A Junebug Worm
A running joke amongst Florida tournament anglers when queried as to what you caught that fish on is to answer simply a junebug worm. The reliability of that answer should often be suspected but it is definitely used for a reason. Reason being is, it often is a color that really does work well here in our lakes. When in doubt toss one out, most often it will produce. My team partner Keith Bailey found this to be true on our outing yesterday when he landed 15 lbs. on 2 fish using a 5 inch junebug w/ chartreuse tip Tiki Stick.
Recent outings at the Stick Marsh have been somewhat less than spectacular and not what would be expected for this time of year. The weather has cooperated nicely but the fish seem scattered and not all that hungry. Many anglers that I have compared notes with have been finding it this way. The good news is that my after last outing I feel things are turning around. Water temps are in the staying in the mid 60's and the prespawn feeding period may be getting underway.
The day began as more of the same of late with a slow morning. My confidence and enthusiasm was getting low but things changed in the afternoon when Keith decided to rig up a Texas rigged worm on his new Falcon Cara flipping stick just to give it a try. After a half dozen pitches getting the feel of his new Ardent pitching reel I watched him load the rod and begin to fight what turned out to be his new personal best bass. First fish on his new set up, this trophy largemouth turned out to be 9 lbs even and his hands were shaking with adrenalin for at least 5 minutes after. A good sign of things to come, and to think he wanted to move to another spot just prior to his hook up. I said to him, "Let's give this a couple more minutes." Needless to say we stayed there the rest of the day.
The bite continued strong as the day progressed with both artificial and live bait producing well. The bite was not limited to bass only as we also hooked into several catfish, a few mudfish and a good sized chain pickerel. It just proves my point that whenever you are fishing the Stick Marsh no matter how elusive they seem the possibility of your biggest bass ever can be just one cast away. Nice job Keith!
