The Stick Marsh and Farm 13 are two cells of one 6,500-acre impoundment — flooded native marsh full of standing timber on the north half (the Stick Marsh), flooded farm rows and irrigation ditches on the south (Farm 13). Officially the St. Johns Water Management Area, built in 1987 for the Upper St. Johns River Basin Project, it's run by the St. Johns River Water Management District; FWC manages the fishery. The water runs 4 to 8 feet deep; the Brevard county line crosses the northern half.
The spawn drives the calendar: bass push shallow February through April and the biggest fish of the year come mid-March into May. Summer is a dawn-and-dusk lake — FWC's forecast has bass in a classic morning/evening pattern, best on a calm, cool evening after the day's thunderstorms blow through. Bluegill and shellcracker feed and spawn along the perimeter levees all summer; crappie fishing runs slow in the heat and picks back up with cool water. Two practical notes rule every season here: afternoon storms build fast and the ramp can be a long, exposed run home, and there is essentially no cell service — plan like you're off-grid.
Plain English Summary
| Black bass | Catch-and-release only — every black bass must be released immediately, per FWC special regulation for the St. Johns Water Management Area (Farm 13, including the Stick Marsh). One of the very few Florida waters where you cannot keep a single bass. |
| Navigation | Submerged stumps, standing timber and old farm irrigation ditches lake-wide. FWC's official guidance: navigate with extreme caution. Locals run saved GPS tracks; the ramp canal is safe only dead-center. |
| Spoonbill rookery (CWA) | The Stick Marsh Critical Wildlife Area tree islands are closed year-round, and the in-water buffer and channel between the islands is closed to all entry January 1 – July 31. |
| Airboats | Allowed — the recreation area has a dedicated airboat ramp. (Next door on Headwaters Lake, airboats are prohibited and a 25-mph limit applies — different lake, different rules.) |
| Panfish & catfish | Statewide limits apply to crappie, bluegill, shellcracker and catfish; heed the DOH two-meals-per-week consumption guidance. |
| Full legal text | Official boating regulations → |
Is Stick Marsh the same as Headwaters Lake / Fellsmere Reservoir?
Can you keep bass at Stick Marsh?
Where do you launch, and does it cost anything?
Is it dangerous to boat here?
When can you see the roseate spoonbills?
What county is Stick Marsh in?
Are airboats allowed?
The Stick Marsh and Farm 13 are two cells of one 6,500-acre impoundment on the old Fellsmere Farms fields, flooded in 1987 to store and treat water for the Upper St. Johns River Basin Project — and famous since about 1990 as one of America's great trophy bass factories. The drowned timber and old irrigation ditches turned into prime spawning and ambush habitat, and the no-harvest rule has kept every bass in the water since. The name is the warning: the 'sticks' sit just under the surface of water that never gets much past eight feet deep. The north cell, the Stick Marsh proper, is flooded native marsh — the classic stump field. Farm 13, the south cell, is the old farm: submerged ditch grids and row edges that fish like man-made structure because they are.
Be at the Fellsmere Grade lot at gray light — five miles of gravel road, two lanes, 39 trailer spots, the only ramp on the water — then idle the canal dead-center and fish Farm 13's ditches off a saved track. The spawn drives the calendar: bass push shallow February through April, and the biggest fish come mid-March into May. Keep a rod rigged for shellcracker on the perimeter levees if the bass slow. The fishery got a rebuild in 2023, when FWC and the District ran the lake's first drawdown and planted 171,000 bulrush and spatterdock to restore the southern end's habitat. And look at the rookery islands off the parking lot before you leave — a few hundred roseate spoonbills at sunset, free.