timed it right, it was mostly poor. The lures of choice are the Rat-L-Trap and the RIPPIN’ Stick-type jerk bait. The PERFECT Jig, in cinnamon and chartreuse, remains a much better choice than live minnows for crappie, as we have had to very precisely fish the tops of the submerged levees. .
Enter Garcia Reservoir, just south of the Stick Marsh/Farm 13. Still full of grass, pads and reed stands, Garcia is a beautiful body of water and packed full of fish. In fact, it has so many fish, it gets had to catch a giant. All the smaller, faster bass just appear to beat the big ones to the lure. We spent a lot of time at Garcia during January and caught a lot of fish. But, the average bass was less than 2 lbs. The crappie were readily available to those of us who know exactly where and how to fish for them, but their size is also smaller than we’d like. The PERFECT Jig, used very slowly in the canal going to Farm 13 took most of our crappie. You had to just touch grass at 4-6 feet to get a soft strike. The borrow pit and its usual live minnow approach did not do well. For bass, the RIPPIN’ Stick, rigged wacky style was great, as was a ¼ oz. Rattlin’ Rap or Rat-L-Trap. We also switched from a spinner bait to a 1/8th oz. Beetle Spin to really catch a LOT of bass out over the submerged grass in the old fields. .
In both locations, the water levels are good. Garcia is very clear, while the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 impoundment varies from day to day with the winds. The water there is always dark, even if visibility becomes good. .
Since our last report of 20 January, we took about 10 days off for a medical procedure. It was actually test to determine if we had any problems. The outcome was that we have no problems whatever and an earlier test had given a false indication. So, we picked back up fishing at the end of the month. .
31 January 2008
 With ‘iffy’ water conditions and the potential for high winds, we started Larry Lynch and Gary Whitaker out at the Stick Marsh for bass and crappie. We got some really giant crappie off the submerged levees, but not a lot of them.
When the winds failed to materialize and the weather appeared stable, we took shiners and moved into the south end of the Farm. Again, the quantity of fish was a disappointment, but the guys managed to stoke a couple of really great bass.
1 February 2008
The winds due on 31 January finally arrived the morning of 1 February. So, we opted to take Toby Cole, Floyd Layman, and a visiting friend of theirs to Garcia.
The wind really howled out of the south as we drifted shiners over grass. Small bass blasted the baitfish. But, it was slow activity and no big fish were caught. All were small.
Moving to the northwest canal, we decided to try for the finicky crappie. I had caught these fish recently, but it was tough slow fishing. You had to work that PERFECT Jig very slowly and just touch some underwater grass on the sloping side of the canal. Fishing what you can’t see if always tough. I think we managed 15-18, but they were just ‘eating sized’ fish and not big slabs like the Stick Marsh produces. With no fish of any size, we had no pictures.
4 February 2008
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 We checked the water in the Stick Marsh and Farm 13 the day before and it looked acceptable. So, we headed out with Mike Esposito and Bobby West to check the crappie and bass.
We managed some nice crappie until the winds blew us away. The PREFECT Jig on the levee tops was the key. But, the wide open waters of farm 13 get pretty rough when the winds blow hard.
Moving to the south end of the Farm, we set up with a few shiners and managed only a couple of fish. It was not good at all. Mike managed one big bass. But, it was poor fishing. There were some bass caught in and around the submerged timber on Rat-L-Traps that day. So, it appeared we needed to me moving around to find fish, rather than floating shiners in one place.
5 February 2008
 Once again, we hosted Toby Cole, Floyd Layman, and a visiting friend. This time, the winds let us fish the Farm 13 levees for crappie. We did try drifting minnows for a short spell with zero results. But, the levees produced some giant slabs. Even with 10-15 MPH winds, we managed to keep the big BLAZER boat lined up with the submerged levee top. With everyone tossing the cinnamon and chartreuse PERFECT Jig, we put around 25 giants in the livewell, plus a bunch of big bluegills.
20 January 2008
‘Into each life, some rain must fall’, or so the saying goes. Well, it fell in Florida a couple of times recently. A week ago, the winds and rain dirtied the water badly at the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment. A few bass were caught in the back area, out in the flats, on Rattlin’ Raps in red and in gold colors. Even the water back there was pretty dark. The crappie were pretty well a write-off all week. Virtually none were caught from the coffee-colored water. Then, last night, another big weather system went through at 60+ MPH. It moved so fast, the weather reports could hardly keep up with where it was next. Today, the cold air is coming in fast and the strong winds behind the front are building. We can expect the impoundment to be a mess for until at least Thursday, probably Saturday.
Our response to the weather patterns has been good old Garcia Reservoir, just south of Farm 13. That beautiful, wild piece of water is so full of fish. But, the average bass runs only 2-lbs., or slightly less. I am beginning to think Garcia may actually have more fish than the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment. They are easy to catch and seem to be just about everywhere. The problem is getting big bass. If you look at the Garcia impoundment, only about 35-40 percent of it is fishable, with the rest being extremely thick pad fields, grass and wooded areas. About the only thing that can penetrate into those thick vegetated zones are airboats. There is plenty of water in there, so you have to figure there are also LOTS of fish down in and under all that stuff. Big bass like thick cover and that may be where the majority are and why we don’t catch more giants in Garcia. If we can just figure how to get back into those ‘jungle zones’ and they fish them, we may find a bonanza of big bass.
We cancelled two trips this past week due to wind and weather. But, we actually did get in three good outings with lots of bass were caught. On two of the trips, we caught some big bass (‘big’ by Garcia standards).
14 January 2008
The boys from the Circle Bar racing team (the Craftsman truck circuit) finished up the inspections and tests at Daytona and came down to fish with us. As last year, Stan Daniel had one boat and I provided the other. Unlike last year, we did not fish the Farm 13/Stick Marsh for giant bass, as the place was totally blown out. So, we all gathered at Garcia and did what we like to do – just go fishing.
And, it wasn’t bad at all. We had about 38-40 bass between the two rigs. Stan’s boat had the most fish, plus a couple of good bass in the 4.5 to 5-lb. range. With the winds a good 25-30 MPH, we used two drift socks on each boat and pulled a pair of shiners behind the boat, while also tossing plastic worms and spinnerbaits. Of course, the shiners did well and got blown up a lot. The first two shiner strikes in my boat turned out to be pickerel, which duly cut the line with their razor sharp teeth. After that, we stayed pretty well on the bass. Stan’s camera had a problem and my boat caught no big bass, so we took no photos this trip.
An interesting development was the way the bass were caught on the plastic worms. The ZOOM Ultra-Vibe Speed Worm is a small plastic worm with a hooked tail. The little tail flutters when the lure is pulled through the water. Stan had one rigged Texas-style with a 1/8th-oz. slip sinker. Somehow, he stumbled upon a presentation method of just swimming the lure back to the boat with a slow and steady retrieve. Holding his rod tip up, he found he could generally hold the lure over the top of most of the grass as he retrieved it. The bass really ate it up. My guys went with a big Culprit ribbon-tail worm and just pulled slowly up and over the grass beds. That worked for them pretty well, too. If you go to a Bass Pro Shops catalog and find a picture of the Speed Worm, you will see the shape of the tail section. You can take a paddle-tail worm and cut a matching notch in it and get about the same action. I took my RIPPIN’ Stick soft jerk bait, made an angler cut part way across the tail and got the same flutter effect. Apparently, they just liked the action that flutter gave.
