Stick Marsh happenings

[George_Welcome]

I would like to address a rumor that Jim Porter is attempting to spread on his page:

Two major guides are
limiting their services
due to medical issues, so
guides may be in short
supply this next year!!

The above post on Mr. Porter's web page was brought to my attention by a client that happened to contact Mr. Porter in reference to it's claim. He was advised that one of the guide services he was referring to, although he did say that he wouldn't mention names, would probably not be working this season due to a brush with cancer. Since I am the only guide out there that I know of that had such a brush, I would like to inform everyone that his assumptions are the furthest from the reality.

Further, the other guide that he referred to in his e-mail to my client was Hugh Crumpler, and although I cannot speak for Mr. Crumpler, I seriously doubt that it is his intention to be curtailing his business for any medical issues.

September dealt us a case of "deja vu" with hurricane Katrina first cutting a swath across the southern reaches of Florida, and then Ophelia meandering its way northward just off the coast. However, there was a bit of a silver lining to these storms on the Marsh as St John's in preparations to handle the reputed heavy rains that we were supposed to get, opened the inflow gate at the south end of the Farm. This current gave us several good early morning bites.

So far this month, early morning bite has been just about the only bite we have seen. Since our trips take place from dawn through the next 8-hours, it is rare that we see this lake in the late parts of the day. I can only guess that the late bite might have been as good as the early bite.

If you were out there early on and in the spillway area of the Farm you probably did quite well until the sun got up in the and the heat turned on.

After resetting the date several times for Ophelia's presence Scott finally had the weather to get out friend and client Jim Tso and his guests, and sent me the following report.

9/10/2005 I spent the day fishing with returning client Jim Tso of Sebastian, FL and his friend Boyd Post of Virginia. We left the ramp at 6:15am and headed straight for the spillway. It did not take long and the action started. Carolina rigged Senko type baits in dark colors produced very well early in the morning for us. The bite was strong until the sun started to warm things up. We were still able to catch fish but not like we did very early in the morning. We called it a day at 2:30 after catching between 35 and 40 bass up to 7.75lbs.

9/11/2005 Today Jim stayed home and treated Boyd and his wife Joanne to a day of bass fishing. We left the ramp at 6:15 and were the second boat in the spill way. Today proved to be a repeat of yesterday with the bass biting early and then shutting off as soon as it got hot. We still managed to catch a few bass after they shut down, but nothing like early in the morning. All the bass were caught on Carolina rigged Senkos, but we did see bass caught on rattle traps and Shiners. We had a great time and called it a day at 2:30 after catching over 30 bass.

As the month comes to a close the devastated areas of the Gulf Coast are at the top of our list of concern and attention. Ophelia has moved away as we sit and watch what could be Rita moving into the Keys within the next couple of days. Temperatures are still hovering in the low 90's, but this is going to break any day now as the highs start working our way they will bring the cool fall weather with them. Grass is starting to grow in many areas of the Farm and although you need electronics to see it, if you find it you will find fish. It is but a short time before the fish start migrating their way southward for the ritual of spawn.

See you on the water. Say hi if you get the chance.

[angelus40]

sounds like you had a ball