I went on the net and reviewed the results of the BFL tournament held on Lake Guntersville while we were there.  Of the boaters, day 1 had 39 zeros, day 2 had 89 zeros out of 109 entrants. Of the non boaters, there were 63 and 92 zeros out of 109. Only 20  boaters and 17 non boaters caught a keeper on day 2.  After seeing that, I don’t feel too bad. The 5 top boaters have won between $51,000 and $26,000 fishing tournys, good fishermen. The winner also had the big fish @ 7 1/2 pounds that I’m sure put him in first place.

Thursday, Mickey and I went to Lake Guntersville . We had reservations at The Ossa Win Tha Resort which was a five roach, as opposed to a five star resort. The word resort is a little generous. For the record we saw no roaches or mice or evidence thereof but we had to go back in to the Walmart and get some towels. There was a lot of good hot water and a good selection of TV channels. Grungy would describe the stove top   and you had to have good balance to go to the potty. Pictures of both:The beds were quite soft, especially after a full day of fishing. Speaking of which,  we went to the on premises ramp and before we put the boat in the bass started hitting  less than 100 yards away. From 4 p.m. to dark we caught 16, mostly on ribbits, including a 5 – 0.  The next day the wind had changed and it was colder and bluebird. The bass would hit the ribbit but with no gusto resulting with a pitiful 5 bass day.  The next day we went to the Goose Pond and got in the middle of a FLW or BFL tournament that had a field of ~ 70 boats. We caught a few that morning so we went back to the “Resort” to fish our humps of grass there. Again the afternoon was good and we ended the day with 18 including this 4 – 13 that hit Mickey’s ribbit as hard as any bass I’ve ever seen. Sunday we stayed at the “Resort” spot but the wind was adverse. All that smooth water behind Mickey in the photo had turned into large waves. We tried to drift through and fish but we had to surf the ribbit down the waves. Surprisingly they would still bite the ribbit in those conditions. The fish were schooling so when they airballed they did not come back if you just let your bait sit.  We had a lot of bites but only got 10 fish in the boat.  It took 6 bites for me to get the first fish in the boat. We were a little disappointed in the fishing but most could be blamed on the weather. A final view of cabin number 6:

That’s what Mickey and I caught in Lake Ferguson this afternoon.  None big. Largest was 2-14. I’m gaining, an ounce at a time. I kept three and have already devoured one. Seviche for the rest. One I kept was over my 14 inch limit but I needed one more. We got to the spot around 3:30 and things appeared to be winding down. Caught most right away and then nothing for the rest of the afternoon.  The River is going to rise briskly starting tomorrow and go from 20.6 now to somewhere around 25.   “Edit” now it’s forecast for over 27.  With all the rain the inland lakes are going to be muddy so where am I going to fish? Guess I’ll have to travel.  Mickey and I are going to Lake Guntersville next week.

If you go fishing with a rattle trap this is what you can expect to hear before the day is over ” Jump, rattle, rattle, rattle, REJECTED!!” You will hear it a lot more if you don’t change out the hooks to some  sharp Gamakatsus.  It seems like a rattle trap inspires a bass to make a Bass Olympics qualifying jump each time.  The first fish I hooked today rejected me and I had to laugh. It was about 2 pounds and the hooks had not been changed.  Quickly I changed to one with good hooks and had pretty good success until about the middle of the time they were biting well. Then another “2-13” sized bass made a spectacular leap and slung the trap back hard enough for it to skip two times before it hit the boat. Had to laugh again. Toward the end of the day one about 4 1/2 gave me the reject. Didn’t laugh that time. Eighteen was the day’s total, with a FOD (that didn’t get away) at 4 1/2.  Had 4 others over 3 and a lot of 2-13s. Here’s one that did not throw the hook. It inhaled the trap.I forgot to add I was on Lake Ferguson.

I just refurbished and expanded my rod rack.  There is a shelf for the butt of the rod to sit on and a pool noodle cut halfway through to hold the top part of the rod. Here is the photo.

Little did I know when I went to Ferguson (18.2) that it was on a slight rise.   It’s actually down 1/10 since yesterday morning but has risen a good deal since yesterday afternoon. That small rise must have affected the fish because they were not as active as yesterday.  Since I went earlier than yesterday, I got out my clown colored spook first thing.  I caught one on the first cast.  From that I figured I was going to tear them up about 9 a.m. because they bit yesterday around 8.  Even though the wind had a little chop on the water they would still hit the clown.  The fish were scattered and I never saw them come up and start to bust the shad.  Worked up and down a stretch of bank as best I could because there was a guy up there that was lusting for my spot. I could not range too far or he would horn in on it.  When they quit the spook, 2 or 3 hit a rattle trap in the shallow water. Not a one bit the small crankbait that was so deadly on them yesterday.  Of the 15 fish caught, 4 were over 3 and most were close.  Dink numbers were low.  The FOD was 3 3/4.  If it starts back falling I may try again tomorrow. It’s a nice quick trip.  I get a charge every time one hits that spook. Had one on today that jumped, rattled the spook, and got off. I just laughed.