17January 2008
 Mike Durrett is a General Contractor and decided to treat some of his supervisory crew (Potts, Marek, and Adam) to a few days of fishing in Florida. We got them lined up with a place to stay at the Blue Cypress campground, so they could rent boats, cook fish and generally spend some warm days in Florida. On one of their days, they opted to fish with us. Stan Daniel again provided the second boat. The wind and rain forced us to Garcia again.
With the exception of Mike, the party was a little inexperienced at bass fishing. But, before the day was over, they had caught bass on the shiners, a spinnerbait and two styles of worms. Stan started it off with the first fish of the day dragging a shiner down. That bass weighed a good 5-lbs., really nice for Garcia.
 Fishing with shiners usually levels the playing field among the experienced and inexperienced anglers. But, this day, Mike Durrett seemed to hold the edge, no matter what he fished with. Mike got two big Garcia bass on the shiners and a pretty good number of smaller ones on his Berkley GULP worms. His partner in my boat, Adam, had a nice one on a shiner, as well. Considered the killer weather, we had a fine day.
18 January 2008
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 Danny Morgan called at the last minute and we managed to work him into the fishing schedule. He came down from Staunton, VA, to attend a wedding in south Florida. But, he confided that he had considered it a great opportunity to get out of Skyline Drive’s cold winter weather and fish in warm Florida for a day.
In actuality, it was pretty warm last Friday. A major cold front was due in 48 hours, so we has southerly winds bringing warm, moist air up from the oceans south and west of Florida. The rain only drizzled at us a couple of times and the winds stayed down until noon. Again, we opted to go with shiners and toss a few artificials when we could. Early in our trip, we had a lot of fish blowing up on the shiners with great regularity. Then, as the wind picked up and we had to deploy the drift socks, the bite slowed at lot. We finally decided to anchor on some of the underwater grass beds that had produced multiple bass earlier. Floating the shiners downwind over the grass, Danny got back into catching again.
 Then, he got ‘the strike’! It was that rarely seen, true giant bass in Garcia. Danny got a great hookset and it was off to the races. The bass was actually one of those that was too big to really jump. All she could do was get her head and upper body above the surface and then wallow as she fell back. As luck would have it, the hook popped free close to the boat and we did not get her for pictures. But, we did get a good, close look!! What a fish!
The winds laid back a bit and we decided to work the very eastern edge of the open water section we were fishing. It turned out to be a good move, in that all the bass in Garcia appeared to be gathered there. And, most of them were a good bit larger than average! In short order, Danny went through all the shiners and had a big grin on his face.
13 January 2008
The first week of the New Year was a major bust to fishing in our area. The cold front that blasted in with 2008 tore up the waters, making them extremely dirty and very cold. In fact, the surface temperature drop of 72 to 54 degrees in a bit over 36 hours probably was a big physical shock to most wildlife. It was a full week before fishing returned to normal, with the crappie being the most affected. We started out on Monday, the 7th, with big bass (see below). Then, the bass worked for us at a decent rate on the 9th and 10th. On the 10th, we also got back on track with the giant crappie. Then, it finally happened, on Friday, the 11th, our long-time friend, Vernon Grizzard came up for West Palm Beach to try the bass. Unlike all his past trips where he caught the giants well, this trip was a bummer.
As I write this, we have another strong front progressing through Florida. The rains have past and the temperature is dropping. Tomorrow promises to be cold and windy for our Circle Bar NASCAR team out on the water. Since we know that the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 waters will be a disaster again, we plan for protected Garcia Lake. We have four more trips planned for this coming week, with another front due at mid-week. But, I am looking to try and reschedule everyone. I think the fish will go down the tube. I suspect it will be Monday to Wednesday of next week (the 21st and 23rd) before fishing will return much.
7 January 08
 After waiting out Mother Nature’s cold front rampage through Florida, we finally got back on the water with Joey and Beth Peifer. This was a bass-only excursion, but I got the pair to stop on a couple of crappie hangouts and help me see if the fish were home. The water was dirty and cold and the crappie didn’t even raise an eyebrow (if they had one) at us. So, it was off to the south end of the Farm and some shallow water. We surmised that the shallows might have warmed somewhat faster than the other locations, and it appeared we were right. With all that wood in the water acting as heat sinks and thermal masses, absorption of the bright sun was a real plus. We found the water at around 63 degrees, a far better cry that the mid-50s of few days earlier.
 Beth got everything going and it appeared her end of the boat was the ‘charmed’ seat. When she also latched onto a giant bass, it was certain she had things going her way. But, things have a way of changing and, sure enough, Joey started to rebound and catch up. Then, just before quitting time, Joey got his giant.
Who says the Farm 13/Stick Marsh hasn’t got any bass left?!!
9 & 10 January 08
 Jonathan Lebendiger and Bill Bendon flew down from Philadelphia just to fish two days with us. Now, that’s gotta be confidence in their guide, what with all the negative data I had been giving them about the weather changes at New Years. But, as they got on the plane, I was able to tell them about the fine success of the Peifers. I sure was hoping the fishing would continue to improve!!
 Our first day, we went to look for crappie first. The water was still dirty and pretty cool that morning, so we went to the south end of Farm 13 to find big bass. John landed a couple of really nice bass, one being a big-bellied sow just full of eggs and ready to go spawn. Bill had to settle for the small fish of the day. But, there was still a day of fishing to go.
 Our second day, we went to see if the crappie would hit the PERFECT Jig. The waters had warmed to the upper 60’s and were clearing more. After working 200 yards of levee top, we were still fishless. Then, I remembered the last place I had caught the crappie well just before the NewYears cold front passage. I figured we should check it, as it was a bit more out-of-the-way from where we normally catch those giant crappies. Moving a half-mile down farm 13, we keyed into a GPS position I had marked. After I had made a pass and located the old canal trace and its submerged levees, I dropped a marked and got up to fish. Before I could get the trolling motor down, both anglers had crappie on the jig. We had stopped precisely at the perfect spot, I suppose. What luck!! We worked a 50-yard section of the levee, which appeared to harbor a huge shell bed all along the levee top. It was stacked up with big slabs, those giant shellcrackers and some big bluegill. Strangely absent were all the catfish that had been on the shell beds before the cold front. Jonathan and Bill got to catch their first really giant crappies ever, with Jonathan getting a huge gal with some eggs showing at her vent (looks like an early spawn in the making in that section of the impoundment).
 From there, we went over to the east wall of the Farm to the pump station. It was running at about half speed, so we anchored and free-lined shiners into the light current. We caught a decent number of bass. But, It appeared there were more big catfish and mudfish there than bass. We caught our bass and also lost a number of shiners to the trash fish.
Being almost noon, we decided to break for lunch. So, we headed back to the ramp for some fresh fried crappie fillets. Um, um good!! It is always so much better cooked outdoors with some of Dot’s fresh potato salad and baked beans. Plus, a big pitcher of sweet iced tea. Who says life has to be hard!!
After stuffing ourselves well, we moved back to the south end of the Farm and some shiner action. There, the bass started eating the shiners again, as the day before. It was not a heavy bite, but it was decent. The fish were mostly average. Then, Bill set the hook on one that proved to be another egg-laden sow. As I netted the fish and moved for my camera, I suddenly realized that I had left it in my truck after lunch. Dang my forgetful old mind. Doing the best I could, I took a few pictures with my cellular phone. As you can see, one of our pictures is pretty poor, so I know you can tell which was the phone picture.
