JANUARY 2004

Submitted 1/28/04

 

Dan Mitas of Cicero, Indiana escaped the blustery cold of his home area and headed down to gather some of the warmth of the Sunshine state, and ply the waters of the Stick Marsh/Farm 13. He was originally scheduled to go last Friday but with a poor weather report of cold frontal passage and higher winds he opted to put his trip off until yesterday.  Armed with several types of bait including Senkos he arrived at the ramp at daylight and we departed for the south end of Farm 13.

On our web pages you will find the following statement under Guide Services:

Given weather conditions other than extreme we want to do what you want to do and Dan wanted to do artificial baits. His choice was an excellent one even though it was a bit breezy. Working Senkos in the wind requires good boat control and today took two drift socks to keep us slow and productive. Staying where we knew the fish were also paid off.

I have a diehard philosophy of never leave fish to find fish. I know, that when they decide not to bite this can be difficult to do, but if they aren't biting when you know they are there, than they aren't biting anywhere else either. Dan stood the trial well during those non-bite periods and proved himself a very accomplished fisherman throughout the day. The patience showed through and by days end we boated 21 bass to 4 pounds. Dan got one swing at a big gal during the day, but the hook did the wrong twist and popped free at the boat's edge. Two more feet and she would have probably weighed in as the leader in our big fish contest.

You still have from now till the end of April to book, catch the biggest fish, and win $2500.00. At the very least you get to sample some of Florida's "normally" good weather, get a bit of a tan, and catch lots of bass.

What can I say that hasn't been said about the Senko. This bait produced today when getting shiners bit was even difficult. If you're coming here and don't have some in your bag you are really selling yourself short. If you get here and don't have them you can go to Middleton's bait and tackle in Fellsmere and get them. Jeanne and Joe have a good stock to include the 7x Cut Tail, which is dynamite on these waters. As the saying goes, "Don't leave home without them"!

See you on the water. Say hi if you get the chance. Scott and I look forward to seeing you out here, and if you wish we will be more than glad to spend some time fishing with you.

Submitted 1/24/04

As I sit and review and compare the fishing and conditions of January 2003 to January 2004, I am amazed at their similarity. Last January we were bundled up for most of the month facing temperatures that went low enough to allow snow flurries in the area. This year we haven't gotten to that extreme but we have come close. Yesterday we found ice formed on the deck of the Hewes early in the AM.

The fishing last year through the month of January was primarily in the south end of the Farm and again this year we are finding the same thing. One pleasant respite this year over last year is the lack of Pickerel being found in the south end of the Farm. I think most of the Pickerel have located themselves in the spillway area as there seems to be no shortage attacking the shiners being offered in that area.

January of 2002 found most of the fishing and fish to be on the Stick Marsh side with some pretty spectacular results if you got your baits into the right area. This year there have been some sporadic catches on the Stick Marsh. Last week we did find some fish outside the palms in the NW area and some smaller bucks in the palms but this area has not given us anything consistent. Twin Palms, located in the middle east of the Marsh has not shown much but it is an area to watch for the upcoming spring spawn.

Shiner fishing in the spillway area has been producing some nice fish and some protection from the wind and cold over the last week. Gary Stevenson and Greg Witt of Sterling, Virginia joined Scott on the 20th for a day of shiner fishing, trying to stay warm and bracing against a brisk 15-25 MPH wind. Morning found them free-lining shiners in the spillway area, watching an unfortunate soul on another boat fall into the water, and then moving and trolling shiners in the south areas of the Farm. The days results were fair, but when taking weather into consideration they did quite well. A quick note on rigging the shiners: In the spillway area the bass are being found under and near floating hyacinth. Key to having success in there is putting the shiner out sans a float, and belly hooking the shiner to force it to swim down and forward. The hook is placed just above the anal fin. When out in the Farm trolling the shiners, use a float and hook the shiner in the lip. The hook enters through the bottom lip and comes out either nostril of the shiner.

On the 21st while cleaning boats we discovered a problem with the Mercury on the Nitro: water in the lower unit. Yikes! Fortunately Island Marine of Sebastian came to our immediate rescue and we had it back in time for our next trip which was the 24th.

