A DAY TO REMEMBER

I know it's going to be a BOLD statement, but IMO the water I fished this morning is 1 of the "Best" crappie waters in the state of Florida. That would be the 1 & only Stick Marsh/ Farm Pond. Caught 2 limits from 7 to 9:45am with 14" plus fish in the double digits, completely floored me! Believe it was my best day on the water since a Canada trip some 20 yrs ago:yikes& if that's not enough throw in a few 3# green carp to boot. I'm not a big proponent of wildlife management efforts through out the state, but they more than hit the mark at this fishery. The layout is awesome to fish several different areas to get out of the wind. Thank you my friend Tyler, it was a phenomenal day I won't soon forget, we really did wear them "OUT". I also have to thank my wife, I've been working out of town for the past couple weeks & she's afforded me 2 long weekends of fishing in a row, so it's time to spend the holidays with her & family....probably won't wet a line til the New Year passes.....trust me when I say I've gotten more than I deserve in good days on the water recently....tight lines to all through the season....

Sounds like a great trip..... Great pics

Wow, what a great day Jeff

That #7 fish and #23 fish look photo-shopped ! ! ! ! !

That is unreal.

Wow you did have a great day, congrats.

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Hey Jeff, a phenomenal day Indeed! I have read stories about Stick Marsh, but your report and the photos are the best. :ThumbsUp

Will miss your reports for awhile, but I'm sure you will enjoy Family time, It's the BEST! :highfive

Regards,
Marv

Nice catch and awsome pictures

Sounds worth the drive for a day playing with pigs like that. Excellent report and glad to hear that you're back up and recharged. I'm going to monroe in the morning for a few hours and then have lots to get done before and through the holidays. Good Job Mister!!

Awesome day and a great report too. I can remember having days like that... and man it is great and huge fun when you have 'em.
Thanks for sharing.

Nice, way to go..

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Wow !! What a day. I'm glad that you got to enjoy it. Have a good holiday.

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Originally Posted by Phantom309

That #7 fish and #23 fish look photo-shopped ! ! ! ! !

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Thanks guys it's definitely a bucket list place.....Danny it's only 40 minutes down the road from ya, guess your going to have to find out for your selfrotfldarn near as long as it takes to get to Monroe.....

Is the reservoir they built beside it completed? Is anyone fishing it yet?

Haven't been there in a few years but I can vouch for the great speck fishing there. We pulled our boat up on the weeds in the canal about 100 yards from ramp. This was March a few years ago. Me and a friend caught over a 100 big specks that evening with bream buster poles and minnows. One of my favorite trips ever.

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Originally Posted by Speck Detector

Danny it's only 40 minutes down the road from ya, guess your going to have to find out for your selfrotfldarn near as long as it takes to get to Monroe.....

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It's been a few years ago, but I have fished Stick Marsh and Farm 13, couple times with a friend from up here and a couple times with Glenn (member here).
Also have fished Garcia (nearby there). We did good but not good enough to return, as opposed to fishing locally.....
Is quite a drive down that long dirt road etc ......

One time, I and an old fishing partner (Two Jiggin John) entered a local fishing tournament put on by a church in Merritt Island, and we caught some monsters up in the Econ = We wound up winning, but "ONLY" because a fellow's live bait well quit working and his fish died. He'd caught them in Stick Marsh and drove all the way back to the rendezvous place out on Hwy#520. I didn't go over and look at his fish but Two Jiggin John did and he was blown away by their size. The guy did win "Big Fish" as it didn't require being alive. We won all kinds of prizes and money = Never done it again .........

Jeff, I've got those two "drink holders" sitting here, need to get em to ya, we'll have to schedule a time when we both are out
on the lake and we'll rendezvous, etc, etc, etc ...........

Yeah, ya'll done real good ! ! ! !


(These pics are from January 2006)

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Originally Posted by 6mm

Is the reservoir they built beside it completed? Is anyone fishing it yet?

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Yes, it's called Farm Pond & were the wind free area took us....

Here's some more pics .....
That last one points to boat launch at Garcia

Jeff, they are constructing another place right around where Farm 13 is, I think that's what 6mm is referring to ....
I'll see what I can find out about it etc, etc, etc ...................

Just sent Jim Porter (World Famous guide in Stick Marsh/Farm Pond) an e-mail about status of new place.
Here's some verbage off his website ....(I couldn't find anything on it ....)

Created in 1987, the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 Reservoir is synonymous with trophy bass fishing. This 6,500-acre reservoir near Fellsmere, west of Vero Beach, became one of the hottest bass lakes in the country during the past decade. FWC biologists predictions of excellent bass fishing on into the 2000-2010 timeframes have exceeded even the most abtious expectations. The famous impoundment is better than ever, with catches of giant bass, shellcrackers, bluegills and crappies being simply phenomenal. Jim Porter is the top-rated guide on the Farm 13/Stick Marsh and is the only one with two bass over 15 lbs. He has also turned two over 13. Jim is the only guide who also provides his services for the giant panfish. His tops for shellcrackers was a 2 lb. 3 oz. giant and a 10-fish string that weighed 12.9 lbs. He has two crappie over 4 lbs. from the impoundment and rates it an even better crappie fishery than big Lake Okeechobee. See the fishing report archives for 6 years of fishing reports and see why Jim is the best guide you will find. You will also see why the Farm 13/Stick Marsh is the best fishing hole in the USA!!!