Jonathan and Bill both stated that the trip had been well worth the flight down, plus it got them into some 80-degree weather. That made me feel good, knowing my luck was still holding out.
11 January 08
We got a last-minute call from our friend, Vernon Grizzard, who said he had to be in our area on Friday. Did we have any fishing time open, he wanted to know. Heck, we always have time for past customers. Vernon is what you call a ‘good guy’, very personable and a real gentleman. The kind you like to call friend.
I hope we are still friends after that afternoon, though. It was warm, the water temperature was in the low 70s, and everything seemed great. Plus, we were coming off three fine fishing days earlier that week. We got a lot of hits on the shiners and a lot of surface blow-ups on them. But, we could not hook up with the fish. I think the catfish and mudfish have learned how to blow-up on the shiners now. That is the only reason I give for only three small bass for three hours of teaching shiners to swim.
So, our great streak of success that started back on the 4th of November 07 finally came to an end. We finally had a poor day of fishing. However, there sure were a LOT of great ones in-between!!
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Lastly, I had a gentleman email and ask if I thought he could fish from one of those sit-on inner tube rigs that you move around with swim fins on your feet. I sent him this picture of the big-nosed guy that guards my best fishing spot. Never did get a reply back from him.
31 December 07
We decided to close out 2007 by catching a fish or two ourselves. Where we thought it would be windy, this day was actually warm and calm. In fact, the water was slick the whole time. I ran into Glenn Bolten on the impoundment. Glenn has fished with us before, but does just fine from his own boat. Today, he caught me with a marker in the water and probably saw I was nailing them pretty well. As he drifted by, Glenn jokingly asked me to leave that marker right there when I was finished.
I started out on the levees of the center north/south canal and found the usual crappie, bluegills and shellcrackers still there. They were not as thick as the past couple of weeks, but we have caught a LOT of them. So, I decided to find a new school, or two. I moved to the west north/south canal (coordinates B, 5-7 on our interactive map) and started working the PERFECT Jig along the top of the levees. Boy, did I get lucky again. Within a 100 yard stretch, I caught well over 50 big crappie, 8 big shellcrackers, and a zillion bluegills and catfish. It was steady action. So, don’t forget that canal. But, I expect all the submerged levees have fish. You just have to locate the shellbeds.
I wonder how much better this crappie fishing will get after this coming cold front? They will start to bunch up then and it should get even better, especially for those drifting minnows in the open flats of the Farm.
23 December 2007
We had our first good cold front work its way to central Florida this past week. Temperatures in the north Florida got to the upper 30’s/low 40’s, while we here in central Florida saw high 40’s. Of course, it warmed back to the mid-70’s in a couple of days. Those cold fronts act as a ‘trigger’ of sorts to start our fish on their spawning cycles, so we have been waiting. Now we watch to see if the positioning and movement patterns of the bass and crappie change. They are normally very predictable, which is a big advantage to those of us to fish a lot of the time.
Garcia continues to be beautiful and productive. In fact, even if the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment turns out to be poor fishing, Garcia is an excellent alternative. I love the place for its sheer beauty and wilderness look. Plus, of course, it is full of fish that can be caught on just about anything at anytime.
19-21 December 07
Derrell Miller has been a long-time friend and fellow ‘fish-head’. He is now a full-time RV’er who goes and lives whereever he wants for as long as he wants. Then, he pulls in the slide on the motor coach and moves it on down the road. Derrell is wintering in west Florida, knowing that somewhere today someone is shoveling snow. When we decided to fish for a few days, the fish just sighed and muttered, “Well, here comes ‘Old Lucky’ again.”
We put in three days. But, at our age, they were more like half-days. We had fine weather and just sorta stayed laid back the whole time.
 Day 1 found us on Garcia Lake. The cold front a few days earlier had blown the Farm 13/Stick Marsh out and the water was in pretty poor condition. This day was warm, with lots of sun and only light breezes. Derrell started with a Rattlin’ Rap crank plug and I alternated between a JuneBug RIPPIN’ Stick jerk bait rigged ‘wacky’ style and a small spinnerbait. We sure guessed right this time. Derrell’s second cast netted a 4.5 lb. largemouth, which is a fine bass on Garcia. He wore them out pretty good on the crayfish pattern Rap, while I did best on the RIPPIN’ Stick. Everything went great until my friend got a fish on that jumped and broke his line (literal translation: ‘that sucker got the Rattlin’ Rap’!!)
 Day 2 found us check the Stick Marsh/ Farm 13 for water conditions. Actually, they were pretty good, with the water clarity only slightly dark. We decided to try for crappie and big bluegills on the submerged levee tops first. Working a couple of hundred yards of levee tops in three places indicated fewer fish than had been using the levees over the past few weeks. Whether that was true, or not, we did not find that many fish in these locations. Some big crappie and bluegills were present, but not in large numbers. We are awaiting the crappie to start to bunch up in preparation for the late-February spawn and they usually do this when the cold fronts start to drop the water temperatures. So, this may be why the fish had left the levees.
Our next stop was the south end of the Farm to look for bass. This was very successful and resulted in some great fishing. Plus, we discovered an important piece of information. We took advantage of a southeasterly breeze to push our boat out over the wood. Accordingly, we went back into that submerged timber (to the south) a bit further than usual and then let the wind push us out towards the open water. One of my first casts with the Rattlin’ Rap resulted in a huge bass that ate my lunch!! She was just uncontrollable and wound up getting down in the wood. It sure got my blood going good! As we drifted further, Derrell popped two nice fish on the Rap, while I had another at 3 lbs.
Once we cleared the majority of the wood, we noted that ALL the fish had come way back to the south. So, for our second drift, we took the boat back further into the southern wooded area. Sure enough, we picked up a number of good bass again on this drift and they were all well back into the wood. It was starting to look like the bass were moving to the very shallow areas in preparation for the spawn (which runs late December to mid-February in the Farm 13/Stick Marsh). This movement to the shallows happens every year at about the same time, so we who fish the impoundment regularly recognize it when it shows up.
On our next drift, we went even further back to the south, with the boat hanging on stumps with regularity. Plus, the Raps got hung a good bit, too! However, they also got hung on bass lips a lot, as well. As I was releasing a fish, I happened to see a whole school of bass come up chasing baitfish about 50 yards from us! It was directly in our line of drift. Looking around the breaking area, I marked two stumps for reference so I could stop and fish exactly where the fish broke. I told Derrell that, if there were some grass trying to grow in that spot, it might be why the baitfish were there. Plus, the grass would hold the bass and baitfish in that same spot. Those baitfish need that grass to hide in and get away from the predators.
Sure enough, the school of bass was right there when we got to it. We did not note any evidence of grass growth. But, there was a very heavy amount of old logs and stumps underwater. The school was quite large and the average fish was 3-3.25 lbs. Some were larger, one of which ripped Derrell a new one before spitting the Rap back at him! It was such a good school that we anchored the boat and caught them for 30 minutes. At the start of this fishing spree, the school was large enough that we caught 2-at-a-time on the Rattlin’ Rap and Rat-L-Trap sometimes.
The information gleaned this day was valuable. It told us the bass schools were moving way back into the shallows for spawning (they will break up into smaller groups and singles as they reach desirables locations in the prime spawning zones). It also said that baitfish are plentiful back in that wood and that we should be attentive for any action or movement.