Yesterday Jess Haynes and his friends Bryant and Neil arrived for some warm Florida fishing. They had driven down from Okatie, SC the night before and weren't quite prepared for the cold temperatures that greeted them a daylight. Temperatures in the 30's and a light wind made the ride to the spillway just a tad uncomfortable but these hardy youngsters were game and ready for getting the shiners wet and hauling in some Farm-sized bass. Fishing this area produced some nice bass for each and this lady that Bryant brought in helped to warm things up a bit:

Not to be outdone, Neil also picked this lady out the hyacinth:

From the spillway Scott moved over to the south end of the Farm and had moderate success trolling the shiners. By noon the temperatures climbed and the wind died so it actually got quite comfortable out their. The two 7-pound bass were the big fish for the day, and the guys headed back to SC early in the afternoon.

I spent the morning working the south area east of the center N/S ditch with Senkos. With the wind blowing at about 12 out of the NW and cold morning temps I found a group of fish that wanted to play and boated 18 bass by 8:30 AM including one 6-pound bass that put up quite a fight. At or around 8:30 it was as if someone threw a switch and the bite dropped off. I played around for another hour in the area and then went over to see how things were going in the spillway with Scott and crew. Things has also slowed down for them although I did see a couple of swings and misses, but they were probably only mud fish as the guys never miss bass.

Within 15 minutes of arriving back at the south end a bass hit my Senko as it hit the water and I boated a nice 8 pound bass. However, other that a couple more smaller fish that was my catch for the day.

If you want to have success here, get out the Senkos. If you want to know if they make a difference, and a second opinion read the results of this weeks FLW tournament on Okeechobee.

Hope to see you on the water. Say hi if you get the chance.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words: So here is 10,000 words to describe the Stick Marsh 1/11/04 - 1/18/04.

Henry Day 1/12/04

Jeff Caldwell 1/13/04

Kyle Garrison 1/17/04

Sean Garrison 1/17/04

Skip Strasser 1/17/04

Dad Donavan holding Sean's big fish 1/17/04

Gerty & Derek Moyer 1/18/04

Derek Moyer 1/18/04

Gerty 1/18/04

Andy Strickland 1/18/04

We did 14 trips over the 8 days and we caught a lot of fish. The beginning of the week was a bit slow with things picking up strongly through the weekend. On every day the artificial outperformed the shiners for numbers and the leading bait was the venerable Senko. However, wind and high skies made the shiner take the lead for size.

Fishing the Stick Marsh with artificial we found ladies leaving the NW corner up to 5 pounds but no big beauties in the boat. There were a couple suspect on, but the wood won the battle and fish went about their business none the worse for the trial.

The south end of the Farm remained slow for most of the week but turned on this afternoon big time. The last two hours of the trip were the highlight of the day with a bass coming on most casts. Again, the big performer was the Senko and color was the amber/core shot.

The road got hammered over the weekend and it is a washboard mess right now, but I would expect them to be grading it tomorrow. Between the volume of cars and the heavy rain today expect a bumpy trip in the AM.

See you on the water. Say hi if you get the chance.

Now this is a picture of a Hawg!

Lovely little Stick Marsh fish caught on a live shiner. Just under 13 pounds. (weighed)

Report for 1/1-10/2004

Water Temps: varying from low to upper 50's with surface temperatures reaching higher

Location: Most fish that are being caught are located on the south end of Farm 13. They are spread out from one side to the other but the best area seems to be located about midway and east.

Fish have ranged from small bucks to some big bass. We have used both shiners and artificial, and artificial leads as the biggest producer by a wide margin. The bait that has been the leader by far is the 5" Senko in any of the dark colors, however there does seem to be a preference to the watermelon shades. Fished weightless and worked slowly they have brought to the surface bass as big as 11.5 pounds. We have found many gals with bellies full of eggs and we have found others that have spawned.

The weather has been as unsteady over the last month and a half, but the last frontal passage left some relatively calm weather in it's path. The day of the front was really windy and we have more to come I am sure, but in there wakes you can definitely put some quality fish in the boat if you are in the right location and using the right baits.

