Fished this afternoon starting about 4:00. I went to the meadow first where there were schools and schools of  gizzard shad. Each time a bird flew over they would scatter and sound like a bass passed through the middle of them. The water was beautiful and clear but you had to dodge the balls of floating fire ants. A whopper plopper and a swimbait were the two baits I used there but no interest was shown by the fish. Leaving there I went all the way to the levee in the upper lake where there were more shad. There is no reason in the world for a 2 pound and up bass in Lake Ferguson to bite an artificial lure because there are so many gizzard shad 6 to 9 inches long. I fished a long stretch of the levee with a swimbait, which you had to use due to the trash. Again no interest. In the distant past I have caught fish with a worm around the large cottonwood trees that grow on the large sandbar in the upperlake. I fixed up a shaky head and caught one around the first tree and the second one too. They were not large but I thought I had found them. Had one other bite on the shaky head and a smaller one hit at my swim jig twice and missed getting hooked. Found a couple and that was it but I got some good ideas for next time.

It was still dark when I got there and was just right when I started fishing. I didn’t start where I caught  the large fish last time but in a very similar place. The fish were not in a similar mood however and were not where I had anticipated. Since they were not in the lily pads, I tried just out from them in the sticks. I caught a couple and got some bites on the swimbait but the fish were small. Some other water in the 4 to 8 foot range has been good in the past for me and sure enough there were a few fish to be had there. The lake was slick and beautiful so every now and then I had to break out the Ribbit for a few casts in the good looking spots but no takers. The flats with 4 to 8 foot water and some wood were where the fish were but all were small. To start off the weather was clear but soon the clouds came in and then a light sprinkle of rain. Later in the afternoon the sun came back out and I was forced to take off the rain gear and put on the sun protection. When the sun came out it was over, no more bites even in a couple of good places. I had two things happen today that have never happened to me on Monticello. The first was I heard a turkey gobble. You would think on a lake surrounded by woods you would have heard a lot of turkeys gobble but today was the first. Gobbled probably 70 times. The second thing was I had a fish pull my swimbait off of a hangup. I had quit trying to get it loose and all of a sudden it ran away because a fish had it. I tried to set the hook but cane up with nothing. The total for the day was 14 bass and a stripe most caught on a swimbait but 2 on a DT-4 and one on a Ribbit. I don’t know where in the world the big fish are over there.

I awakened this morning early and looked at the radar on my phone. It looked like I had enough time to go fishing at Monticello until 2:00 and take my hybrid trolling motor for a shakedown cruise. The linkage on my Motor Guide was worn badly and had a lot of slack in it. When you hit the button, it made a loud “cluck” when all the slack came out. A friend gave me a Minn Kota about the same size as mine. The head was broken but not to worry, I put the linkage on my boat and wrapped my Motor guide shaft with a piece of inner tube and put it on the Minn Kota linkage . Here is what it looked like:

It was solid as a rock. When I hit the button I had to look to make sure the motor was running.  If you want to change the depth of the motor it’s a little more difficult because I had to tape the inner tube to the shaft. Those little rubber anchors that hold the motor to the boat became very loose about mid morning and I thought the motor was in danger of coming off the boat. It took me a good while to get it all tightened down properly. I think it’s going to work well.

Now for fishing. The wind was forecast to be blowing hard this morning early and the weather man was right on. I had a plan to fish some favorite calm water but when I launched I saw some very close and proceeded to fish it with my Ribbit. After a few casts a good fish pounced on it and a 5 – 6 came in the boat. Just a few casts later a 5 – 0 scarfed up my Ribbit. It seemed it was going to be like days of old on Lake Monticello. But as usually happens they toned it down and after one more bite the Florida Bass went into hiding and did not come back out until noon. By then I had switched to a swimbait. The little fish were driving me crazy by biting but not holding on. I actually saw a better bass (3 lb estimated) when it hit. Today was the first time I have used that rod and reel in a long time. When I set the hook the line snapped due to a frozen drag. After it was loosened and some line pulled out it was fine but that fish was gone along with the bait. Early the big fish were behind the pads in the clear shallow water. You had to throw all the way to the bank to get a bite. They were only there early and left at the slightest sign of light. If I go again soon it will be ‘fo day. I ended up with 7 bass.

Here is why. I’ve been behind every tree.

75 was forecast for a high today but Jackson and I froze our butts off until we quit about 3:00 today. We got to Monticello early this morning and started fishing in a spot where the wind would be bad later in the day. A swimbait and a crankbait managed to coax a couple of small ones to the boat.  We caught bass in the pads on the last trip so we tried it again but nothing. A drift over a shallow flat was the best thing we did all day. It was a one here one there sort of day early but after lunch it was a none here none there day. We ended up with seven, the largest a little under 3 pounds.

The lake was at the perfect level for the spots I thought would be good. What was not perfect was the Northeast wind. The first spot  was one that I caught 11 in on the last trip. It did not take long to catch one there on a DT-16. I became a little optimistic but it was to no avail. I switched to a XD-5 at the next spot, which was where I caught 5 on the last trip but only one small bass. The water temperature was 61 degrees on top but that small bass was cold.  I then crossed the lake and caught another small one on the XD-5 but only one small one in that spot. Right down the lake another small one was caught on a worm. Getting desperate, a Carolina rig came out for what I know to be a good section of bank. Nothing. So then I trolled back down that section of bank with a 300 Bandit and again nothing. The bandit would not hit the bottom in 12 feet but started bouncing at 11. I watched the depthfinder and varied the depth from 11 to 16 feet. The 300 Bandit is a bait that is relatively hard to cast because the angled bill causes it to ‘windmill” when you cast it, thus creating a backlash so if I lost it there would be no great loss. Total of 4 bass for the day. Not too great.