Day 3 caught us by surprise. We had intended to fish a few shiners for fun and then go back to the shallow south end of the Farm for bass using artificials. But, Mother Nature pulled a fast one on us and the winds started up at 15-20 MPH out of the northwest. That completely blew out the south end of the Farm and made it impossible to hold the boat. We noted the pumphouse running on the Farm’s east wall. But, those same NE winds made it impossible to hold a boat there. So, we went to the big spillway in the SE corner of the Farm. Remarkably, not another boat was there. We set the shiners out, only to find a few catfish and one skinny bass. I moved the boat a short piece to a different position with about the same results. We tried another position and put the shiners out free-line style. That didn’t do much either. Finally, I moved the boat where we could put the shiners into some deeper water. Boy, did that do the trick. I don’t think there was any water coming through the spillway. If it was, it was just a bare trickle. But, there were bass there and they ate the rest of the shiners like candy. Even with high winds, we managed to salvage the day with some fine catching!!
So, ya'll come on down and enjoy some of this warm weather and great fishing. The bass will be fine, unless the winds blow the impoundment out for a couple of days. The Farm 13/Stick Marsh bass are still plentiful and BIG and ready. If the weather gets rough, Garcia is still a great fishery!! The crappie can be hit-or-miss right now. But, by mid-January, they will be bunched and a lot easier to catch. Then, as mid-February rolls around, they will be hot to spawn and it will really become super fishing!
8 December 07
 Mike and Marc Boucher brought their Dad, Will, to fish with us as a kind of 70th birthday gift. This was a trip with the wind blowing us a bit. We went to Farm 13 and took a few fish. But, the winds started to roll us and the water was a bit dirty. So, we decided to go and fish a protected area with a somewhat poor-looking vegetation line. Most anglers pass the spot by, looking for more ‘fishy’ waters. But, I have found the location to be excellent at times, as it appears to be a movement route. It also helps that the bottom in covered with the remains of old orange trees that once stood there!!
Setting the shiners out to swim, we sat and waited. Then, we waited some more. Finally, we waited longer. I have seen it start slowly in that location in the past, so I kept telling the guys to have faith. When the bass come along this grass-line and find shiners, they will stop and we’ll catch a bunch. I sure hoped that would happen, too. You can never tell about fishing, or they would call it ‘catching’ instead.
 Suddenly, it started. The first two big blow-ups on the shiners were missed hooksets. Then, we started to connect. Will got a couple of small bass and then Marc got a big old girl on. She ran him from one end of the boat to the other, with Marc trying to keep her out of anchor ropes. Soon, she came to the net. Then, Mike got into the act with some 3-4 pound fish. Will caught a bass every so often, too, but just could not get a bite from that giant bass.
Normally, the ‘Mudfish Hole’ brings bites from more mudfish, gar and catfish than anything else. But, this time, we could raise a strike from anything. For 20 minutes we let those shiners vacation back there, without a care in the World, it seemed. As the sun turned red in the west, I took in and stowed two of the three shiner rods, leaving Mike with his until the last minute. Just as I got the rods put in place, Mike grunted and said he had one. And she was a good one, at about six pounds. Sure enough, the ‘last minute magic’ had befriended us again. It’s sure better to be lucky than good! Always keep a shiner or lure very wet at all times and there is always a chance!!
10 December 07
This trip was with Bryan Robb and his lovely wife-to-be, Tamara Forrest. From Ontario, Canada, these two kids were enjoying the Florida sunshine and the balmy 80 degree days as they played ‘tourist’ and visited Bryan’s Mother.
 We started at ‘Jim’s Magic Stump’ at the south end of the Farm (not to be confused with ‘Stan’s Magic Stump’ in the Nursery; mine has a fork on it). Things went slowly, and then the bass started to come. Shiners were blown up into the air and caught by the bass as they came back down. Tamara got a couple of big bass, while Bryan seemed to be afflicted by the ‘little bass’ curse.
When the bite tapered off, we decided to move and try another wooded area. As I pulled up the front anchor, the wind changed a bit and brought the sound of a diesel engine running. Scanning around, I realize that the sound was coming from the Farm 13 pumphouse. So, I decided to go by and see if there was any current flow. Boy, that turned out to be a good move. The water flow was only slight, but it was apparently enough to bring the bass in. Anchoring the boat off to the side of the moving water, I rigged up some free-lined shiners for each angler. Tamara, at that time, was running away with all the big bass catches. But, that would soon change dramatically.
 As the free-swimming shiners made their way out into the current flow, bass would eventually find them. There were not hoards of bass, as there sometimes are on moving water. But, there were enough that we had a steady flow of action. Strangely, we seemed to have few strikes from catfish and mudfish that usually use moving water location a lot. Both anglers started to catch solid 3-4 pound fish. Then, Bryan started to come on strong with the larger bass. It must have been boat positioning that gave him the edge. We never did make it to that other location, as the moving water produced bass until the shiners were gone and the sun was low.
12 and 14 December 07
 David and Beng Spletzer hail from that cold state of New Jersey and were down vacationing (and thawing out) for a week. In-between theme park visits and outlet mall excursions, the couple made time for a couple of outings with us. The weather was nice for them during their stay. But, the day they flew home, the big snowstorm hit the Northeast. I hope their delays were short.
Our first day out found us stopping on a submerged levee in the north section of Farm 13. This pair of anglers wanted to try some crappie and bluegill, as well as bass on the trip. We would soon find out that this was to be ‘Beng’s Big Day’!!
I gave each a light spinning outfit with 6-lb. test Fireline on it and rigged with a cinnamon/chartreuse tail PERFECT Jig. With the winds very light, it was easy to control the position of the boat so both could work the jig slowly across the top of the levee. We fished along about a 150-yard stretch, finding plenty of bluegills and a few crappie. Using marker buoys, we marked the places we caught crappie and then concentrated on those levee locations. Beng suddenly got a strike and her rod just kept bending over and down. I could tell it was something big, so I grabbed the net and moved to her side. From the pull on the line and rod, I expected to see a big catfish. But, it turned out to be the first 3-pound crappie of the year!! Wow, what a whopper.
 But, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. A little later, we boated the largest shellcracker I have ever seen. It weighed 2.4-pounds and dwarfed any others we have caught. It was so huge as to defy the imagination. A couple of weeks before, Stan Daniel and I had caught some around 1.5 –lbs. In a report below, we showed one that was as big as my hat. But, this fish was way, way above those in size. Man, alive. The Farm 13/Stick Marsh sure grows big fish of all kinds.
From there we went to the Farm 13 pump station. It was running, but the water was moving only slightly. A few fish were there and went on the shiners quickly. In addition to the free-lined shiners, I also put one out under a bobber. Sure enough, they ate the bobbered shiner, too. In fact, David blew off a giant bass on the bobber rig right near the boat. It may well have been the big bass of the trip.
