Fun at Marben PFA

[Koz]

Although I'm fortunate to live on Lake Sinclair, kayak fishing out there is not a lot of fun in the summer. Sinclair is a dammed up river, and it's very narrow. With all of the pontoon boots and jet skis it can make for a frustrating time fishing from a kayak.

 

Earlier this year, @Hook2Jaw turned me on to Georgia Public Fishing Areas (PFA's). These are small, man made lakes that are stocked with different fish species. I had fished Ocmulgee PFA a few times, and it's known for holding big bass. I caught a 21" LMB there last month. It's a fun and tough place to fish with all of the standing timber and Cypress trees. It's also about a 90 minute drive from my house. What I like about the PFA's is that even if a boat fished there they are limited to idle speed only.

 

Maybe these PFA's get pressure in the spring, but this summer I've only seen a few boats or kayaks each time I've been to one. That's a nice reprive from the boat traffic on the big lakes.

 

I was all set to head there this morning, but at the last minute I changed my mind and decided to try the Marben PFA, which is only 45 minutes from my house. The website states there are 20 different ponds there, ranging from 1 acre to 95 acres. A handful of them have boat ramps, although a few of them look rather sketchy on Google maps. Today I fished one of the larger bodies of water, Boyle Lake Number Five, which is also known as Fox.

 

I arrived before sunrise and as soon as I opened the hatch to my Bronco I was inundated with bugs, so much that I had to pull up my gaiter. The headlamp made it worse, so I went back in the truck until the sun came up a little. As this was my first time fishing here and there is a lot of standing timber, I was not planning to launch in the dark anyway.

 

I was the only one at the ramp until just after I launched and a jon boat hit the water. They headed northeast while I planned the longer southeast leg pushing back to where a creek flowed into the lake. Without a depth map and with all of that standing timber I took it slow, mainly looking around for isolated, standing timber and drop offs. This is where I'm glad to have FFS because I can take it slow and pan around. I was near the shoreline throwing a buzzbait along the way. I really didn't see much in the way of larger fish on FFS.

 

I pushed to the back of the creek where the water was cooler but saw nothing. When I turned back I headed down the center of the channel and suddenly it was game on. There were balls of shad everywhere. And I mean everywhere. For the next 90 minutes I toss a Zoom Super Fluke or a Crush City Freeloader into the shad storm and get bit. Then the bait would disperse and I'd here or see blowups a few hundred feet away and chase them down - or get distracted by a different bait ball. Between seeing the blowups on the surface or seeing the bait on FFS I was keeping busy.

 

I didn't even bother counting how many I caught. Most were between 14" and 17". Nothing big at all, but it was a blast to chase, cast, and get bit. Even when it started getting really hot close to noon the bass and the bait were still active.

 

One good thing about today was I git to try out my new Ketch board system. I bought a Ketch keeper and now have the board attached to my Blackpack within easy reach. The board is also attached to a tether clipped to my seat. So I can easily reach back, grab the board (and not worry about dropping it in the water and having it sink to the bottom). I also added the Ketch ID so I don't have to try and hold the fish and the tournament ID card at the same time. I lost too many fish in tournaments trying to get the picture taken. Grabbing the camera is still a pain. I need to try and rig some sort of flip up arm with the camera already mounted.

 

Speaking of cameras, I brought my GoPro and GoPro knock off, but didn't use them. I just plain forgot to set them up. The GoPro goes on a mount behind my seat and the other one will be mounted on a chest harness. I have a third knock off that I might mount on the rail facing me. And no, I don't want to be a YouTube fishing guy. I'm making these for my son. When my dad passed away I realized I didn't have many pictures or videos of him. Now that I turn 60 later this year, I want my son to have some videos of me doing something that I enjoy.

 

The picture below are just a small bass with my new Ketch setup and another FFS showing one of the smaller baitfish groupings at the end of the morning frenzy.

 

I'm definitely heading back there next week to try one of the other lakes.

 

[GreenPig]

Excellent. Marben is a neat place and one of the ponds produced an 18.1 in 87.

[Koz]

38 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Excellent. Marben is a neat place and one of the ponds produced an 18.1 in 87.

Wow - that a biggun!

 

I bet there's a big one or two in one of the smaller ponds in the woods. Someday I may have to bring my pedal kayak out to those and give them a try.

[GreenPig]

Here's a 17 lb 4oz caught out of Margery in 1990.

[fin]

A fishing buddy used to tell me tales of how great that place used to be, as recent as 2010 or so. He said he caught like 50 or so in a day, fishing from the bank. On his more recent trips, he was skunked after traveling over an hour to get there. I get the impression it gets heavy pressure. You know how it is, you get a legendary reputation, and that's the curse of doom.

 

At least those lakes are stocked regularly, or so I assume, since it’s a WMA. The results you got go along with that. The fish probably aren’t being allowed to grow to a good size before they’re being yanked out of there.

 

Did you see any game wardens while you were there? I would imagine they enforce the law a little better there than other state park lakes, but I don’t know, the wardens are still spread thin.

[Koz]

36 minutes ago, fin said:

 

Did you see any game wardens while you were there? I would imagine they enforce the law a little better there than other state park lakes, but I don’t know, the wardens are still spread thin.

I didn’t see anyone from DNR out there. I saw only 3 other boats out there all day.

 

So far I have fished 3 different PFA’s and the most I have seen is a handful of boats. I would think that most of the fishing pressure comes from people fishing limited locations on the banks.

 

Then again, the heat index is consistently 100+ this time of year and maybe some of the regulars at these places are staying home.

 

I bring plenty of fluids with me and my wicking clothing does a pretty good job keeping me from burning up.

[fin]

The heat is definitely affecting turnout where I fish.

 

Those lakes are kind of out in the boonies, so I don't understand why they would be so pressured, but then look how far you drove, and you plan to return. I think it's usually bank pressure that does the most damage, but I can't imagine a lot of people driving way out there to fish from the bank.

 

Maybe the decline in fishing there was due to something else. I know they drain individual lakes there sometimes, maybe it was something like that.

 

Good luck next week. Looking forward to another report. I've always been curious about the place, but not curious enough to make the drive.

[Koz]

12 hours ago, fin said:

The heat is definitely affecting turnout where I fish.

 

Those lakes are kind of out in the boonies, so I don't understand why they would be so pressured, but then look how far you drove, and you plan to return. I think it's usually bank pressure that does the most damage, but I can't imagine a lot of people driving way out there to fish from the bank.

 

Maybe the decline in fishing there was due to something else. I know they drain individual lakes there sometimes, maybe it was something like that.

 

Good luck next week. Looking forward to another report. I've always been curious about the place, but not curious enough to make the drive.

How far of a drive for you?

 

There are a few PFA’s I want to check out that are 2-3 hours away so I will probably plan an overnight trip and fish them for two days.

[fin]

You can spend the night there, I think.

 

It's about the same trip for me, but that's going through Atlanta, so you never know 😬.

 

If I went, I'd probably go in Feb/March, or Sept/October.

[Koz]

I just thought of something about Marben today. Lake Margery, which produced some huge bass in the past, was drained and is closed right now.

 

I’m assuming they relocated the fish to the two adjacent ponds, Boyle #2 and Murder Creek Lake. Since Murder Creek is much larger, my guess is that’s where the majority were relocated. That’s where I’m fishing next.

 

Murder Creek Lake has a ramp, but Boyle #2 does not and it looks like that road is gated. I may have to bring a cart and my pedal kayak for that one.

 

 

[fin]

That would be interesting to watch how they move those fish. I guess they drain down to a certain level then shock and net them? Probably some wallowing around in the mud involved.