Lake Ferguson was 26.9 feet and the water temperature was 83 degrees when I left the ramp at daylight. I was the first boat out. Plenty more followed. There were big gar rolling in the first place I stopped so I went to the “found” bait box and came out with a 3 inch Balsa B that I have used before but never caught a fish on.  I caught 3 right off the bat with it, one was 3 1/2 pounds. I then tried to find a sunken boat and succeeded to get my bait securely hung in 9 feet of water. After trying both the long pole that I carry and the lure retriever you hang on the line with no luck, I had to break the line.  My lost and found lure was lost again but momentarily it came floating to the top, found again.  At another spot the bass were running bream up on the bank and I was able to catch 2 more there, one being a pretty, fat little Lake Ferguson 2 pounder.

The next stop yielded a 4 – 9 on the same “found” 3 inch” B”.

After fishing multiple good places with no luck, I proceeded to the South end, where I intended to check on a place where a bass hung me up in an ironwood bush and caused me to have to break off a brand new DT – 10.  I saw a line in one of the bushes, pulled on it, and there it was.

In the second photo, it’s the one on the right. It looked good after a scrubbing with a toothbrush. The hooks will get replaced and it will see duty on the next trip.  I stumbled into one more fish to make a total of 7. The best 5 weighed a little over 15 1/2 pounds.  If I go again soon, I will quit at 9:00, because in the last few trips to Ferguson two fish have been caught after that hour.

I went to Beaverdam, of Nash Buckingham fame, today with Richard. It’s a beautiful spot full of cypress trees and a lot of green duckweed that plays a large part in the fishing. The duckweed moves around the lake, flowing with the wind, and the fish will get in the “moss current” to seek out food.  Here is a photo of my host and the scenery as we stopped to have a snack for lunch.

We caught most of the 21 bass by “dipping and dunking”, a technique Richard has developed for fishing in Beaverdam with a worm.  He uses a worm with a paddle tail or a Paca Craw with a light weight. With a spinning rod he flips it to the trees and swims the worm back without it dragging on the bottom. We caught some close to the boat just “doodlesocking” it around the trees. The water there is not very clear and a result is the fish are not afraid of the boat. If they hit it and miss, they will hit it again most of the time if they don’t feel the hook. A few were caught on a Ribbit frog. Richard looked in the door of one of the duck blinds and saw an otter peering out at us.  It bailed out and swam to a nearby log where it had its photo taken.

The weather cooperated with a little breeze and some occasional clouds to block the sun. It was a good day of fishing.

Gayden Bishop’s friend Edward from the UK came to visit this week. Of course we had to go to Catfish and one morning to the garhole to fish. Again, of course, the bait we used was a Ribbit frog. I caught the first fish which turned out to be the FOD, a beautiful 4 lb 1 oz garhole bass .

We ended up catching 10 by 9:00. Edward got the hang of the Ribbit after a couple of strikes. The first ones scared him when the stillness was broken by a violent strike, one relatively close to the boat.

He ended up catching 3.  I cheated by having a worm on one of my rods and caught 3 or 4 on it.  We had a great time except the alligator never showed. We had seen him the afternoon before on our evening ride.

John has struck again.  He caught 59 Saturday, again on a shakey head worm. The FOD was 4 with the average size around 2 pounds. He’s wearing them out while I’m floundering on Lake Ferguson.

The game plan was changed almost completely this morning except for starting at the place where I’ve been catching the few fish that have cooperated.  That place is now burned out and has become a community spot.  Both perchjerkers and bass fishermen have descended on it.  Some of the alternative places I intended to fish were in the upper lake so that was my second stop. While fishing the ironwood bushes on the shallow side, I saw some activity in the shallow water and went for it with a “found” rattletrap type bait. I caught three there but none were much to write home about.  There were a good many “bumps with no hookup.