There has been a lot of inquiries about the road conditions. Compared to years gone by the road is in very good shape. Those days of bone jarring washboard are a thing of the past. We still get washboard but not nearly as bad as it used to be. The dust however is still as bad if not worse that it used to be.

There has also been a lot of inquiries about area motels. Without getting into total recommendations let me give you some distances: Palm Bay to the Marsh: 19 miles. Vero Beach at I95 to the Marsh: 19 miles. 192 in Melbourne to the Marsh: 33 miles. There are good motels in Vero Beach, the Jamison in Palm Bay, and good motels at 192. The two mainstay motels of the past, Motel 6 in Palm Bay, and the Days Inn in Palm Bay are not recommended because of cleanliness and security of equipment.

We started this period with Tommy Collier from Jackson, Miss. who fished with us for three days. Tom hit the lull after the storm and the fishing reflected it. For most areas, Tom's catch would have been respectable, but for the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 fishing was off. Catches ranged from 15 on one day to just over 40 on the best.

This 25.5 X 19 inch lady came on day two, late in the day of day two on a weightless watermelon Senko. As you can see by the background we are not shore pounding. The fish are pretty much well off shore in and around the stumps and hydrilla. This lady weighed in at 11.5 on the Boga Grip and was gotten after some tricky moves through stumps and branches. The south end of Farm 13 is an area that has many stumps and lay downs and getting them up and moving can be critical to getting the bigger fish in.

Day three started out strong with this 7 pound bass coming aboard early. Again the watermelon Senko worked to seduce this lady out of her cover. I wish I could tell you to go to position X and target cover or structure Y to get these fish but that's not the key out here. These fish are being caught on the move as they go around and around this area surveying sites that the males have prepared for nesting. Lots of casts and the right cast are what is producing at this time.

Our next trip out was with Bill and Jim Vanderschalie from Walkersville, Maryland. The Senko was still holding as the bait of choice and Bill landed this fish working it slowly through the stumps and weeds.

Everyone got in on the action as the day progressed. The weather was fantastic except for the calm winds let the gnats get going. But when catching fish like the ones above the gnats aren't so terrible.

Scott and I did some scouting over the next couple of days but without anything new to add to the pot. There are some fish in the NW of the Stick Marsh, but the biggest we found there didn't go over a pound and a half. We checked Twin Palms and saw no sign of any fish in that area. Basically with very little weed growing, the Stick Marsh side doesn't seem to be a happening place at this time. On the Farm we checked all three N/S ditches, the SW area, and the south end of our westernmost N/S ditch. The only thing of note that we found was fish in the same area that we have been reporting about for the last few weeks. Weather brought on by cold fronts and its associated winds are going to be the determining factor of success. However, the waters of Stick Marsh/Farm 13 are still going to out-produce any of the other Florida lakes for both size and numbers.

I get a lot of questions about measuring fish and determining weight. Below is the "how to measure" directly from the Florida GFC. You cannot measure a fish being suspended in someone's hand accurately. Further, the measurement and formula is only an approximate method of weight determination. In order to determine the weight accurately you need a reliable scale. Once such scale is the Boga Grip, which is accurate enough to be able to be IGFA certified.

TOTAL LENGTH MEASUREMENT

 "Girth" is best measured with a fabric ruler, such as tailors use. It can also be determined by drawing a string around the fish at its widest point marking where the string overlaps and then measuring the distance between the overlapping points on a conventional ruler. The measurement should be taken perpendicular to the length of the fish.  This measurement is analogous to measuring the circumference of someone's waist.  Knowing the girth is important when trying to certify a fish for a record, and provides useful information to biologists about the relative condition of a fish.

GIRTH MEASUREMENT


 Using total length and girth you can get a rough estimate of a fish's weight using various formulas.  Please remember that if you are going to release your catch, it is very important the fish be properly handled and released as quickly as possible.  See here for live-release guidelines.  Also don't forget if you catch a quality-sized fish that you can receive a free angler-recognition certificate and sticker from the "Big Catch" program.

See you on the water. Say hi if you get the chance.