Interesting Find

[crypt]

this behavior has been going on down there in that neck of the water since the Stick Marsh opened. now they got new water to work so the stupidity continues. When I come across a basket I contact FWC and destroy it. 

[TOXIC]

And just to add there’s a proposal on the table to pave the access road that is currently 4 miles of bone jarring, trailer and truck destroying washboard powder dust.  That’ll open the door for even more traffic.  Also, isn’t the ramp privately owned or on private property?  If the rules don’t get obeyed like no parking on the grass areas (even if you have a wrapped truck and boat) and trash all over the lot, then what?  Close the ramp? Make it a pay lake?  The bathroom was over the top disgusting when we were there with 5 or 6 bags of garbage inside along with fecal matter spread all over the place.  It was not pleasant.  You are right, the guides are making a killing right now but for how long? I told one of my local friends that we fish with that they need to set up a citizens group to help with all of these issues.  

[RipzLipz]

53 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

As far as those cages go, my guess is most likely for bass, held there only to be retrieved later on for CPR tournaments. Only reason I say that is because I've seen them many places before, same sorta thing. Poachers would just take the fish and then split. Besides, Headwaters is closed at night and there's no airboats allowed. So anything going on happens in daylight. There's not a large presence of FWC officers patrolling that place, so if someone wants to get away with something, they pretty much can. 

That’s why I mentioned the poachers - I’ve been to the area many times prior to HW existence. Figured someone wishing to lower the risk of being caught or observed could come back with an airboat at night - not much around to stop them from hopping a levy anywhere - or even a small aluminum boat with several PVC pipes (that’s how we did it from Big M into Stick Marsh to avoid the long drive).

 

I can’t speak to what may or may not happen regarding the removal of shiners. I know some of the local bait shops were cast netting from the older lakes for decades & selling them in their shops. Big bass were still there but I’m sure the numbers dwindled, as it does anywhere with heavy pressure.

 

Never quite understood what happened at Stick Marsh. A hurricane came through & did quite a bit of damage 20+ years ago. Prior to his death, Middleton told us it wiped out all the grass & went downhill from there. Who knows. Probably a combination of things. Pretty sad, regardless of what caused the drop off.

[A-Jay]

Just sad.

A-Jay

[Bigassbass]

Cheating at fishing tournaments is nothing new, it's been going on forever.  I fished a tournament one time and it was to be lie detector given to the winners.  That told me enough right there and they didn't have a machine set up for anything much less a lie detector.  Some guy gave my friend some big crappie he had caught and told her to weigh em in she might win.  We took them home and cooked them up, decided not to even check in to see who won.  That was my first and last tournament fishing.  Waste of money, people are sick cheats.  

[crypt]

they have been talking about paving the road for over 20 years......seems to hit a snag every time they try to start. what needs to be done is more enforcement when possible. I know the FWC is limited to manpower so the rest of us need to help when we can. have been fishing the area all my life and it's a shame when "jerks" make it bad for everyone. take pics when you can whenever you see a violation. I don't have a problem confronting someone when I have to. usually when I do that they go the other way. other time when they don't I start filming. that's when they really get up and go. 

[gim]

13 minutes ago, crypt said:

take pics when you can whenever you see a violation. I don't have a problem confronting someone when I have to

I’m not opposed to taking a photo but no chance I’m confronting someone about a possible violation. That’s what law enforcement is for. Attempting to confront someone can and does backfire. I don’t need to risk my own ass trying to tell someone that they’re committing a violation. I’d much rather report it instead.

 

This is coming from someone who enforces federal law on a daily basis too.

[Zcoker]

16 hours ago, TOXIC said:

And just to add there’s a proposal on the table to pave the access road that is currently 4 miles of bone jarring, trailer and truck destroying washboard powder dust.  That’ll open the door for even more traffic.  Also, isn’t the ramp privately owned or on private property?  If the rules don’t get obeyed like no parking on the grass areas (even if you have a wrapped truck and boat) and trash all over the lot, then what?  Close the ramp? Make it a pay lake?  The bathroom was over the top disgusting when we were there with 5 or 6 bags of garbage inside along with fecal matter spread all over the place.  It was not pleasant.  You are right, the guides are making a killing right now but for how long? I told one of my local friends that we fish with that they need to set up a citizens group to help with all of these issues.  

 

For the longest time, Headwaters was hardly known by anyone. About the only access was by the primitive kayak launch next to the Stickmarsh parking lot. And even at that, it was still rather mysterious and unknow and didn't attract a ton of people like it does nowadays. That's because it was kayaks only. No boats. Into the beginning of the boat ramp construction, Roland Martin was in the infancy of his YouTube channel. He got the idea to launch his Z21 at the Stickmarsh boat ramp and with his canoe anchored along one side of his boat, he'd zoom up to the first pump station near the 'enhanced area'. There, he'd tie off his bass boat, jump the levee with his canoe and gear in hand, and then proceed to make YouTube videos of him catching 8 pounders on Senkos and buzz frogs. It worked. He got a TON of attention. Word got out. Social media did what it always does and what it's still doing today: as long as Headwaters keeps consistently producing what it's producing--which is trophy size bass--then it's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. All these things of which we speak about here are going to get worse and worse or better and better. Just a matter of steering it in the right direction. So management is paramount, in my opinion, because it ain't going nowhere real soon unless the food source dies out or the bass themselves die out or, like the Stickmarsh, it just plain dies. 

