Catching is on the upswing and the Marsh

[Greenworm]

It was 6:00AM dark when I met Brian Graves from Leesburg, Va. for one of his many return trips to the Marsh. Brian likes the area and the Marsh so well that he bought a home in the area so that he can get here more often. It seemed the weatherman was going to be right about the wind as the treetops were swaying in the early morning hours.

Off to Middleton's we went for there was no question that shiners would afford the better opportunity with winds forecasted to be 20 to 25 and gusting out of the west. The stop was brief and it was off to a sunny but windy day looking for our formidable quarry.

Upon arriving at the ramp I noted that the pipes that dump from the Fellsmere Farms irrigation system into the Marsh were flowing and the current was really chugging. We were set to go with the first shiner in the water within 5 minutes of leaving the ramp and we never left the area until quitting time at 3:00PM. Although we were quick and at the ready early on the bass weren't but a bit of patience can be a big winner in this sport and we had the patience to wait out the bass through their period of reluctance.

From first shiner to last time flew and by 11:30 there were no more shiners and the count stood at 45 bass in the boat with the biggest being 5 pounds. Switching from live to artificial we rigged Carolina rigs tipped with Senkos. 17 bass fell for the allure of this Yamamoto bait with strong and positive bites. Around 2:30 we were given another 3 dozen shiners by a fisherman who didn’t use them. We spent the last ½ hour fishing shiners and boated 8 more bass giving us a total of 70 bass for the day. All the bass hit Carolina rigged shiners and Senkos on the edge of the current.


ScottÂ*