SEPTEMBER 2004

 

Date fished: 9/30/2004  Water clarity: 3 inches

Today was Stick Marsh all the way and fisherman zero. There is water running at all points with the exit gate at the C54 in overflow condition. Water level is just short of 25 feet and the water is chocolate.

Twin Palms: no trees left standing

NW area of Marsh: Pandora's Box is down to only a few trees left

West levee took quite a hit and St John's has their work cut out for them in repairing it.

Fisherman's shack: gone!

Pump house area: building damaged but pumps running

Spillway area: very dirt with lots of floating vegetation. Spillway structure has minor damage.

Dock at ramp: Dock is broken with a large section blocking the south ramp. North ramp is good. Good ramp etiquette will be appreciated by all until they get to clean that up.

Bryan and Sharon Patton spent the day fishing and stayed in good spirits even though the fish didn't bite and the heat was on. Today was extremely warm with little to no breeze. This was not a case of missed bites today but rather one of not even one bite. They started at 7:30 and fished until 3:00. There was nobody at the lake today other than us.

On a good note we noted no dead fish other than some small blue gills at the front pipes. Several of our gators didn't make it through Jeanne as we noted about 4-5 floating.

As the water clears the fishing should get fantastic. Water levels need to come down but this will take time as there is no where to send it. Upper areas of the St Johns are either at flood or beyond flood stages.

See you on the water:
Scott

 

Date Fished: 9/29/04 Water Clarity: 0

Water is high: that's an understatement!

What to expect: water flow everywhere. There is only one ramp clear as the dock is blocking the south ramp. It has broken and is laying in the water. Bathrooms are still standing but of course still roofless. Pavilions are still standing with no damage.

Road: Relatively clear with a couple of trees partially blocking the road. You should have no problem getting in and I would expect the trees to be removed relatively soon.

Motels in the area: Most are completely full with local residents as there was extreme damage in the Indian River county area. Fellsmere and Sebastian saw sustained winds of 123 MPH and Jeanne destroyed a tremendous amount of homes and trees.

I have power by generator and am comfortable in my 5th wheel but most are not as fortunate. We sustained a small amount of damage in addition to what Frances had already done to us, but we have all temporary fixes done. Scott had some minor shingle damage and some structural that won't affect livability. Now all we need is electric and cable and were back on top. Obviously I have phone back so we can answer e-mails. You can of course call our cell phones, but with sketchy service you can also call my home phone: 772 388-2895.

We have a trip tomorrow so will give a complete picture of the fishing after the trip.

See you on the water.

 

 

Submitted 9/21/2004 by George and Scott

Water conditions: Water is quite muddy with lots of macerated vegetation. There was current flow in several places until yesterday at 2:00 PM when St Johns shut down almost everything to stop the water from flowing north. Areas north of us are flooding and can't take any more water at this time. I would expect the shut down to last only briefly as there is a tremendous amount of water below us that needs to be moved.

Visibility is presently very limited but should clear quickly.

Fishing: Thursday we went out to do some surveying and found conditions and the bite to be quite poor. In 2.5 hours we managed to catch only 2 fish and those came from the SW area of the Farm.

Friday began the first day of a four day, two boat trip and fortunately we found the fish willing to play in the spillway area as the water cleared up with the flow. Jeff Jacobs, his brother Jack and friend Randy arrived as Ivan played its way northward, for four days of fun in the sun. Their trip from Elkhart, through Atlanta, Ga. proved to be the trip from hell, but the fishing would easily make up for the hardships faced in getting here. We saw 60 - 70 bass caught on Friday to start the fun off.

Saturday was a bonanza day with over 200 bass making their way to the boat and plenty missed. The bite Saturday was a bit late in starting with the bite getting hot and heavy in the afternoon.

Sunday was another day with a late bite starting but the last couple of hours saw a fish on every cast.

Yesterday was the down day for their trip with very few bites and nothing but small fish that came to play. The weather was on and off rain with one run to the ramp for a thunderstorm. There was more rain than not but the guys spirits stayed up as they worked a very much limited current for the bass that they got.

Over the four day period we didn't see any really big bass, the biggest being landed being in the 5-6 pound range, but they did break off a couple that might have pulled the scale pretty good. However these guys are veterans of the Marsh and know that any cast can be the big one and they plugged away every minute that they were out there.

Expect to see the water of clearing, plenty of current flowing over the next couple of weeks, and lots of good catches. See you out there.

 

Submitted 9/2/04 4:30 AM by George

This month has started off with a real bang with Hurricane Francis boring down on us. We will be evacuating and will return as soon as all is safe for us to do so. Cell phones are on so that you can reach us: George 772 370-1606, and Scott 772 370-1607.