Dec 19th Merry Christmas!!! Notice we will be closed the 24th and 25 and will open at 6:00 am on the 26th!!! Fishing has been great!!! Speck have been biting in Garcia in the Pit on minnows and chateuse curl tail jigs, also Jim Porters Jigs which we carry at the Store!!! Also in Farm 13, stop by we will give you the lastest updates. Bass Fishin still the Hot topic in Garcia also fishing in the North canal and out side pit using Shiners has been Producing alot of bass 5-8lb range!! Farm13 and stick marsh they are moving in from the deep water to the spill way and Nursery area spawn is on the way!!!! Check Out the Guides reports!! Submitted 12/14/06: George A fishing guide's job entails far more than the hours spent with a client seeking that unique fishing experience. The days start early and are long, with boat preparation, maintenance, and accounting all part of the daily ritual. However, it's all part and parcel of what makes this avocation a truly enjoyable one. One part of this job is the ever present need to explore the waters to keep up with fish movement, and discover new productive areas. When doing this it is good to have extra hands on board so as to cover more water. Yesterday was one such day as two really good fishermen joined me for a day of exploring the waters of Ansin/Garcia. Known to most of you as Don (World's Worst Fisherman), and Steve P., it was bound to be a day of lively banter as we ventured forth at daybreak. Our first stop was in one of the north/central impoundments. Although we cast several baits throughout the area, we didn't find one cooperating bass. After an hour or so of this non-productive angling, it was off to check other spots. Heading up the Zig/Zag canal sounded like a good idea. We stopped at the west bend and proceeded north, working the shelf on the west side of the canal. We hadn't gone far when the loud roar of an irrigation pump could be heard. It was music to our ears, because when the pump runs, as everyone knows, the current calls the bass. Heading further north to the pump took but a few moments, and the first few bass fell to Senkos, jerk baits, and small crank baits. As most know when presented with such conditions, the C-rig is extremely productive. The first cast produced a good fish for Steve P. The only problem that we found is that the bass in the area all seemed to be close if not exactly the same in size. It's tough when you get stuck dealing with 4.5 pound bass. Senkos were the main producing bait but an occasional crank bait also produced. Positioning the boat to find the right area of the current to produce the most fish is very important. After trying four different presentation angles we settled on the first that we had tried. The bite wasn't the (every cast bite), like the spillway in the Farm 13 produces, but it was active enough to keep us in the area until the man came and shut down the pump. We headed back out into the main lake and finished out he day working one of the northern impoundments. Throughout the day the main producer was the Senko, whether worked as a T-rig, weightless, or Carolina rigged. Top water didn't do much, although the first fish of the day did come on a frog. Water levels are low and sinking, however the forecast for the next couple of days is calling for rain which hopefully will bring levels up a bit. Getting around is not a problem, just use common sense. If you have to cross a levee that is separating the impounds idle as the water is extremely shallow on the levees. We ran aground crossing from one area to the other, and if we had been going fast we might still be out there trying to get un-stuck. We boated 45 bass and missed a few, which made for a fantastic day out there. See you on the water. Stop and say hi if you get the chance. George Welcome DECEMBER 5 WENT TO GARCIA TODAY TO RELAX AND FIND SOME MORE FISH FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK. I GOT ON THE LAKE AT NOON AND QUIT AROUND 4 PM. WITH THE FRONT UPON US I WAS LOOKING FOR OTHER AREA'S ON THE SOUTH END OF THE LAKE THAT WAS HOLDING FISH. I FOUND SERERAL AREA'S THAT WERE HOLDING FISH . I CAUGHT 15 BASS IN THE 3 TO 5 LB RANGE. 1/2 ON ARTIFICAL AND THE OTHER ONES ON SHINNERS. THE ARTIFICAL BITE WAS ON A JUNEBUG SEIKO TYPE BAIT, YOU HAD TO DROP THE BAIT RIGHT IN FRONT OF HEAVY VEGITATION AND LET IT LAY THERE, THE BITE WAS SLOW ON THE ARTIFICAL, THE LIVE BAIT BITE WAS ALSO SLOW AND YOU HAD TO LAY IT RIGHT UP ON THE FRONT OF THE HEAVY VEGITATION AT THE DEEPEST AREA AND LET IT SET AND SHAKE IT SOME TO KEEP THE BAIT ACTIVE. LAKE GARCIA IS EXTREEMELY GOOD RIGHT NOW. LAST WEEK A 12LB 5 OZ WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE LAKE FOR MOUNTING. GOOD LUCK ROG 15 December 2006 Gary Atwell is an old friend and we were once members of Virginia’s Old Dominion Bass Club together. Finally retired, Gary is striving to catch-and-release all the fish the World has to offer. He has fished with us many times in the past, as our fishing report diary shows. This time, we opted to go to Garcia and just have fun catching lots of fish. With both of us fishing, it soon became obvious that the bass were ready and willing to work on a fluke and a RIPPIN’ Stick. It also became obvious that I had a jinx on me and Gary had been practicing that ‘clean living’. I think he easily caught five bass to my one, and had many, many more strikes that I did. He was a master with that fluke that day. We fished the open water between the north/south ditches in the north part of Garcia. It was cloudy and cool and the bass were right up near the surface, it appeared. Many strikes came as the jerk bait touched down. We later moved into the canal that connects Garcia to the Farm 13 spillway and found fish along the south side flat. There are some BIG bass in that location. 