 Our next stop was at the south end of the Farm, over submerged wood. Setting out the shiners, we waited for about 30 minutes with no action. Then, the strikes started to come. It was not fast action, but just enough that you could not take an eye off the shiners. Beng seemed to have the ‘charmed’ end of the boat at this location. While the bass were nearly all 3-pounds, or better, Bend was averaging closer to 4-lbs. Then, she got the ‘big bite’. A monster blew up on the shiner! She went down to a tight line, set the hook well, and somehow missed the fish completely. Since Beng said she never felt any contact on the hookset, I think the big bass spit the shiner out. Quickly baiting her up again, we put the shiner back in the same location. 10 seconds passed and BANG, the giant bass went on Beng’s hapless shiner again. This time, though, she hooked him perfectly. The huge bass’s surges stood the slight girl up on her feet trying to hold on. But, she kept the big bass’s head up and out of the wood just fine. After a couple of passes across the front of the boat and one near an anchor rope, 10 lbs. 4 oz. of fine looking pre-spawn bass came to the net. With a flawless complexion and a giant, protruding belly, the big old gal was a prime example of a giant Florida largemouth.
After a few more good fish, the action slowed and we decided to go look at a final spot for crappie. This location was not intended to be for giant crappies, but just to anchor and fish minnows under bobbers for fun. I only think six were caught. Not much fun in that. We called it a day and went in.
 Our second day found us eliminating other species from our plan and gunning for just bass. In particular, we were after a giant bass for David. Stopping first at the pump station, we found it running with a pretty good current. And, we hooked into 8-10 good fish very quickly. Everyone got fish in the 4 and 5 pound range. Then, it seemed to just stop. Possibly, the baitfish moved off the spot and the bass followed them.
So, we went to the location at the south end of the Farm where Beng had caught the giant bass the day before. The fish were not as numerous and the strikes far between. They were good, solid bass. But, it was slow. So, we moved the boat 100 feet to another big log pile location. Here, we had the same action – a few good fish, but a good wait between strikes. We went back to the pump house spot, only to find it still barren.
So, it was off to the spot where we had successfully taken the Bouchers a few days before. It was a terrible looking place, but the bass seem to like it. Setting the shiners out, we got no action for perhaps 15 minutes. Then, as we were talking about some obscure subject, we all heard an explosion as a bass broke the surface. It turned out to be a strike on Beng’s shiner, which had swam almost back to the front of the boat. It caught us all unawares, but the young lady got her act together and landed the fine 6-lb. fish.
The action gradually heated up some and David started to get 3-lb bass with a little regularity. But, we still did not have a really big bass for him. Plus, we only had about 15 minutes of daylight left. I was giving it my ‘have faith’, ‘keep the shiner wet’, and ‘last minute heroics’ speech, when something ate David’s shiner all at once. No warning and no shiner action to this one. Just a sudden strike and a bobber flying down out of sight. David let the fish clear some floating trash and then set back hard. Man oh, man. It had happened again. It was the biggest largemouth David had ever caught!! I am again amazed!!
1 December 2007
Well, well. We managed to locate some of the giant crappie in Farm 13! But, it is difficult to do and they may not be in that location the next day. In addition to the crappie being in these locations, they are also teeming with giant bluegill and shellcrackers. These two that Stan Daniel is holding weigh about 2.2-lbs. There are no eggs yet. These are just BIG crappie!!each.
Now, here is what we found and how we did it.
If you read our last fishing report (25 Nov.), we wrote the following, “The only ‘constant’ we noted was that most of the crappie came near a levee of a north/south canal (no one in particular, just near any levee).”
This week, we decided to see if this levee relationship had any merit.
We took some minnows and the reliable PERFECT Jig and headed over to the north end of the Farm. Our first trial was along the northern half of the center submerged north/south canal. We kept the boat just outside the levee and dragged the minnows, while also tossing the cinnamon, w/chartreuse tail, jig parallel to the levee. After 45 minutes, we had caught two small bluegill on the jig and a channel cat on a minnow. We decided to switch tactics slightly and positioned the boat INSIDE the trace of the canal. Again, we dragged the minnows and tossed the jig down the deeper water inside the canal. Again, we didn’t do much of anything.
Moving to a location more up towards the north end of that canal (there is a big log lodged right at the north end, so be careful in that area), we started our drift inside the canal again. This time, I began pitching the little PERFECT Jig up ON TOP of the levees on each side of the canal. The deeper water of the canal still produced nothing with the minnows. BUT, all at once, the jig starting being eaten by huge crappie and bluegill! Then, there was a huge shellcracker that went on it. Taking stock of what was happening, it appeared that the fish were hitting the jig as it bumped the shallow top of the levees (the water is presently 4-5 feet deep over the levees). They occasionally hit the jig when it was just in a slow ‘swimming mode’, but the strikes increased dramatically when the jig was allowed to bump along the bottom (sort of like a slow, steady Carolina Rig).
What you need to understand at this point is that the tops of the submerged levees are very hard and very clean. This is because of two things: 1) For years, these levees were on an active farm and dry and they baked in the sun for years; and, 2) The wind-induced water currents wash back and forth across these levees, pushing silt and other residue off into the deeper adjacent water. If you will recall, this is precisely why shellbeds grow on high spots – water currents keep them free of silt/sediment so they won’t smother.
I pulled the minnows in and then positioned the boat right on top of the eastern-side levee. This allowed me to cast the jig straight down the levee, keeping it in the productive zone for the entire retrieve. It was awesome fishing. Just plain fun. But, I was catching maybe one crappie for every dozen big bluegill/shellcrackers caught. In one location was seemed to have a bunch of fish present, I anchored the boat so I could feed minnows out under bobbers on top of the levee. That reduced the bluegill action and tripled the crappie catch. Plus, it eventually provided 8 nice channel cats, too. I culled crappie for awhile and then headed in to clean fish.
 That night, I called fellow guide Stan Daniel about what I had found. It did not take much arm-twisting to get him to meet me at the ramp the next morning. (Stan is an excellent bass guide. But, he also just loves to catch those crappie and bluegill. That’s something to look for when searching for a great guide – someone who truly LOVES to fish. Don’t forget that).
When we got down on the levee area, we found zillions of bluegill still ready to zap a jig. There were lots for small ones that day. But, there was also a LOT of giants, along with some truly stupendous shellcrackers. A couple of the shellcrackers actually weighed 1.5 lbs. on my scale. That B-I-G-G-G-G! One was as large as my hat. Another went from 3-inches BELOW Stan’s fingertips to well above his wrist. Awesome.
 We had to work at isolating the right section of levee. But, we finally go a couple of markers down on either side of a concentration of big crappie. Six of the bunch we caught went 2-lbs, or better.
Yesterday, I took Lou Daniels to catch some of these fish. We started very slowly. There were lots of small fish, but the giants appeared to have thinned out. Of course, we had been there filling the freezer for two days and that may have had something to do with it. Lou and I moved to the south on the center canal, nearly down to the big east/west canal. Working back north, we still did not find the big mass of giant fish. There were lots and lots of small ones all along the canal levee, however. We switched over to the next submerged canal to the east of the Farm. There were lots of fish there, too, and we managed a few more crappie. Finally, we moved to one of my reliable crappie spots. Stan and I had fished it the day before with very limited success. But, this day, the crappie were stacked in there and we limited in about an hour.
Such are the trials and tribulation of fishing. Can we catch those fish exceptionally well tomorrow? It is hard to say. They are definitely using those levees, but you have to search them out. The way I see it, it takes precise boat control and an ability to fish the jig in the appropriate manner. It is not a haphazard ‘cast it out and they just jump in the boat’ thing. You must be very deliberate about the approach. Once you find them, though, it’s ‘Katie, bar the door!’
