We have had a succession of cold fronts through the area for the last little while. The water cools right down and the bite cools right down with it but the warming trends in between make for some good fishing. Jeff Rathburn was down last week and was lucky to get in on one of the upswings in temperature and was able to come down to the Stick Marsh for a day out on the water.
A 7am meeting was arranged and we headed in to the lake in a very heavy fog. It was just as bad when we finally got into the ramp and launched the boat. With the Lowrance up and running on the map screen we headed out across the lake at a relatively slow speed which is pretty much normal with my jet drive anyway. As we approached the south end I slowed down even more because this was where we could encounter a boat fishing in the fog. I idled in to where I thought I wanted to be but never zoomed in on the map so I was actually off about two hundred feet or so. The fish didn’t care that I was off a bit and we caught a mix of Bass from two to about four and a half pounds.
I was fishing a mix of worms and soft stick baits as was Jeff. Mine were rigged on a 2500 Stradic FJ spooled with fifteen pound Power Pro and a 15lb fluorocarbon leader. Rods were 6’6″ MH Crucials and Compres. We worked through a lot of the south end grass hoping to get Jeff into one of the big girls but it was not to be on this trip. We had a bit of a laugh when the fog lifted around noon and I realized what I had done getting back there.
We ended up the day in a bright Florida sun and an increased SW wind. When it started blowing Jeff switched over to a lightly weighted swimbait and picked up some decent fish on that. Mark and I did the same thing on the next trip when the wind came up and it was productive then as well.
When it was all said and done we probably had thirty or so fish to the boat which sure beats shoveling snow at home. Jeff had a several hour drive back to the hotel so we wrapped it up and headed for the dock at 3. It was a fun day on the water with a pretty darn good angler and as always when fishing with somebody new in the boat, I picked up some tips along the way. Maybe next year I can find him a big one.
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