It's hard to envision just how good the Stickmarsh and Farm 13 really are for bass fishing. If you're a serious bass angler, you really owe it to yourself to fish this awesome bass factory at least once. It just may be the best bass fishing destination in the Sunshine State or even the entire country If nothing else, horsing giant bass out of thick vegetation and from around stands of submerged timber will test your angling skills.

The big draw of the area is giant bass. It has all the ingredients that a big bass lake should -- a long growing season, lots of healthy largemouths, plenty of forage and tons of excellent habitat.

Days of catching and releasing 100 bass are not unheard of on this fishery. But more often, anglers come to this lake looking for double-digit weight fish! It's been said more than once that per acre of water, the Stickmarsh and Farm 13 yield more bass exceeding 10 pounds than any other Florida waters open to the general public.

But a lot of Florida lakes have big bass. What's so special about the Stickmarsh and Farm 13?

BACKGROUND
At 6,500 acres, the Stickmarsh/Farm 13 complex doesn't feel as intimidating as fishing some of Florida's larger lakes. Most anglers quickly feel right at home on these dynamic bass waters. Such "hominess" is important to anglers who like to relate to structure and shoreline landmarks for navigation and just to get their bearings.

But catching fish is what drives most anglers, and this central Florida lake holds a ton of bass. Stickmarsh features 800 pounds of fish biomass per acre, of which 35 percent is composed of largemouth bass. This staggering figure is maintained by a very productive environment. Fed by fertile agricultural runoff, Stickmarsh/Farm 13 produces swift growth rates in the fish. Bass can grow up to 2 1/2 pounds in one year!

According to Bob Eisenhauer, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Stickmarsh and Farm 13 are very nutrient rich. The nutrition provides plenty of food to support threadfin and gizzard shad, small bream, killifish, and shiners, which are all present in good numbers. Those, in turn, feed the bass.

A catch-and-release regulation for bass has been in place on this complex since 1990 to make sure the trophy potential remains in its present condition. With such fertile inflow, good habitat and tons of bass, trophy bass fishing in this lake should be awesome for years to come.

But the Stickmarsh hasn't always been such a good place to fish. Like so many rags-to-riches stories, it all started way back. In the early 20th century, numerous irrigation ditches were built in the St. John's River system to provide water for agriculture. Massive acreages of marshes and swamps were drained to expose enriched soils for crops, fruit trees and livestock.

Eventually, however, it became evident that eliminating fragile wetlands was disturbing many different types of wildlife habitat and making the area susceptible to devastating flooding. Frequent hurricanes passing through Florida made this a situation decision-makers couldn't ignore.