In Mickey’s own words.  He caught none Sunday in the teeth of the storm but an average of 35 fish for the last two trips is not too shoddy.

Mickey just called to report on  his trip to Ferguson. He caught 70 bass, 67 in the same spot. They were in the 1 to 3 pound range. Caught them on a DT-6. He said his thumb looked like hamburger meat.

No, not my thumb now, but I’m wounded on three fingers and a palm after yesterday. After getting stuck several times by DT-6 hooks, I finally started using my grabber to hold them while removing the hooks. The picture was after two days of fishing where I caught 20 that weighed 107 pounds (two years ago). Caught them on a Ribbit topwater frog, so I could stick my thumb in their mouths “safely”. Those two days were one of the highwater marks of my fishing career.

I was going to go to Tunica to fish with Richard today but the weatherman scared me into postponing the trip till Tuesday.   When I got up this morning there was no rain so rather than wasting a day, I went to Ferguson. Of course I went straight to the place where I left off yesterday. The DT-6 started off burning them up. The lake had fallen and they were out a little more but were there chasing shad and biting almost every cast. I had caught 40 by 9:40. Most were on the DT-6 pictured but some of the later ones were on a worm and a few on a DT-10. The first photo is of the DT-6 I’ve caught them on the last two days and the second is one of the schooling size bass I caught. Notice the firetail smellyworm hanging out of his mouth. Ended up with 47. If yesterday was good today had to be great.

I went to the South end to start this morning but the falling water has moved them from my spots. Working my way up the lake, I finally caught a few. Finally at 12 noon I found the honey hole and started catching them on every cast almost. 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds. There were some pole fishermen (that’s being generous) that saw me pulling them out and couldn’t stand it. They got out their casting rods and proceeded to come over and fish in the spot, almost getting over the fish. I asked them twice, nicely, not to get over the fish and the second time the man in the front got nasty and showed his true color. Maybe it was because they didn’t catch a fish the whole time. He made some mention that it shouldn’t matter since I was throwing them back anyway. Just to gig him a little I caught a 4 1/2 ( the FOD) and threw it back too on his side of the boat. I told him to smile as I took his picture. The fellow in the back of the boat seemed embarrassed and never said a word. Ended up with 21 bass and a catfish. And yes, caught most on a DT-6.

Mickey told me this afternoon , he and Ed King went to Ferguson and caught 12, most on a DT-6. The size was better than it has been. The largest 5 were between 3-2 and 3-5. Most were caught in one spot. As the water comes down the fish are having to come out of the trees and are congregating on the sandy spots. I may have to take back the last sentence in “Take a number part two”.

Mickey and I went to Ferguson Saturday. The lake was full of hydro blasters with, I think, two tournaments going on. A boat on every spot. Not many boats fishing on the bare sand so we did not have too many issues with the crowd on our sandy spots. We caught 10 and a catfish most on a DT-6.  Will not be going to Ferguson again on the weekend anytime soon.

Upon getting to “my spot” as Taff calls it, I was greeted by it already being occupied, along with two or three more before the day was over.  There were a lot of bass fishermen on the lake this morning, but to me, the fish were not very active early. Caught the first one on “my spot” at 9:35. From then to 11:30 I caught 9, not counting the SFOD shown in the first photo.  That tiny bass was going to eat the DT-6.  I never cease to be be amazed at how pugnacous a bass can be.  I caught most on a worm but caught the best ones ( they would have weighed 3 if they had eaten just a few more shad) with a DT-6 on the spot in the second photo.  They were schooled up. When I would catch one, another would follow it to the boat.  A bare sandy bank. I love bare sand when the lake is falling. Finally, is a photo of the second modification of the paddletail worm. I think I’m going to melt down the first model and make them the second.

Mickey and I went to Ferguson Tuesday afternoon after the rains had gone and caught 7 bass. The Rapala DT-6 was again the bait to use. Unfortunately it did its normal thing and reached out and foul hooked a large silver carp in the tail. It took a long time to get my bait back since I had 8# test. With so much drag being pulled out my line was twisted and it had to be let out behind the boat to be untwisted. Pain in the neck. Looking in my book, last year from 7/15 to 8/15, I only caught 35 bass with 2 over 4. This year it’s 105 but none over 4. Got to correct that. Did I mention Mickey buffed up my shine 5 to 2 ?

In a flat buttered pan (with shallow edges) put your bass fillets (from under 14 inch fish) skin side down. Melt a butter, lemon juice, and garlic mixture and pour over the fish. About 3/4 stick of butter, two good lemons worth of juice and one clove of garlic, minced. Sprinkle lightly with lemon pepper and sprinkle with a layer of parmesan cheese. I like more parmesan rather than less. Cook in the pan outside on the grill, top closed, adding wood to make smoke if possible. It can also be cooked in the oven under the broiler if the rack is lowered so it will not catch the butter on fire. It’s done when the fish flakes with a fork. In the last we cooked, I added capers on top of the parmesan cheese. You can add anything you like as a topping as I did with the capers.