13 February 2007 Kevin and Teresa Farmer came from Lake Okeechobee to fish for crappie. The ‘Big O’ is in a serious state right now, with very low and dirty water. The fishing is extremely poor, unless you use a really knowledgeable guide who knows some ‘special places’. We were looking at the approach of a major cold front and, after some discussion, took our chances. The winds stayed from the south most of the day, with a steady advance of nasty clouds. We got into a protected area and saturated the water with the cinnamon w/chartreuse tail PERFECT JIG. Although the boat control was easy and the wind no problem, we did not find the fish concentrated. So, we just gritted our teeth and made all the casts we could. By golly, persistence paid off and we caught a nice bunch of big old slabs!! Who says we aren’t the luckiest fisherman we know? Then, the weather came on with a vengeance. Man, it was about as close to a tornado as I want to be in! We saw the low, fast moving clouds and made it for the ramp. I just got the boat on the trailer and the Farmers got to their car when it hit. I parked and sat in the cab of the truck, while everything shook and rolled and palm fronds went sailing by on both sides. Once, I saw some bank fisherman’s five-gallon bucket go up into the air and out of sight. Scary. When it let up to a mild roar, I got the fish into Kevin’s cooler so he and Teresa could get started back to Okeechobee. The heavy rain is why you see no pictures with this fish story. No one wanted to stand out there that long! 12 February 2007 Wayne and Sylvia Burton have a few timeshares and hop around Florida in the winter, staying in one and then another. They were leaving Cocoa Beach, headed to Pompano Beach, and made a stop to bass fish on the Stick Marsh. Their eventually fine fishing day illustrates just how tough things can be on the Farm 13/Stick Marsh impoundment and how a knowledgeable guide can be worth his pay. It was overcast and cold, with an all-day spitting rain. A big from was about 48 hours away and we were out in the vanguard of it. I give the Burton’s credit – I tried to talk them out of going, but they wanted to go and stayed at it all day, too!! Our first spot was a prime location. I have caught many, many giant bass at that spot. We floated shiners for two hours, without even a quiver from one of them. Not even a catfish bite. So, we started dragging a pair of shiners behind the boat. Three miles later, the shiners were doing that backstroke and catching up on their reading. No bass to be found. Next, we worked half of the lower end of Farm 13, still-fishing the shiners in those fabled bass haunts, like ‘The ESPN TV Spot’, ‘The McGehee Hole’, ‘The Basin’, ‘The Home of Lost Rat-L-Traps’, and famous ‘Snag City, USA’. Nothing –- Zero – Zilch – Blanks – Dead Water – that was our catch. We did not even GET A BITE in six hours of using shiners!! At 3:00 PM, I suggested we go back to that spot where we started the day. It was such a high percentage place for both quantities and giants, I just had to try again. (We did this with the NASCAR Circle Bar team on a trip in January; see that result in the past fishing reports section.) With wind now brisk from the east, we set up and floated the shiners out from the boat. I was preparing a third shiner rod when a bass suddenly blew up one of the first two shiners in the water. That fish came aboard. Then, about as fast as I got shiners in the water, the bass went after them. Sylvia got one about four-pounds and then two in the three-pound range. Wayne finally got started and hooked a giant bass. But, she managed to get hung in a submerged stump and we could not get her. Sylvia, meanwhile, kept catching fish. She told me this was Wayne’s fishing trip, but she let us all know she was ahead on bass. Then, Sylvia hung a good ‘un!! A lot of grunting and squealing and holding on went past us before she got a 6-pound, egg-laden gal into the net. Just about the time I netted Sylvia’s big bass, Wayne asked where the red bobber was (claimed his eyesight was not too good). I looked and my eyesight was poor, too. Turns out the red bobber had gone north!! Wayne grabbed it and made a fine hookset. This ‘poor eyesight error resulted in the big bass of the day, nearly 8-pounds. Again, this big gal was full of eggs and obviously on her way to find a male. The weather finally brought steady rains and we had to pull up stakes from our Hawg Hole. But, persistence and luck made for over 20 fine bass in 2 hours, none under 3-pounds and two ‘biggies’ in the bunch. Are we lucky, or what?! 9 February 2007 Chuck Davis wanted crappie. We got him crappie. Plus, neither of us got rained on!! That was a first in a while. The first thing I noted was that Chuck knew how to use a jig. The second thing was that this definitely WASN’T his first crappie trip!! He knew how to do it right. We started with the little cinnamon, w/chartreuse tail PERFECT JIG and never had to change. That color seems to work just about everywhere I have fished. I know Florida crappie sure go for it. We worked three hundred yards of shoreline, targeting pre-spawn crappie just out from the non-grass vegetation. A few fish took the jig in close. But, the vast majority were 6-10 feet out (unless they followed the jig a way before striking it). When we loaded the boat on the trailer, I started getting the crappie out of the well to transfer to Chuck’s cooler. It was obvious he had done well. I did not count the fish closely, but it was nearly a half net full. Some good fish frys in that bunch!! 8 February 2007 My wife, Dot, and I had an afternoon open so we looked for something to do. Heck, we decided to go fishing!! I won’t dwell on this trip long. We caught a bunch of big crappie and Dot proved again that she can beat any guide! 7 February 2007 I went crappie fish alone, just to try and find more fish. This was one of those special days when something unique happened. I can’t really explain it, but the giant crappie all decided to commit suicide on the PERFECT JIG. I culled twice and wound up with a 25-fish limit that went slightly over – are you ready for this? – 40 pounds. One of my clients from 5 February, Floyd Layman, was there in another boat and got to see them. It was awesome. Four of the fish scales at 2.5-pounds. 5 February 2007 Floyd Layman and Rock Alsante had been on my fishing calendar for some time. But, everytime we tried to go, the weather got to us and we had to cancel. It was good that these two guys lived close by and could change. Still, the day we went looked cold, windy and maybe a bit of rain. In fact, we spent the whole day in rainsuits to stay dry and stay warm!! We started by drifting minnows out in the Farm. That proved to be of little value, with maybe a few keeps and some little ones (those open-water fish are bunching up to spawn now, so they are getting hard to find in open water). From there, we went to a protected area at the south end of Farm 13. The water was dirty and we found no crappie. We decided to get away from the cold winds and went to the protected area behind the boat ramp along the north side of the impoundment. Working the vegetated north shoreline, we started to catch a few nice fish. Finally, we had located some crappie. The bad part was that it was now close to dark. So, we caught what we could in the time left and then called it a day. It made a fine mess of fish for a fine fish fry, too! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Weather for the Stick Marsh Area Past Stick Marsh Fishing Reports Farm 13 / Stick Marsh Information Guide Jim Porter