One of the small ones gave that desperate shake and even though my hand was, what I thought a safe distance from the hooks,  hooked me on the back of my right wrist. Thank goodness there are not many nerves there. It felt like the fish was hanging from my watch band. The fish continued to try to shake and each time I squeezed even harder with my left hand. I finally removed the hooks from its mouth and threw it overboard.  The pliers came out and the fish had wiggled so much the hook came right out without the snatch. Not even enough blood with this one to take a picture.  Up until this year I had never been stuck, but two times in a few months is getting to be a bad habit.

I continued to work the upper lake even marking some spots after running the depth finder and locating a break in the depth. That did not work either.

Finally I went back to the main lake and caught one more along with a few stripes for Willie. I stayed until 12:30, I think just because I don’t like to get beat like that.

Mickey and I went to Lake Ferguson this morning. We were the first ones at the wharf and rode down the lake in the dark.  It took a flashlight to clip our baits on.  The place where I did fairly well the other day was a zero but close by  we had some luck. The first one I caught on a DT – 10 was the FOD at 4 – 1. We caught a few more there but not much size.   All the spots on the South end were at just the right depth. Evidently the fish didn’t know what the right depth was or they had not heard because none were present.  We ran back to our starting point but only a tighteye or two was willing to cooperate. We caught 8 total and were back at the wharf at 9 a.m. .  There were many dead fish all over the lake. Most were the jumping Asian Carp. The commercial fishermen are tranquilizing them when they get caught in their nets.  A big thanks to them.

The bass are biting, even in the heat.  Early in the morning has been a good time. Lately by 9 a.m. it’s over.  John Eddleman emailed to tell that he caught about 45 Saturday, in one of his secret spots. The fish were caught on a worm.  If I go any time soon, around 9 will be my cutoff time.

It’s been 14 days since my last fishing trip. This is what greeted me this morning when I stepped out the door.

A large spider and when I stepped on it, little spiders went everywhere. Lake Ferguson was 31.8 feet.  By 8 a.m. I had caught 7 bass and was thinking I was going to tear them up. Not to be. I never caught another fish. Had one almost to the boat but it got off.

This is the 5–2 FOD.

The Garhole was looking good this morning.  You can see the brown on the bank where the water has fallen by about 18 inches. As hot as it was today, the water has to be evaporating at a rapid rate. The surface temperature was 93 degrees when I quit.

The bass were biting a Ribbit early but later I had to resort to a worm. I used the last two of my favorite kind. Digging into the side of my tackle bag where the plastics are stored I came across a purple worm with a red tail. Tom Mann made worms back in the 70’s with fruit flavors and a red tail. You could smell them when the package was opened. Mickey immediately named them” firetail smellyworms”. These did not smell nor were they from the 70’s  but I started to use them.

The first fish I caught was only slightly longer than the worm. The bream gave me fits for they seem to like the red tail and would grab it and run making me think it was a bass. I caught 23 bass and 2 grinners, to which I gave a hoe handle sedative. The FOD was 3 – 1. The size ran a little smaller than the last couple of trips.  About noon I had a visitor.

Same gator as the last trip. When he saw the boat, he came swimming up like I was a long lost friend.  I didn’t particularly like the fact that it showed no fear of humans. Not too bad now at 5 – 6 feet long but what about when it gets to 12 – 14?  I got the camera out and took the photos and then got my 11 foot boathook. It had moved a small amount so I trolled over closer.

I wanted to hit it just behind the head just to scare it and make it more afraid. When I came down with the lick, it saw it coming and made a crash dive out of the way.  I never saw it again.

We returned from a 4175 mile driving trip yesterday.  Maine was beautiful and cool, cold one day.

On top of Cadillac Mountain, highest elevation on the East Coast, 1530 feet.

View across Penobscot Bay from the car.

Lichen growing on  rocks were everywhere.

The people in Maine cherish the summer time and have some beautiful flower gardens. This guy was hanging out in one of them.  As with the return from any trip there is much catchup to deal with but I hope to start fishing soon.