The private hole is a couple of feet lower than the last time I fished there as evidenced by the boat sitting far up on the bank, high and dry.

After launching the boat, I fished right around the launch. The ramp down to the launch has washed over the years and has a small shallow flat before it drops to deeper water. I started there, first with a DT-6 and then with a shaky head with a trick worm attached. The shaky head did the trick and rather quickly the first bass of 2017 came into the boat, a fat 3 pounder. I was quite happy that things had happened so soon but you couldn’t tell it by the expression on my face. I look like an old sourpuss.

I continued fishing that spot but only one other small fish came into the boat. Next I went to my favorite spot in the private hole. The wind was howling all afternoon and had I been anyplace else except the private hole there would have been no way I could have fished. Leaves were picked up off of the floor of the woods and blown into the water making it hard to fish. The anchor was an indispensable item today. The wind blew so hard that a couple of times it blew the boat backwards even with the 30 pound thrust trolling motor on high. At the favorite spot I dropped the anchor and was using a 3/8 oz shaky head. The moving boat often gave the appearance that a fish had the bait and was moving off. Finally it appeared that the line was coming toward the boat, and I knew that was wrong, so I set the hook and came up with the 3 1/4 FOD. Once again only one more could be coaxed out of that spot. I had been fishing on the side that the wind was coming from and I was watching  the depth finder on the way across the hole. When I reached the side that the wind was blowing to, the screen lit up with fish and the water temperature had warmed from 47 to 51 degrees.

To take this photo I stopped the screen and by the time I finally got the snap the boat had been blown up on the bank. Five fish came from this spot with two more putting the scold on me by feeling me first before the hook could get set. The bites were very light and the wind made it even more difficult. I ended up with 9 with 4 three pounds or better. Even the water is down, the depth in the middle is still 27 feet deep. The little alligator was out and on post today too.