Well, G-mail says Jim Porter's e-mail address is "Not Found" so, he's apparently changed it
or has retired or passed, etc, etc .....
Here's a pic from Googls maps, don't know how old this pic is, usually a year or two.
I can't see any construction activity around area at all. I would think that place on the
East side of the Farm/Stick would be the place in question ........................

Glenn..... You know anything bout it ?????????????????????????

The new place is called Fellsmere Resevoir and it is not open. A dispute over who owns the ramp and parking area I think. May open in 2019. Google Fellsmere Resevoir for info.

OK ! ! !
Tx's Glenn, mucha appreciate ! ! !
Here ya go 6mm ...................

Hey Jeff,

Were you guys single poling? Just curious, I'm too old to travel that far and fish alone. Didn't realize I was that close to Stick Marsh when we took our first air boat ride on Blue Cypress.


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"I'm not a big proponent of wildlife management efforts through out the state, but they more than hit the mark at this fishery."

Don't give them too much credit, as hard as they have tried to destroy this fishery Nature keeps trying to fight back. This was never designed to be a fishery, it was intended to create a reservoir for filtering out all the excessive nutrients from the growers down there before it went into the headwaters of the St. Johns. It just happened that it exploded into one of the best big bass fisheries in the country, 100+ bass to 10+ lbs were common along with unlimited crappies to 17-18". Then just like they did with a lot of lakes here in Florida they went on a all out assault of over spraying which virtually eliminated the grass in the impoundment, with that this great fishery was reduced to a mud hole and all of great fishing vanished with it. For many years it wasn't worth the trip down the 8 miles of dusty washboard to reach it, but the grass has finally started to grow back mainly in the far south end of the farm 13. The bass fishing has improved over the 5 years along with the crappie but it is not anywhere near what is was when there was grass thru out the reservoir. If we could just keep these greedy unethical state agencies from abusing these lakes for the sake of keeping their rice bowls flush with money, we would have the best fishing thru out whole country.

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Originally Posted by pescador

Hey Jeff,

Were you guys single poling? Just curious, I'm too old to travel that far and fish alone. Didn't realize I was that close to Stick Marsh when we took our first air boat ride on Blue Cypress.

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Marv, we were long-lining 10 poles out the back....

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Originally Posted by Glenn

The new place is called Fellsmere Resevoir and it is not open. A dispute over who owns the ramp and parking area I think. May open in 2019. Google Fellsmere Resevoir for info.

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Thanks for that clarification Gleen, looking at Phantom's maps we were in Farm 13, this was my 1st trip & I thought all original flooded land held submerged trees & such, but guess that's just the Stick Marsh side. Trolling Farm 13 little if any drop-off's or submerged obstacles were present on the depth finder, went 3/4 of the way toward the south end with subtle changes in depth....

Nice fish and pictures!

Glad you got on em!

I seriously considering sinking my boat, unhooking the trailer and putting a free sign on it and going home after my day Saturday.

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Originally Posted by Speck Detector

Thanks for that clarification Gleen, looking at Phantom's maps we were in Farm 13, this was my 1st trip & I thought all original flooded land held submerged trees & such, but guess that's just the Stick Marsh side. Trolling Farm 13 little if any drop-off's or submerged obstacles were present on the depth finder, went 3/4 of the way toward the south end with subtle changes in depth....

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The large majority of stumps are mainly located in the northwest corner of the StickMarsh side and the southwest corner of the Farm side, in what they call the nursery. The very south end of the Farm side has the only major concentration of grass, mainly pepper grass and hydrilla, that is where you will see the majority of the boats is down there fishing the grass. You should of crossed a series of underwater canals with levies as you trolled around the farm side, there are three that run from the north end to the south and one that goes from the east wall at the pump station to the west wall, these underwater canals are about 10ft deep with the levies coming up to 2 to 3 feet from the surface. It's not as dangerous to run on plane as it used to be due to the stumps and trees coming down overtime and with the water levels being up right now. When the water is down you have to be careful as the stumps that are left are like concrete pilings and will ruin your day.

Great pics, report and outing. Thanks for sharing!!

Awsum

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Great trip !! Very nice mess of fish !!:cheers2 Seems worth the trip but tend to stay away from the submerged obstacle waterways with a fiberglass boat.

I've got stickmarsh/farm pond, Rodman & Talquin on my list to do someday. Maybe speckanator will let me borrow his boat to scout it out:Rofl:Rofl:Rofl