[Zcoker]

17 hours ago, RipzLipz said:

That’s why I mentioned the poachers - I’ve been to the area many times prior to HW existence. Figured someone wishing to lower the risk of being caught or observed could come back with an airboat at night - not much around to stop them from hopping a levy anywhere - or even a small aluminum boat with several PVC pipes (that’s how we did it from Big M into Stick Marsh to avoid the long drive).

 

 

 

I've fished out there solo many nights all night in my kayak on Stickmarsh and have never seen anyone else out there, there or in the general area around Headwaters. About the only place that I've seen activity at night is on Kenansville lake. Airboats idle around the wood-line with floodlights until about 1am and then they leave. I have no idea in the world what they're doing, maybe frogging? Sometimes I have my doubts about that because the floodlights always seem to be aimed at the upper tree-line. The rest of the night is very quiet except for the toads and critters and all kinds of funky sounds that I've never heard before lol. 

[TnRiver46]

Bow fishing is what airboats do here 

[Zcoker]

17 hours ago, TOXIC said:

And just to add there’s a proposal on the table to pave the access road that is currently 4 miles of bone jarring, trailer and truck destroying washboard powder dust.  

 

14 hours ago, crypt said:

they have been talking about paving the road for over 20 years......seems to hit a snag every time they try to start

 

They paved the road to Kenansville instead, Fellsmere Grade Road, nice and smooth now. Although only half was done, it's still a MASSIVE difference. That original 12 mile stretch to Kenansville Lake made the road to Headwaters Lake seem like a cake walk. My truck used to get so jarred up, sensor warning lights would start flashing. Much better now. Ironically, traffic is still about the same, which is hardly none. 

 

 

 

 

[crypt]

9 hours ago, Zcoker said:

 

 

They paved the road to Kenansville instead, Fellsmere Grade Road, nice and smooth now. Although only half was done, it's still a MASSIVE difference. That original 12 mile stretch to Kenansville Lake made the road to Headwaters Lake seem like a cake walk. My truck used to get so jarred up, sensor warning lights would start flashing. Much better now. Ironically, traffic is still about the same, which is hardly none. 

 

 

 

 

makes it more enjoyable to go there.love the place. 

[Zcoker]

13 hours ago, crypt said:

makes it more enjoyable to go there.love the place. 

 

Yes it does. Many including myself thought the original road kept many folks off that lake. But I haven't seen any increase in traffic on the lake with the new paving, still looks about the same every time I go out there. 

[TOXIC]

So is Kenansville worth a day the next time we go down?  One of the years we went to Kissimmee, there was an Elite Series tournament or at least practice week and one of the pros (I can’t remember who), invited us to follow them over to that lake. S aid the bite was on fire while Kissimmee was fishing tough.  

[Mike L]

5 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

So is Kenansville worth a day the next time we go down?  One of the years we went to Kissimmee, there was an Elite Series tournament or at least practice week and one of the pros (I can’t remember who), invited us to follow them over to that lake. S aid the bite was on fire while Kissimmee was fishing tough.  

Absolutely!

That and Blue Cypress. 
 

The fishing is better at times than Headwaters with a lot less pressure and traffic 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[TOXIC]

That’s funny because we have stayed the last 2 years on a canal on Blue Cypress.  Rooms back up to a canal we could tie up on.  We were always told Blue Cypress was a lot tougher and shallower.  Next year I found a studio apartment on a private horse farm 2 miles from the access road.  

[WRB]

Ray Scott set up the blind partner draw derbies for B.A.S.S. to help eliminate caged bass cheating and it worked!

As long as prize money is involved a small group of anglers find a way to cheat.

We had bass events where cheating was involved in California last year. We have a lot of smaller regional team tournaments, Opens are blind draw events with big prize money. 

Tom

 

 

[Zcoker]

2 hours ago, TOXIC said:

So is Kenansville worth a day the next time we go down?  One of the years we went to Kissimmee, there was an Elite Series tournament or at least practice week and one of the pros (I can’t remember who), invited us to follow them over to that lake. S aid the bite was on fire while Kissimmee was fishing tough.  

 

Kenansville is always worth a day...or night. Just as many trophy fish there as there is in Headwaters.  I actually do better at night at Kenansville and prefer to be on the water near sunset and usually fish all night. Most of those bass live in tunnels under the hydrilla and during the daytime aren't seen that much but after the sun goes down, hold on! 

 

Sunset over Kenansville

 

 

My campsite to sleep during the daytime. 

 

 

 

[TOXIC]

We also drove right by Garcia on our way to Headwaters from Blue Cypress.  

[Zcoker]

Yep. Garcia is also nice. Great boat ramp as well as parking facilities. Fished it many time. Can clog up big time if not careful. Even the mud boats can have a hard time blowing through that stuff. 

[crypt]

4 hours ago, TOXIC said:

So is Kenansville worth a day the next time we go down?  One of the years we went to Kissimmee, there was an Elite Series tournament or at least practice week and one of the pros (I can’t remember who), invited us to follow them over to that lake. S aid the bite was on fire while Kissimmee was fishing tough.  

absolutely..........