I met Jackson at noon today at the landing. The lake is low and launching was a little difficult but with two people it was not too bad.  We stopped at one of Jackson’s favorite spots. He had on a 3/4 oz red eye shad and I put on a DT-6. He said “Throw over there by that tree” but I had some issue with my gear. Then he said “Watch me catch this fish” and made a cast to the tree. He immediately came out with a 2 pound fish. We moved to another part of the lake where the fish are usually scattered. We had trouble finding them so I suggested trolling. By now I  had a 3/4 oz. red eye shad on too. We trolled and Jackson caught another fish.  We trolled further and caught none but saw one chasing shad. We rode over to the place the fish struck and caught another fish. I was beginning to like the big red eye shad because you could throw it a mile and it stayed down pretty well on the retrieve. We went around and around in that general area and caught a few more. Finally things slowed down so we started our trek home. On the way we trolled some more trying to find some new spots but there were cypress leaves on the water making it hard to keep your bait clean. We ended up with 8 bass and the first one was the FOD.

As I was coming home from physical therapy today around 10:30, I passed one of the best fishermen I know going to Lake Ferguson. I thought if he were going, the fish had to be biting. The snap decision was made to go too. The only other thing on my agenda was to get my B-12 shot which I accomplished quickly. The boat was floating in the lake around 11:30. I went immediately to the 70 spot and broke out a DT-6. The willow leaves were on the water making it difficult to fish with a crankbait. As I tried to negotiate the leaves the fisherman passed going back toward the ramp. I caught one but continued down that bank looking for a crowd. The crowd was not there, or at least I couldn’t make them bite, so I left for greener pastures.  I had a spot in mind and it was a good thought. Eleven more fish were caught there. All the first dozen fish looked like they were made in the same mold. They were within 1/4 of a pound over or under 2 1/2 pounds. Most on the DT-6 but some on a worm and a DT-10. Fun fish to catch. I left that spot when I had plucked it like a chicken, or so I thought, and continued down the bank with the DT-6. A little way down the bank a 5 – 5 showed up. Hard to take a picture by yourself.

I’m not robbing a gas station that’s just my sun protection. A little farther down the bank a 3 – 0 showed up and as I landed it I noticed another boat had pulled in about where I started. The guy was working that spot like a job and I think he caught 2. The wind was blowing and when you caught a fish the wind blew you off of your spot. That is how I was counting his fish. One of those trolling motors that uses GPS to hold you on a spot would have been good today. I caught a couple more fish, one a 3 – 9, but was running out of the good bank. When I cranked up and moved to the other side the other boat cranked up and beat it back to the spot he had worked over so vigorously. As I fished down the other side I was observant and noticed the other boat caught nothing else. It was still plenty of light and I had 3 other places I wanted to try so I left. None of those produced any fish. I ended up with 16 bass and 5 or 6 stripes.

I will leave you with a picture of Freddie laying down in the road with a LIVE rattlesnake. I saw the picture and took a picture of it, hence the glare on the bottom center and part of the frame on the bottom. EDIT: Found out later from Freddie the snake was indeed dead. It fooled me because the head and tail were off of the ground just like a live one.

The water level has dropped about 18 inches since I was there last on October 1st. For that reason, I had a little difficulty launching the boat. To keep that from happening again I adjusted the location of the boat rack. As I was performing that task something struck in a nearby group of limbs. When I was ready to start fishing I put on a Whopper Plopper and cast several times around that group of limbs. After 3 or 4 casts in that vicinity my attention turned to something else. A minute or two later I looked back at the limbs and a small alligator came steaming out. I caught 6 on the WP including the strike of the day fish. I made a long cast to a steep bank. As I was retrieving the bait, when it got about 2/3 of the way back to the boat one came from somewhere and just blasted it. When topwater stopped working out came the DT-6, the one with all the paint knocked off of it. It caught a few but they were widespread with almost no pattern. For instance, I caught one in 6 feet of water and shortly thereafter, as I threw past a deep water log a fish bit out in 25 feet of water. The fish was  out cruising in the deep water and was fatter than any I caught today. It had a shad tail sticking out its gullet. I saw a fish jump that looked like a bass chasing shad. The DT-6 quickly got sent on the mission and sure enough something latched on. It was another one of those unknown fish I have been catching in the private hole. They have a rather small mouth but all three hooks of one treble were hooked in its mouth. I had my pliers out and clamped down on the hook shank. Somehow the fish frolicked and the other hook cut the line. The pliers gave away on the hook shank and my good DT-6 swam off with the fish. I believe based on the shape and how it jumped that the fish are a species of freshwater mullet. I ended up at 11:30 with 14 bass, about half were in the two pound range.

