I have heard about how great Stickmarsh was for over 10 years. Great numbers of bass 50+ per day, reports of numbers of 10-12 and 15+ lunkers. Finally, my change to enjoy this great place in December when the bass in south Florida are staging and beginning to bed.

We had a small convoy leaving Pensacola, eight excited fishermen to make the eight-hour drive.
The weather had been in the mid 70's and our hopes were high. We arrived at the water about 3:30 pm and just had to wet a hook. Uh, did I mention the temp was 57 and a 15-20-north wind…we baited some shiner holes and fished until dark. A few fish were caught, a 4 pounder on a Bang-O-Lure, and a couple on green pumpkin worms. Not to worry though, tomorrow will be the big day.
We will have shiners, be on the water at dawn and have the full day to enjoy catching bass.

We hit the water right at sun up, a chilly 54 degrees and a moderate North wind. We located our shiner hole, and put enough bait to last (about 3 dozen) in the boat. The four boats scattered and went looking for a likely spot for ole mossy jaws. After getting on the water the wind began to get up…to 25 mph and the temp had not risen. O. K. we knew it was not going to be easy, but our confidence was still high.
By 2:00 pm my partner and I had not boated a fish, I think I had a bite but was not sure with the wind. We moved into a sheltered canal and floated our shiners under the Hyacinth. In wasn't long until we had a run and boated a 3.8 lb largemouth. We continued fishing the canal and managed
to boat about 20 fish, all good solid keepers ranging from 2.5 to 5 lbs.
Not a bad day but certainly not what we expected. Oh well, tomorrow will be better, right?
We woke up the next morning only to find frost on the boats.

We started to the lake and quickly realized, it was Saturday. There were suddenly three times as many boats on the lake. That was not really a problem once we got in the water and found a parking place. The temperature was rising, and the sun was out so it had to be a better day. We did warm up, and the wind was down considerably. We headed back to our canal, but after 2 hours not a single run.
We saw one of our buddies further up the canal and went to check them out. Not a fish between us. They were anchored and I moved about 25 yards away and anchored to float our shiners.
I picked up a plastic worm and cast mid way between the two boats and hooked up with about a 2 lb fish. My partner followed suit on the next cast and we thought we were on something.
Lisa from the other boat cast into the same area and put one in also. That was it. What a run.

We finished out the day, checked the other boats and found about the same results.
The day we left the temp rose to 78 and the fish turned on!

I know this is not the greatest report but, we all had a great time. This is a wonderful fishery, and I know it can live up to the reputation. Our trip proved it really doesn't matter where you are in a cold front situation, the fishing will be tough. We did manage to catch enough fish to keep our interest up, especially with the anticipation of that next cast being a big one. We all agreed we would go back, hopefully without the cold front keeping us company.

Stickmarsh is a 6,500 acre farm flooded and managed by the Florida Game and Fish commission near Vero Beach Florida. It has a great reputation and is know for large bass, crappie and bream.
The drive from Pensacola was not too bad, interstate all the way to Fellsmere, Florida then about 15 mile to the lake. As I said earlier,
I will be back and if you are interested in making the trip I think it would be well worth it.

Keep Your Line Wet !!

Fred