Looking at Garcia, the waters have cleared well and that canal from Garcia to the Farm 13 spillway is fishable now. The big blockages of dead vegetation mats are still there, but all the loose floating debris is gone. Bass will go foe shiners near pad fields and when dragged over submerged grass. They will also go after the soft jerk bait, especially when rigged ‘wacky style’ and fished over submerged grass. Lake Washington, west of Melbourne, continues to produce lots of crappie to those drifting minnows or trolling jigs and Beetle Spins. Stan Daniel went to Lakes Kissimmee and Hatchineha recently and noted lots of big crappie at 8 feet over grass growing at 10 feet. They were reported easy to catch by drifting minnows over the submerged grass.
25 November 2007
The past 7 days of fishing (and sitting out strong winds, plus Turkey Day) have shown a number of interesting things.
First, that dark water in Farm 13 continues unabated. It just will not clear up. Now, I may be overstating what has become the ‘normal’ versus what it was ‘post-2004 hurricanes’. In most places, this really dark water shows little sign of suspended particulate/sediment. I dipped some of the water up in a glass jar and it actually looked clean. But, it was very dark. Dark water in Florida is usually indicative of residue from decaying vegetation and, particularly, tannic acid from cypress trees. Tannic acid usually results in a reddish tint to the water. In the case of Farm 13, the water is so dark it is difficult to note any red.
There may be some merit to noting that the Garcia canal, which runs from Garcia Lake to the spillway at the SE corner of Farm 13, is actually plugged in two place with heavy mats of dying and decayed vegetation. As the decay process goes on, the matter starts to turn into muck and mud, creating a solid surface mat of up to 1-2 feet thick. One block is at the 90-degree turn halfway down the canal. The other (see the photo), and most serious, is a good 100 yards long and entirely blocks the upstream side of that spillway into Farm 13. The water color in that lower portion of the blocked canal in dirty and smells of major decay. Even with that gate shut off, there is always some water seepage around it. That may be what is serving to keep the basin below the spillway dirty all the time and also adding dirty water to the entire Farm 13 basin.
These blockages have the effect of creating a very serious problem when it becomes necessary to open that spillway and drain water from the Garcia impoundment. I truly believe the potential is high for the huge masses of decayed vegetation to permanently block that spillway. I don’t know if that could damage it, or not. I expect it would make it impossible to close the gate once opened, though. My guess is Garcia will drain down very low while the St. Johns Water Management folks bring in some heavy equipment to try and dig the mess out of the spillway. You will probably be able to write-off any fishing opportunities in the basin below the spillway for some time, too.
Unfortunately, this mess comes from well-intended actions of spraying aquatic vegetation to keep waterways open. The mistake was (as it often has been) spraying when it was unnecessary. Plus, this time, it would appear that excessive spraying and vegetation kills occurred. No one thought about what would happen to all that dead plant life. Well, those two major blocks, plus the potential for serious consequences downstream, may be the results.
 Off the soapbox and back to fishing ---
We went out in all that dark water and drifted minnows at 7 feet across the north end of Farm 13. We actually caught 10, or so, with 5-6 being those giants we like to see. But, it took us 4 long hours of drifting to do it. The only ‘constant’ we noted was that most of the crappie came near a levee of a north/south canal (no one in particular, just near any levee). We tried to investigate this using the depthfinder to keep us on a levee and tossing the PERFECT Jig at them. That only produced 1 small crappie. But, we found that if we actually dragged the jig on the surface of the top of the levee, we could catch a LOT of giant bluegills and shellcrackers. It was a bit like fishing a Carolina Rig for bass. We added a split shot 8-10 inches above the jig and actually dragged it along on the bottom. Fishing seems strange at times!!
Until it got so full of floating debris, the canal between Garcia and Farm 13 still produced crappie. Look for 14 feet of water and fish at 10 feet deep.
Lake Washington is still reporting good crappie catches, though the fish are not as large as those in Farm 13. The north end with minnows or jigs at 3-5 feet has been the ticket.
 Yesterday, we hosted Terry Miller (Baltimore, MD) and his father-in-law, Lee Fleishman, from Davenport, FL. Terry had been out with us before and knew that we sure catch a LOT of bass in the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment. I had forewarned the guys of the dark water and ‘iffy’ conditions, but they were raring to go. So, with shiners in the well, we ventured into the unknown for a half day of fishing (and, we hoped, catching!!).
We actually went 2 full hours without as much as a strike. But, knowing the waters intimately gave us a big advantage. We knew one area of clean water and had caught fish there well a couple of weeks earlier (with Bob Clark and Mike Esposito; see trip report below). Floating the shiners out in that location, we got to keep on waiting for a strike. 15 minutes went by and the shiners were doing the backstroke and just on vacation. 30 minutes passed and I had to wake Lee up. It was that exciting! 45 minutes came and Lee got a hard strike – a big blow-up on the shiner. He missed it. Then, Tim got the same type strike and missed his. A few minutes later, the strikes started coming. Then, they came faster. And, faster!! I got caught trying to hook a new shiner and having to stop and grab the net numerous times. It was good there were only 2 fishermen aboard. I would have never kept up with 3.
When our four dozen shiners finally ran out, it was close to dark. 22-23 bass had made it to the net. There were no giants in the crowd, with Lee having one that pushed 5 pounds being on top. But, a really nice thing was that nearly all the bass were 3 to 4 pounds, a truly fine average size. Even for a windy day with a lot of dirty water around. Plus, we got our egos stroked at the ramp when other bass anglers reported not even getting a strike!
17 November 2007
 The Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment was still very dirty as of three days ago. Fishing is poor under those conditions. All the people I spoke with indicated little action. I would forget it until possible the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Today (Saturday, 17 Nov) was calm and, if we get a couple of more days of low winds, it may clear up. I spoke with 3 or 4 of the black guys who are down there regularly and they all said it was nearly zero crappie/specks, too.
Now, the good part.
I went to Lake Washington three times in the past 10 days. Twice alone and once with a party. The crappie are willing and ready in this St. Johns River headwaters lake. But, they are not as big as the Farm 13/Stick Marsh giants we have come to enjoy. I worked the North end of the lake, based on some guidance I had from Bill Sargent. (Bill recent retired from his position as the Outdoor Editor of the Florida Today newspaper and is getting more fishing time now.) I worked water that the depth finder says was 6-7 feet (that is really 7-8 feet based on the depth the transducer is in the water). Drifting minnows at 5-6 feet deep brought a lot of activity. The winds blew a bit, so I used a good bit of weight to keep the bait down. Also, ‘power trolling’ with jigs and Beetle Spins worked, too You have to move the artificials at a decent rate of speed and on enough line to get them down 4-6 feet.
I fished about 3 hrs by myself and 4 hours with customers (old friends Earl and Theda Cagle from Alaska) for 22 to 45 keepers, on the average. Again, they are not as big as the Farm 13/Stick Marsh fish. But, they were fine for table fare.
I also went to Garcia twice and fished crappie. The borrow pit area did not work for me. The water is high in Garcia and the visible grass is gone on the high spots. So, I could not tell shallow from deep water and had trouble staying in the deeper zones of the pit effectively.
I went into the canal between Garcia and the Farm 13 spillway and drifted minnows in the open water. The first trip, Stan Daniel and I located some in 12-14 feet of water, holding at a depth of 6-10 feet. A couple of days later, with the winds blowing pretty hard, I went back to that canal. It provides an excellent windbreak and is easy to fish in bad weather. This time, I loaded the boat pretty well. I found an area about 50 yards long that had water from 14-18 feet deep. Again, using minnows, I drifted bait at 9-10 feet successfully. However, when I got into the 15-18 foot areas, it was better to drop the minnows to 12 feet (crappie are fairly depth-oriented critters). I found the deeper crappie to be much larger, so I stayed within the bounds to that deeper water.
