This time around I didn't have the luck I had last time as I weighed in a paltry 6.2lbs with 4 fish. Now what makes this even more demoralizing is that I caught 20 bass today and had 7 keepers in my livewell at one time. I tossed the 6th one in the other livewell I have and decided to make a few more casts and caught #7 keeper. It went in the livewell also (I know illegal ) so I took the smallest out of the main livewell and measured it and it was just barely scratching the 14 inch mark so I released her. Leaving me with 4 in one and 2 in the other. Well, somehow I forgot this and I released 2 more fish. I did this later on not right at the same time. Anyway, I weighed one of them and it was only 1.1lbs so it wouldn't have mattered but when I got to weigh in and only had 4 fish to weigh I felt bad. That is the first and last time I will ever do this again.
But we had a heck of a turnout for a local small tourney today. I think we had 20 or 22 boats? Anyway, it took 18lbs to win which is an impressive sack. They paid 5 places even and the 5th place team had 11.9lbs. So my 5th fish would have put me at 7.3lbs. No biggie.
I caught good numbers of fish just none very big. I also caught 6 Pickerels. Not bad for a half day of fishing. Just wish the size where better.
Our weather was cloudy with some sun and early on wind was about 10mph then it kicked into overdrive as usual for Florida and was blowing around 20mph by 9am I believe. Fish are on beds all over the place yet with the windy conditioons and cloudy skies it was too difficult to bed fish. I caught a fish off of a bed on Saturday that would have helped me. I didn't even try to go back there Sunday as it would have been impossible to catch her again since I wouldn't be able to see her and or stay put long enough to get her to bite. She weighed a good 4lbs.
I had a good time catching so many dinks but I guess I needed to move to a different area of the lake to get into some better quality fish. Seems my honey areas are producing 7lb bags for me over the last 2 weeks. Time to locate some new fish out there
Step away from the red rattle trap!! lol! I got smoked on saturday never got a bite! It rained two inches. I wenrt today and got bit by the spots. It felt good just to catch a fish again!
I hear ya Jared. I would like to fish your lake someday also.
Garcia is an incredible fishery. I am not some gifted angler who is catching all the fish. Believe me, this is a lake that anyone who has basic fishing skills can come to and get on fish.
I mean some people are not catching as many as I do but they are always catching them too. I have a short list of lakes that I have never been skunked on and this lake is one of them. It is suited well for lipless crankbaits but to be honest it is difficult to fish lipless crank baits in grassy areas that are only 4 feet deep at the most with sometimes as little as 8 inches of water above the grass and in some cases 2 feet. It takes allot out of you to chunk and wind all day like that. So allot of folks fish with senkos which do produce fish but just not as many normally.
Topwaters are fun in this lake also and May seems to be the magic month for topwater in Garcia and also in the Stick Marsh. Can hardly wait.
Look at the quote I just read from Hugh Crumpler who is a guide at the Stick Marsh and sometimes takes folks to Garcia:
Based on reports from friends of mine who are serious fishermen the fishing is better at Garcia than most lakes in Florida. Yes, Okeechobee, Kissimmee Chain, Butler Chain, Harris Chain, St. John’s River, Toho, Walk-In-Water, and others are included in the list that Garcia is better than.
I have fished Stick Marsh several times but never tried Garcia. I have heard many good things about it. The only problem is I don't have any red traps.
A lot of respect goes out to Hugh, a super ambassador for our support
TCB, red traps are only a couple bucks my man. But Gold, White, Ghost, Chrome all work as well. Senkos, spinnerbaits, top water all work well too. I am sure you got one of those right?
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could
be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Bass Fishing Forums - The Bassholes
A forum community dedicated to anglers and fishing enthusiasts in Alabama. Come join the discussion about safety, gear, tackle, tips, tricks, reviews, reports, accessories, classifieds, and more!