I went to Ferguson this morning after early church. That put me up the lake talking to Tom and his son at 10:30. They had been there about 30 minutes and they already had 8 fish. When I put in they were the only truck at the landing. After a short conversation I headed to my starting spot and had a DT-10 on. It had no interest so I put on an XD-5 because that is what Tom and his son were using. It took me a long time to put the first fish in the boat. After the first couple there was a lull in the bite but later it picked back up. I tried to call Tom but cell coverage was spotty. As the bite picked up, I began to get more optimistic but I soon slowed and I left that spot. The wind was blowing pretty hard and when you say fluorocarbon and wind in the same sentence there is a backlash. The XD-5 is not as good at laying out on the wind as a DT-10 is so I put on a DT-16 to see if it would equal the 10. It did and with a small reel adjustment the casting problems were solved. In my new spot I wanted to cast toward the shallows and pull to the deep but the wind was in the exactly wrong direction. I put the boat in 12 feet of water and made casts parallel to the drop, sometimes out a little bit and sometimes in. Soon I hung something heavy that I thought might have been a large gar. When a large bass came up and jumped it surprised me so much I shouted. It was a fat with eggs female that weighed 5 3/4. I was eager to get her back in the water so no photo. Later I felt a tap tap on the DT-16 and on the third tap I hung a 3 3/4 . Almost every bite down that stretch of bank was the tap tap variety. Down that stretch I caught 5 fish but on the second trip there was not even a bite. I figured the bite was over for the day so at 4:30 I left with 16 fish and an FOD of 5 3/4. The top 5 were 20 pounds even. Tom and his son caught 19 with a FOD of 4 pounds.

The photo is not of a large fish but one that had black spots all over. I’ve seen them before but not very often. Catch and release works ! This afternoon I caught one weighing 4 pounds even that had a boo boo on the side of his jaw where it had been hooked before. When I weighed it the membrane at the top of its mouth where I hook my scale had already been punctured. I have fished that spot a good bit in the last few months and I guarantee either Mickey or I have caught that fish and weighed it. Maybe we can catch it again.

Hal and Richard fished Beaverdam on Monday. Hal caught two 5 1/2’s and a 6 1/4 or maybe it was two 5 1/4’s and a 6 1/2 I can’t remember exactly. Dyslexia strikes at old age. Whichever it is, it’s real good. He caught them on a Strike King Rage Blade swim jig with some sort of crawfish trailer.

Jackson made a “forced march” back home from a party in Little Rock and met me at the landing at Monticello at about 7:30 Sunday morning. He had a new assortment of new swimbaits that he wanted to try so that is what he had on to start. I of course had on a trusty 1/4 ounce Booyah spinnerbait with a golden shiner skirt. The  G/S skirt due to the clarity of the water in Monticello. I wanted something that the fish couldn’t see so well and determine it was a bait rather than something to eat.  The starting water temp was 55 degrees but in the shallower areas during the day it was 65. Due to the unseasonable warm weather the lily pads have grown a little thicker than normal. The Booyah connected with a small one but was having problems going through the pads. Jackson had some bites on a variety of swimbaits so I changed to a Basspro speed shad swimbait. We caught fish in the shallow areas but none were of much size. They were probably all male fish that were in preparation for the spawn. Only two of the fish we caught all day had a protruding belly and were probably females and they were the co-FODs at around 2 1/2 pounds each.  Hal emailed me that on March 9th 2006 when I caught a 9 1/2 in Monticello on my first trip there, according to his records the water temp was 55 degrees. Armed with that info we headed for the very log that the big one came from. When the bait came over the limb and started to sink, I felt a “tic” just like on the 9 1/2. I set the hook but only another small one came out. That “tic” really had the adrenaline flowing for a split second. Some of Jackson’s swimbaits were large which started the discussion of were they too large. The question was answered by a small fish that was caught on my swimbait. The bait was over half as long as the fish. I really like the speed shads. They do not have the “thump” of the Bass Magic swimbaits but have a good swimming motion and have hook slots bottom and top. Their hookup ratio is very good. We quit at 4:30 with 15 bass, all released of course.

As I drove to the private hole this morning it was raining lightly. I was undecided if my personal forecast was accurate. I thought the rain was going to split and go North and South of us but I was not sure. The weather finally broke off around 10:30 and the first cast was at 11:15. None of the places or the baits from the last trip worked. The water had warmed to 55 degrees at the start. I caught the first fish on a swimbait on a jig head. Next, the old standby Booyah came out and had a couple of nips. Continuing with it, I finally found a spot where the fish had been hiding and caught fish pretty quickly. That lasted one pass because when the second pass came by there was nothing. No way I could have fished out those treetops. The fish just retreated back down to their hideout. On fish number 15, I put my pliers on my belt and thought I may have put the Hoo Doo on myself. Sure enough, that was the last bite until I decided to leave. When I was finishing up, I saw a bass knock a bream up on the bank about 100 yards away. The trolling motor has a new battery for power so it did not take long to get to the spot. Several casts later with the Booyah there was still nothing. I was just in the right place to make a good cast so I hurriedly reeled in the bait across the top of the water. One thought it was going to get away and it came up and nailed the bait. 16 was the final count with a 3 – 14 FOD. Final water temp 61 degrees.