Both with Stan and when I was there alone, it was noted that staying to the south side of the canal, right close to the drop from the submerged flat, was best. Also, a few crappie would come to the PERFECT Jig if we let it slowly drop down the side of the drop from that flat to the deep water.
We had reports from local guide, Randy Sanders, that he had done well on bass in Garcia using jerk baits, worms and Horny Toad topwaters. But, he indicated in was only in certain locations and did tend to vary from day to day. Randy is as good as anyone who fishes Garcia, so we pay attention to what he says.
 For you bass anglers, take note that the canal from Garcia to the Farm 13 spillway is also a great place to free-line shiners for bass to 8-pounds. (There are bigger ones, I am sure. But, 8-pounds is the best we have done.) We even took Doug Stange and the IN-FISHERMAN TV crew in there last year successfully when Farm 13 was dirty. We fished it two ways. First, we just anchored along the shoreline reeds and free-lined the shiners out into the main part of the canal. Our second approach was to drag the shiners behind the boat using planing boards to keep the shiners in close to the vegetation, while the boat stayed out in the open water.
I have since found a much better device than a planing board with which to control the positioning of the trolled shiners. It is called a ‘Bullet Bobber’. The name is actually a misnomer, in that it is not really a bobber (although it has a similar shape). It is what I would call a ‘lure/bait positioning and control device’. For shiners, the X-Large, 4-inch model is best. I will post a picture of the device with this report. Also, here is the web site for the device. Go take a look at this truly innovative invention:
http://www.bulletbobber.com
If you use clumsy planing boards for your fishing, you will really like the Bullet Bobber. It has the ability to plane either right or left, as you choose. And, you can change the direction with the flick of the wrist. You don’t even have to bring the rig to the boat to do so. Talk about neat!!
Starting tomorrow, we are going into a search mode for the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 impoundment crappie and bass. We’ll let you know what we find.
4 November 2007
 This report will cover the fall turn-on of smallmouths and spotted bass in the North Carolina reservoirs and the present fishing situation in Florida.
It was a long time coming, but fall conditions finally made it to NC. After an unseasonably warm summer in the NC mountains, an unseasonably warm introduction to fall came along. Normally, it is expected that the summer disappears and fall starts in September. This year, it did cool down a bit around 10 September, but it never did get really cool until around 20 October. That was a 1.5-month delay, with the cool down being very gradual. The question we consider is if ‘global warming’ is a reality.
 The gradual cool down, though, did wonders for the fishing in the high reservoirs such as Hiawassie, Burton, Blue Ridge, Nottley and Chatuge. With the waters very low due to local drought conditions, we were able to target good structure easily. The blow-down seen in the picture (now 40 feet out of water!) was a great location for both smallmouths and largemouths back in May and June. Now, it is a bit too 'shallow' for them.
 The gradual weather cooling caused a similar gradual transition of the fish to their fall feeding binge patterns. Smallmouths and Kentucky Spotted Bass all go on a major feeding spree when the high reservoir waters cool to 65-70, and it continues until the water gets down to 50 degrees. There is a LOT of surface action, as the baitfish school out over deep water and the bass coming to pick them off. We saw 20-30 bass in 4-5 hours normally. Most were 1.5 to 2 pounds on the average. But, we did run across a few 3-4 pound fish. Our best lure for the breaking fish was a fluke rigged with a treble hook trailer. We would never miss a strike when using the treble add-on hook. Fishing out over 40 feet of open water meant we’d never run a chance of getting hung up, so the treble was great.
The next best lure was, remarkably, the Swimming Worm. We found the bass were chasing the baitfish up onto shallow flats and bars adjacent to deep water. So, we figured the bass must have been holding just off the flats over the deeper areas and waiting for the baitfish to come by. We simply ran the Swimming Worm at about 4-5 feet, very slowly and parallel to the drop from the flats to the deep zones. It worked great.
 Returning to Florida recently (and when the NC temperature got below freezing a couple of mornings in a row!!!), we found a late tropical storm cum Hurricane named Noel heading at us. Talk about not being able to win. But, a high pressure pushing a good cold front into Florida steered Noel out to sea. We did have about 6 days of rain and 30-40 MPH winds from Noel. However, it turned out that the east and northeast winds were from directions that did not mess up the Stick Marsh/farm 13 badly. We had a guide party scheduled for Friday, 2 November, and it was ‘iffy’ as to whether we could make the trip safely and effectively.
 We pre-fished on Tuesday and Thursday, finding the winds horrific, but the water not too dirty. Working some sheltered areas, we actually did very well.
Any ideas that the numbers and sizes of bass in the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment have been depleted are just untrue. Stan Daniel recently took our old regular customer, Bill Molen, from Florida's west coast. Bill brought his Father-in-Law, Russell and said he wanted Russell to 'catch the giant fish'. Stan and the bass cooperated beautifully, with 30+ bass being caught, including Russell's 11 lb. 4 oz. giant!!
On Tuesday, we only hooked 12 bass. We used the Swimming worm as a slow 'sreach and tease' lure and then a deep Fat Free Shad in front of the pump station. One minute it was blue skies and the next another of Noel's rain bands moved through. But, you could see the rain coming, so it was easy to grab a FroggToggs and stay dry. The rain and low light at times messed up some of the pictures (see the one where the orange rain suit is saving my skinny tail from being washed away!!) we tried to take with the automatic timer, just not having enough light to focus properly. On Thursday, we caught well over 20 bass (with a 7 and an 8-pounder at the top end) and then about 40 crappie (PERFECT Jig, Hot Momma color). With high hopes, we advised our party members, Bob Clark and Mike Esposito, that we were optimistic about a successful trip. They were ready to go, rain or shine, so it was decided we’d give it a try.
Friday found Tropical Storm Noel at near hurricane strength, but turning away from Florida and out into the Atlantic Ocean. That was the good part. The bad part was that the 3-40 MPH winds shifted to the NW and North and blew straight down into the Stick Marsh and the farm 13 impoundments. The winds also blew out our successful fishing location of the previous days. On top of that, it dirtied the water terribly.
Never give, the man said. So, Bob, Mike and I ventured out into the 3-foot swells and pounding wind to try and harelip a bass. Fishing in the brunt of the wind, we managed 3 fish. What a bummer. Dirty water, getting beat to death by the wind and waves, and no fish. What luck!! The only protected place left was the ‘Back 40’, the shallow area to the north of the boat ramp and along the canal that carries water to the exit gate of the impoundment.
 We got a bit drenched by the high waves and winds running back to the ramp area. But, we found the back 40 reasonable stable. With all the summer rains, the impoundment is now full of water and the back 40 is at normal level. Trying to recall where certain brush piles and structure features were in the Back 40, we laid out two anchors and floated shiners over where we though the fish might be. I still say I am the luckiest fisherman I know! The first place we stopped turned a pot load of bass, up to 5-pounds!! It was like a feeding holiday, with bass chasing and blowing up shiners all over the place. Those surface blow-ups are what really make shiner fishing great! Talk about falling into it and coming up smelling like a rose. Bob and Mike burned up nearly all the shiners in that one location.
