This has nothing to do with fishing but was fun.  I went down to pick up some white doves the other day from a bird lady in Jackson. Flying loose in her house were 4 parrots. One named Rookie was quite friendly. He came and lit on the nearest perch and looked at me intently.  The lady told me that he wanted to come to me and for me to stick out my hand. I did and he/she /it  came aboard.

The bird kept staring at me and the lady said it wanted to hold the bill of my hat with it’s beak, which was fine with me.  Up my arm it walked until it got to my shoulder. It never seized my hat and seemed quite friendly. I had noticed the parrots were not housebroken and  my fear during the whole episode was that I might become a poop recipient. The whole thing ended nicely and was great fun.

Yesterday morning Mickey went to Ferguson and caught 31, 30 of which were caught on a topwater. You know if it was Mickey then it had to be a crazy shad. He caught a 4.98 as the FOD. He also got two fingers pinned together by a hook that a gar shook into his hand.  Managing to get the gar off, he then pushed the hook points through and clipped them off and kept on fishing. Ouch !! We got together after church today and went for a rematch. Spinnerbaits got the starting call and we caught a few but they were small. Several places were tried with not much success but the major feeding period has been early in the morning and late in the evening and we were fishing in the middle of the afternoon.  The water was close to the level we caught them on the 87 pound treeline so we tried there.  At first the fish were nipping at the bait but as we progressed along the treeline the fish got more serious about eating and the fish got bigger. This is the almost FOD @ 4 3/4.

The treeline played out so we went back to the starting place and went back the other way.  The fish were still biting but another boat that had been in the woods and came out to the outside and was in front of us. Rather than fishing second hand water, we left for where Mickey caught them on top yesterday. It was getting late and the lake was calming down so the topwaters got the call. I got a great demonstration from the master plying his trade with the crazy shad. One fish, a 4.82 FOD came up and sucked the bait down and the fight was on. I netted the fish for Mickey and as he reached down to get the fish out the fish shook and he was hooked again.  I quickly put a full Nelson on the fish to stop any movement and Mickey reached for pliers to remove the hook from his hand. The hook did not come out easily but he worked with it and finally it was out. He continued fishing and caught a couple more before it was too dark to see.  We caught 42 in all with two in the 4 3/4 range and one at 4 even. The largest 5 weighed 20 pounds.

I had not been to the private hole in so long I had to weed the boat before I fished.

There were weeds growing in the dirt in the cracks between the flotation.  The North wind was blowing so hard Monday I gave up on the turkeys in the afternoon and went fishing. It was such a bluebird day I had no confidence in really catching any fish but figured I’d have better luck with them than with the turkeys. I started out with a DT-6 in one of my favorite spots for it but there were no volunteers. A shakey head was next and soon a chunky private hole bass was in the boat.

Continuing with the shakey head, the picture started to take shape with the wind, once again, doing the painting.  The bite was slow  and soft but after starting at 3:00 , by 7:30 the count was up to 17.  The gnats were terrible all afternoon and I had left my Buggins Natural gnat repellent in my turkey vest. I was ready to quit.  Fearing a mosquito attack at the bank, I remained  out in the hole to put up my rods and baits. They were all wrapped up when I saw  some fish activity all the way across the hole. The decision was made to go see what was going on, and on the way a “found” spinnerbait, refurbished with a new blade and a grub for a skirt, was tied on. The bass were concentrated in one spot where they had some shad hemmed up. I missed several but by the time I quit the count was up to 31. I retied my bait, almost in the dark and about two fish later the line broke. The blades were rattling when the tighteye jumped to throw it a few minutes later. Another was tied on and very soon another break. Moral: Old guys should not try to tie knots in the dark.

This is a photo of the 4 1/4 FOD. The largest fish was a grinner, grinnel, or bowfin, whatever you want to call it that was “long as my arm”.  It came off the hook when I put the “tenderizing” lick on it with the cut off hoe handle. Not a bad day for the conditions.

It’s been that long since I’ve been fishing. Today I went to Lake Monticello to break the streak. The weather was great, which means on that lake, not much wind.  I started out with a Cripple Killer which is a prop type topwater that caught one pretty quickly.  When I got to the lily pads I switched to a Ribbit Frog which just may be my favorite bait to catch a fish on.  No bites on the Ribbit until noon however. In the meantime, a swimbait got the call and caught a couple, none big.  I was fighting myself all morning, having to make myself not use the frog, which is so much fun, but was just not working.  Finally when I got to a good looking group of pads out came the Ribbit and one actually bit it.  The next one hit it like it meant it, but after that it was hard to find a Ribbit bite.  I ended up with 5 fish all just over or just under 3 pounds.  Lake Ferguson would have made a better choice because I understand people have been catching them lately.

No, I have not quit fishing , nor am I sick, but have been turkey hunting mostly.  Mostly, because a few days were taken up by the garden club.  I have not joined but there was a big three day meeting here and I had to go to some of the functions. The first few days of turkey season were good with two turkeys coming close and then getting to walk away because our club limit is one (floods) and I didn’t want to quit so soon.  Now they are educated, each one having been tutored by several hunters.  I am still on the hunt but sitting in the woods thinking a lot about fishing. It’s getting to be Ribbit frog time which I dearly love.