Welcome Aboard!
You are not logged in.
I was fortunate to have been invited to get out with Greg's BIL (Roy) for some bass fishing. Roy's house is near Jupiter and Stick Marsh is 75 miles north of that.
Webiste write up: The St. Johns Water Management Area (SJWMA), known to most anglers as the Farm 13/Stick Marsh, is a 6,500-acre impoundment located along the east coast of central Florida in northwest Indian River County. Water depths range from 4 to 8 feet. Boaters unfamiliar with the SJWMA are advised to navigate to fishing locations with extreme caution due to the number of man-made and natural hazards present. This water body is noted for its excellent bass fishing due to the special no harvest regulation on largemouth bass. The SJWMA is one of the top 10 trophy bass spots in the state.
This was the BEST bass fishing I have ever experienced!
It was cool and misty when we started but the sun did finally come though to warm us up.....
Greg and Roy took the skunks off the boat but it took a bit for me to do so.
But when I did, it was big! My personal best (>8lbs)!
For the rest of this report, I think I will let the pictures tell the story....it just didn't stop! I will summarize it at the end.
We think we caught over 50 fish...maybe more, who knows. Very few dinks (under 2 pounds). Lots in the 2-4 pound range, several 5 pounders with the biggest two fish coming in at 7 and 8. We did not measure or weigh the fish so it's best guess. We think my top 5 were between 25-30 pounds....give or take. After I caught my 1st fish, I said, "OK, now what? I just caught my biggest bass ever!".
Roy is an excellent fisherman (he definitely caught the most) and he had studied up on the lake to make sure we had a good experience. Greg caught chunk after chunk. It was a GREAT experience.
Mostly we used swim baits and wacky worms. A couple were caught on spinnerbaits and I had a nice blowup on a frog.
In the afternoon, in came the teeny bugs. Millions of them. They like white and green. My buff was green and I was inhaling protein like crazy. The cigar smoke was ineffective. Roy was wearing white....
But this is a bucket list lake for sure!
Roy's ham/cheese/pickle sandwiches were a highlight.
We had a blast and I am hoping for another invite in the future.
Offline
That is a trip of a lifetime! They pull hard??
Offline
drxfish wrote:
They pull hard??
Yes sir...quite a tug!
Offline
What was the weight of the 8+ ?
Offline
Curly wrote:
What was the weight of the 8+ ?
Scale said 8.1 but then froze. No clue if it was accurate. It was a big fish...that much I know.
Edit- we never measured or weighed a fish after that, as I reported above.
Offline
That sounds like one heck of a trip! Congrats on the personal best! That one picture of you opening the mouth of the bass makes it kinda look like a flathead.
Last edited by firemunkee (Feb-25-17 7:12PM)
Offline
I just showed this post to Roy. We both forgot how many BIG fish we caught at Stick Marsh. It was truly an amazing day. Roy just reinvited Ernie for a yearly trip and said this was one of his favorite trips of all time. The look on Ernie's face when he pulled in that 8 lber was priceless. Pure joy and giddiness of a 10 year old kid. I am really happy we were able to make this trip happen and can't wait for the next adventure!
Offline
GregF wrote:
Roy just reinvited Ernie for a yearly trip
YES!!!!!!
Offline
Awesome report and adventure!
Offline
What an awesome trip! Congrats on the PB!
Offline
Nice fish Ernie - not sure which is bigger, the fish or the cigar ;-)
Offline
Nice pigs guys!!
Offline
Awesome, nice pig. I guessed 8.5 before I saw your comment on it. ;-)
Offline