We tried a couple of other locations in the back area to no avail.
 Then, we went to what Stan Daniel and I reverently call ‘The Mudfish Hole’. This mucky, shallow ‘nothing’ of a spot has turned a LOT of big bass for Stan and I when the main impoundment waters were muddy. It saved many a fishing trip for us. We don’t know why the bass are there at times, but it always seems to turn a good one, or two (sometimes a LOT more, too!). Mike had maybe five blow-ups on his shiner, but never had the fish take the bait sufficiently to get hooked. Mike had some chase his around and not take the shiners, too. I suspect they were catfish or mudfish. But, their surface blow-ups sure looked like bass. Eventually, Bob got one to take his shiner. It was not a giant bass, but we were happy with whatever we caught this rough day.
When the dust finally settled (and the rains passed on), Bob and Mike had managed enough action and fish caught to use up five dozen shiners. When we looked back at the day, there were actually a LOT of bass caught. One went five pounds and the rest 3-4 pounds. Not bad at all for a storm day with high winds.
27-28 April 2007
Tom Benson is an old friend. He and I worked in the Defense Industry at Harris Corporation for a lot of years and shared a boat on occasion. Tom called early in 2007 and booked two days, one for bass and one for crappie. It was some exciting fishing, with a few twists and turns along the way. It also turned out to be our last guide trips until next Fall.
 With the Stick Marsh in a pretty dirty condition due to the winds, I elected to go for crappie the first day. Plus, I talked Tom into going to Garcia Reservoir for them. Yep, the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 impoundment has a lot of giant crappie in it. And, we caught about 1500 of them between November '06 and April '07. But, one of the best-kept secrets around our area is that Garcia has a tremendous population of them, too. In fact, Garcia has an excellent population of bass and giant bluegills, as well. While the Garcia bass do not average as large as those from the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 waters, the size and densities of the crappie and bluegill from its waters is quiet possibly better.
So, Tom and I took a pair of little PERFECT Jigs (cinnamon, w/chartreuse tail) swimming.
The key to the big crappie and larger bass of the ultra-shallow Garcia Reservoir lies in fishing the deepest water you can find. Outside of the canal connecting Garcia to Farm 13, the deepest water is the big borrow pit on the west-central side of the impoundment. In that pit, the depths range from 8-12 feet at the present drought condition. There are a number of shallow places in the pit, which are easily identified by the vegetation topped out over and around them. Large bass key to the vegetation near deep water. The crappie, being basically a school fish, key to the open water depths and the edges of the vegetation. Bluegill, meanwhile, can be found just about anywhere there is vegetation, around the pit or in the shallows.
We started working the jig slowly around the vegetation lines of the borrow pit, looking to find active feeding crappie. Our back-up plan was to drift the deeper open water in the pit, if necessary. Fortunately, we never had to leave the vegetation. While the crappie were not in or up against the vegetation, we did find them quickly at about six feet deep and 8-10 feet OUT FROM the grass. And, being that far off the edges of the grass, they were actually in schools. Catch one and you could catch 6-12 in the same spot. And, boy, were a lot of those Garcia crappie giants!!
As we worked our way around, we started to encounter a lot of GIANT bluegill. In each instance, the huge bluegill were near the shallow water and concentrated within a small area. Plus, they were extremely aggressive. This was a clear indication that they were starting to bed. I switched us off to the chartreuse body, w/red tail PERFECT Jig, which was specifically designed for bluegill and shellcrackers and just got the end of the rods literally eaten off. Many of the panfish actually weighed 1.5 pounds, which made for some great fishing fun.
 The next day found TOM and I starting at the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 impoundment. We were after giant bass, so we decided to see if the waters had cleared enough to fish. Garcia was close by, so we could always pack up and move, if need be.
We didn't 'need be'.
While not clear, the water at the south end of Farm 13 was clean and had a visibility of about 18 inches down. That was fishable water. However, it did not fit artificials well, so we went with shiners. 'Old Lucky Tom' pulled off his big bass trick again, too. It seems that every time I fish with Tom, he gets a giant bass.
These two days were a fine way to end the season!!
18-19 April 2007
 Phil Couey was another Harris Corporation employee whom I had known in earlier times. He knew I was running the guide business and was pretty good at fishing. So, when his brother, Joe, decided to travel from Wisconsin to Florida for a visit, Phil called to book a couple of afternoons of bass and crappie.
When the time came for the Coueys and I to go out, the winds had utterly destroyed the Stick Marsh. The water was the color of chocolate milk, not to mention the water was down to a dangerous low level. So, we opted for Garcia.
 Our first day was devoted to crappie. Using the little cinnamon, w/blue tail PERFECT Jig, we proceeded to start along the grass lines of the big borrow pit on the west-central side of Garcia. For whatever reason, the crappie were everywhere there was a drop-off with grass along the edges of the pit. It most cases, the panfish appeared to be positioned right against the edges of the grass at about three feet of depth. Lots and lots of crappie came to the boat. Once we realized how great the fishing was going to be, we started releasing all small and mid-sized crappie. Just keeping the good ones, we finished up with 68 destined for the deep freeze.
The next day, we picked up a few shiners and headed back to Garcia. Bass were the intended target. Have you ever had a fishing trip where you caught the first fish immediately? We did that and I wish we hadn't. For some reason, when you get a good fish right off the bat, you don't catch anymore. It is a strange thing. But, it has happened to me more than once.
 Anchoring the boat, I baited up a shiner rod, tossed it out and handed the rod to Joe. Before I could get the second rod baited, Joe was fast onto a nice Garcia bass. And, it proved to be the last one for a few hours.
We fished all over, swimming those expensive shiners in all kinds of great places. Nothing happened. The shiners went on extended vacation without a care in the World. No bass, no catfish, no mudfish --- nothing bothered them. Finally, we managed to get bit a few times, but the bass were small. Then, Phil set the hook on what would be the big bass of the day. She was a nice, long old gal, but a bit on the thin side. That probably came from not eating enough shiners!!
11 April 2007
 I was at a point that I could not fish for a few days, so our buddy, Stan Daniel, took out a party for us.
Curt Slaton had called earlier and wanted to get his two kids out on the water for a day. He said the object was for the kids to catch fish and he didn't care what type. However, his son, Ben, had indicated that he wanted to catch a 'big bass'.
Stan later told me that they had a great time and that the kids were really happy. Plus, he sent me the pictures you see here. Then, I got a nice email from Curt about their day on the water with Stan. So, since I wasn't there, I think I will let Curt's email tell the story:
 "Jim: I want to thank you for arranging my day of fishing last Wednesday with "Stan the Man" (that is what my 7 yr old daughter Sally calls him!) We had a great time with Stan. He was great with the kids. My 10 yr old son, Ben, got one probably around 5 lbs but Stan can tell you of the hookup he had with a very large one that broke water so we could all see how big he was only to spit the hook. I think my son would still be there trying to catch that one if we would have let him! Caught a couple 6 lbers myself. All in all we had a great time and just wanted to thank you and Stan for fond memories. Fishing with your kids is truly one of my favorite things. You can't get much more quality time than that.
 Thanks again
Curt Slaton"
It doesn't get any better than fishing with kids. Do it right and let them have fun. It's wonderful.
Today's Weather for
the Stick Marsh Area
Past Stick Marsh Fishing Reports
Farm 13 / Stick Marsh Information Guide
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