I paid a visit to the Bass pro Shop in Pearl yesterday and came home with a new 7 foot medium action IM-6 Graphite Series rod, among a few other things. I had a list of things I needed, so I didn’t go overboard.  I had an extra Shimano Citica that I put on the new rod. The Citica was extra because I broke out an old 5500C to go on a cranking rod so the Citica would not get worn out. That story could go on forever.

When I stopped to fish in the first spot (Ferguson 18.3) this morning I had a small “found” Bomber crankbait (EDIT- I found the name on it. It is a Rebel Deep Crank-R) on a spinning rod. I like to use it sometimes in Ferguson because the silver carp are bad about taking my DT-6s. After I had caught a couple of fish, I put the bait on my new rod.  Caught a fish on the first two casts, and almost every one for about 15 more. They were hitting it like a freight train going the other way, as only Lake Ferguson bass can do. I had 20 by 9 a.m..  When they stopped hitting the crankbait, the clown spook jr. came out and they struck at it too.  Some hit and some missed but this one scarfed it. I ended up with 30 bass, most between 2 and 4-13, which was the FOD.  There were a lot in the 2-13 slot but 5 were over 3 and 2 over 4. Here is a picture of the bait stars of the day.

Taff  fished a tourny Saturday at Wolf Lake. His team came in 2nd with 15.26 pounds and had a big fish of 5.22.  The winner had 18 pounds and two giants for Wolf at 5 1/2 each.  The fish were up shallow probably due to the lower temps, the cloudy days and the rain. They caught theirs on plastic or jigs with a trailer.

Nothing from me. My children are both here and I’m enjoying them every minute I can.  After they leave, Mickey and I are planning a trip to Lake Guntersville for the “rat bite” which amounts to fall Ribbit fishing.

Gayden Bishop and I made a quick trip to Ferguson this afternoon late. We wanted to go to the Garhole but pop up showers were all around and pulling the boat out of the Garhole with the bank muddy could be problematic.  The first spot produced two fish on a Poe’s crankbait.  I gave Gayden the first few casts trying to let her catch the fish but it was not to be. The FOD was 3 -13. The only other fish we caught was a shad or skipjack that Gayden caught. I don’t know whether she caught or snagged it, but one set of the trebles were in its mouth. After that, she got fired up and was standing up on the seat casting. Note the determined look on her face. I need to  get a pair of those pink britches.

Lake Ferguson was 19.3 and had fallen about 9/10s of a foot in the last 24 hours. The bass were not very active for me in the first few hours as I only caught 3 small ones. Later about 11 a.m.  is when the action came. A 6 – 0, a 4 – 0, and a 3 – 0 all in rapid sucession and all even pounds. Also all on a found Poe’s crankbait. Then came 4 more bass between 2 and 3 pounds, a couple of catfish (which made Willie happy) and that was it. The reason for the Poe’s is that on almost every cast I felt the bait run over a silver carp. I did not want to lose a DT-10.  One bass was mottled with lots of black spots on the top of his body toward the tail and also the tail. The picture does not show it well. Look at the fin under the gills and see how translucent it is and compare it with the tail and the other two rear fins. I believe it was the “solid” 3 pounder, as Sandy Ingram used to say.

The first spot on Wolf only gave up 4 fish but one was a 3. The second spot, which I thought was going to be very good, gave up a dink. The third gave up the 4 -15 FOD, another 4 and a 4 lost on the second jump. After those it was wading through 85 bass total to get another 3 -10. I caught 19 in that spot, mostly small bass, before the 3 -10 showed up. After that it was back to the small ones.  I could have caught well over 100 but I kept leaving the small fish looking for larger ones. They were schooling everywhere except that one spot I thought was going to be so good.  Caught the most and largest fish on a DT-10. The one I’ve used on Wolf this year is scratched up with tooth marks and is pictured here.The schooling bass were hard to catch at first. After rattling around in my tackle box I came up with a jointed shad rap that caught them easily. It look exactly like the small threadfin shad the fish were eating.  The shad rap was broken off by the tail of something very large after a long fight. Never got to see it.  Did not shake its head like a bass and wanted to hide under the boat while I had it hooked. The silver carp have made it into Wolf. I saw one jump as I motored down the lake wide open. Glad it was behind the boat.  Best 4 bass were 15 1/2 pounds.