14 December 2006 Ron Bartley and Marc Bergerman had heard so much about the extraordinary crappie catching going on in the Stick Marsh this year that they just had to experience it for themselves. I advised them that a half-day trip would provide all the crappie action they wanted, so we booked it accordingly. We had a two-day window to work with and finally selected the one that gave us the best chance of staying dry!! Obviously, when we met at the ramp, it was raining. But, it quickly stopped and just spit at us most of the time. Not enough to get wet, but enough to make you keep the FroggToggs at hand. Thinking it might start to rain hard, I suggested we start our with the PERFECT jig right around the ramp area. We never did locate a bona-fied school of crappie, but still managed a 10 keepers in 30 minutes. About that time, the sky lightened up a lot and we decided to take the minnows to Farm 13 and try for the giant crappie out in the open water. Hey, no guts no air medal!! We were lucky and did not get rained on much. Just light stuff and light winds. Only one drift sock was required even when the wind did blow. Our first drift was great and put a dozen crappie in the livewell, with 6-8 of them being really big slabs. We had nearly one limit in the boat by then. Our second drift started out OK, with some quick bites on the minnows. But then the strikes stopped and we only had one every 10 minutes, or so. We tried another drift and still the action stayed slow. We all agreed to go back to the jigs. Firing up the BLAZER, we hustled down to the SE spillway basin. That location is FULL of crappie. But, for some reason, they are hard to catch on minnows. I have learned to just go with the PERFECT jig and find the fish. The key is to get 2-3 strikes in one spot. When that happens, the rest of the school will get competitive and the action gets wild. This day was no exception. We worked 10-30 off the banks and started to catch crappie quickly, but many were small. So, we would move from the smaller fish and keep looking. Sure enough, we managed to get two schools to work for us, with one being large crappie in the 12-13 inch range. This was Ron’s day to dominate with the jig and he had those big slabs coming over the side in a steady stream. When all the foam on the water had settled, Marc had landed the largest fish, a 2-LB (+) beauty and the guys had filled a big cooler with limits of the great eating crappie. Factoring in all the small fish that were released, I suspect there were 80-90 crappie caught, with most of them on the PERFECT jig. Now, that’s fun fishing!! 13 December 2006 John Czodli is in the construction business and wanted to take some of his clients out for a day of fun and fishing. We worked hard at finding a window of good weather and good fishing for John. I believe we re-scheduled this trip 4-5 times due to high winds, poor fishing, or rain. This time everything came together. I found some good fish on a small section moving water at the Farm 13 spillway and the weather stayed comfortable. Plus, the fish really cooperated for us well. We met John, Steve Elder, and Kevin Lund at the ramp right as the early morning rain ended. Arriving at the spillway, we found a boat sitting right where we wanted to fish. He wasn’t fishing where the bass were located, but he still blocked our preferred boat position. Luckily, we have enough experience on that impoundment to know how we can adjust to that. So, we anchored off just a bit down from our primary location, but still we able to place our shiners in the ‘sweet spot’. Another guide was also fishing the moving water. But, he had fallen on ‘Catfish City’ and did not do well with bass. Our location was a bit ‘special’, in that I had found schools of small gizzard shad holding right on a eddy of the moving water right out from where I anchored. We rigged the shiners in a free-line manner, with just enough weight above them to give them incentive to stay down near the bottom. It wasn’t long until the fish bass walloped a shiner. Then, another and another. . Kevin boated the first three or four. Suddenly, Steve set the hook on a fish and we all thought he was hung for a moment. Then, a big 6-lb. (+) bruiser came to the top and swirled. Steve held on and soon she was safely in the net. Soon thereafter, John had a fish on, which was obviously the giant bass of the day. She came partway out of the water on the jump and tossed the hook, but we got a good look at her huge body. John said he wanted the other guys to catch the fish, so he was just being a gentleman by letting the bass get away. Steve had the ‘an odd thing happened on the way to the pond’ event this day. Setting he hook on a good bass, he hooked and played the fish for 5-10 seconds. Suddenly, the line went slack and she was gone. Reeling the line in, we were all very surprised to see not one, but two shiners on Steve’s hook. One was the one I had originally hooked through the lips and it was still on by the lips. On the hook outside that shiner was another! It was a little deteriorated, as though partially digested, and was hooked through the body. We could only assume the bass had swallowed Steve’s shiner sufficiently far enough down his gullet and to allow the hook to catch onto another shiner he had recently eaten. Strange things sometimes happen when fishing!! Before long we had burned up all the shiners and everyone was about spent from jerking bass. It was such good fishing, the anglers even bypass a scheduled lunch break!! Jim Porter