Fishing trip March 2010 report

[artesian]

After using a guide for a fishing trip in 2009 we decided to pull down our own boat and do our own trip. We left NJ at 4pm on 3/2. We were able to pull into our hotel after 17.5 hrs and 1110 miles later. Our goal was to fish Stick Marsh, Farm 13, Canal 54 and Lake Garcia. we were able to get a few our in our first day but didn't catch much. 3/3 is when we did the best on Stick Marsh. I caught a 7 and 5 lb bass. My friend also caught a 6lb. Now the cold front came in and really messed things up for us. With lows in the mid 30's and high into only the 60's and relentless winds the rest of the week, the fishing got tough. 3/4 produced 4 fish total on Stick Marsh and canal 54. We decided to head to Lake Garcia on 3/5 and showed promising signs early in the day but as luck would have it we only caught 5 fish on the day. Our last day was spent on canal 54 which produced 4 fish all late in the day as things warmed some. Overall even though the fishing wasn't great we are allready planning next years trip. Trip home was uneventful and made it back in 16.5 hrs. For those guys thinking of doing a trip on your own I say go for it. we were able to do a trip for $300 less each and doubled the amount of fishing we did verses hiring a guid. I would recommend however is picking a lake and reading up on it to see where to fish and any recommendations people suggestions. We unfortunatley were stung by very poor conditions and an unusally cold winter in FL.