Hal and I drove to Pickwick Thursday.  Thursday afternoon we were greeted with showers which were not too severe. This year I have a good rain suit as opposed to the one a couple of years ago that leaked so much I poured water out of my shoes when the day ended. The bass would hit a Ribbit in the shallow end of the large coves until the wind changed to out of the Northwest. Friday morning the front had passed and the wind was stiff out of the North. The fish were slow to bite until things started to warm up but there was no biting the top water frog. They would bite a Yozuri or a Red Eye Shad however. In one spot I spied a Red Eye Shad hanging high up in a tree where someone had cast too far and had to break the line. It was just swinging in the wind. I got Hal’s telescoping lure retriever out and after a few attempts snatched it down into the found lure collection.  Some of the places that were good in the past were no good whatsoever this time. The lake, as big as it is, was covered with boats even on Friday. We managed to scratch out a few fish even with the poor conditions and all the company. Saturday morning there were two tournaments out of the state park where we were staying. It was foggy so the start of the tournys were delayed. Hal and I just zig zagged through the waiting boats and left trying to get our good spot. The trouble was, our spot was not that good and in that cove there were either 9 or 11 boats. We decided to go exploring and rode  down to the next arm of the lake that was 6 or 8 miles up the river. There we did find a pretty good spot where we caught some fish on a shallow sand bank until the wind rose and the fish left because of the large waves that were breaking over where we were catching the fish. With that we left for the protected side of the river where we entered a small pocket. The fish came up in a school and started chasing shad but they were white bass. There was a pool noodle that was obviously marking a fishing spot and as we floated over it we saw a large object on the depth finders. Hal put on a DT-10 and cast over it several times and on one he hooked a fish that seemed to be large. We got happy thinking we might catch some more large fish there but the fish turned out to be a 5 pound catfish. The wind died down and we started searching for a new place again. Our search was futile so we finally headed in where the tournaments were weighing in. Thirteen pounds was the winning string, a lot more than we had come up with but the GPS said we had been 41 miles looking. Sunday morning was cold with not much going on. We quit around noon and headed for home. As we left we talked to a man from Hattiesburg whose son, on the high school fishing team, had gone fishing with some other people. The father was ready to leave for home but the son said by cell phone that they were really catching fish and he was not ready to go. Somebody was catching fish, just not us. Scolded by the high school fishing team. In all we caught 49 bass along with a good many white bass, a catfish, a goo, and a skipjack.

I had heard there were some guys that were catching good numbers of bass at Lake Monticello. I sent an unlikely spy to find out what they were caught on and where. The spy was told “we’re not going to tell you” so the ploy was unsuccessful. At daylight I was in the water anyway. When I saw the bass striking before I even cranked the motor, I needed no other info. A Whopper Plopper was the first bait out and it caught a few but the wind put a “check”on the water that discouraged a top water bite. Quickly a small grey crankbait came out that I caught some on there last year. It worked well and one time caught a double.

When I lifted the double in the boat, the fish hit the floor, flopped twice and the line broke. Had I been thinking, I would have broken out the Alabama rig but the fish were biting too fast and furious for me to do anything but catch as many as possible.  As the sun came up the fish slowed on the road where I was fishing so I ventured into the stumps and caught one here and there. The stumps were in a bit shallower water. Since that did not work, I got into deeper water, 12 to 14 feet deep. A deeper diving bait was needed since the small crank bait only goes to 4 or 5 feet. My go to swim bait has been a 5 inch Bass Magic but the last time in the Basspro they could not be found so I bought a Basspro version to try (4.8 inch Speed Shad in Blue Gill Flash color). They seem to be softer , have a hook slot on the bottom and a groove for the hook point on the top. The swimming motion is as good as the Magic but the “thump” is not quite as good. Also there is a thin part of the body leading to the tail that looks as if it would break if there are tail biters. In the new spot the swim bait got the call. It was thrown on a long cast and allowed to sink all the way to the bottom. It caught one on the first cast and I, as well as the fish, was hooked. It was not catching one on every cast but what was really good was the hookup ratio with that bait. The bass were schooling bass that were variable in size and the swim bait caught both big and small. A tail biter finally proved my fear to be well founded and pulled off the tail. When that spot ran out, I went looking for another. A few fish were caught here and there but in no concentrations. One of the good things about the day was both reels that I just refurbished with new bearings and pawls worked flawlessly. When I put them back together there were no parts left over. Imagine that ! The day ended up with 33 fish of which the FOD was around 2 1/2.

On this cool October 1st, I was sitting at the private hole landing “fo day”. I got up early to go check in with the bow hunters to make sure I would not mess anyone’s hunting spot up. When it became light I awakened from my doze and got to work. Fishing started at 7:00 with a Whopper Plopper but the fish were not particularly fired up as evidenced by wakes behind the bait and a blowup just as the bait was lifted from the water. The next thing to try was a DT-6 which received a marginally better reception. While all of this was going on, the turkeys roosted nearby gave both a serenade and a calling lesson. I loved it ! ! When I went to one of my favorite spots a four foot alligator awaited. I thought it might be the one Mickey fed the goo to but later I saw two more for a total of three, all made in the same mold. The fish were still not in the feeding mode and I had pulled out a shaky head to remedy the situation. It helped but was still not the answer. The bass were just biting very lightly. They picked up a little as the morning progressed and the DT-6 seemed to be doing better than anything else. The size was running a bit larger than the last few trips too. My DT-6 WAS a parrot color but has been abused by the fish in the last few trips. Not just the bass but all sorts of other fish too. Today there were gars, two goos, and those cylindrical (for lack of a better name) carp. The carp nailed the bait just as soon as it hit the water.

I’d say it’s a little skinned up. One of the alligators was determined to get some of those fish it saw splashing on the end of my line. So when I had one of the carp on, it just advanced on the boat and was coming  pretty rapidly. Thank goodness the hook came out and all was well.  A little later I hung what ended up to be a 5 1/4 pound goo and again the alligator advanced. This time the landing net solved the problem. With the goo in the bottom of the boat and the hook out of its mouth a commenced to work on its head with a cut off piece of hoe handle. When the goo went overboard it just floated . The gator saw it and as I trolled away to another spot it came, scarfed the goo, and took it under a bush. Two hours later as I left, the gator was still chomping on the goo trying to figure out how it was going to eat it. The gator’s mouth may have been 6 inches wide and the goo was 10 or 11 inches wide. A case of eyes too big for the breadbasket. I ended the day with 24 bass. The FOD was 3 3/4. The largest 5 weighed 15 1/2 pounds, not a tourny winner but a lot of fun was had. Edit: I almost forgot, when I was driving out a bear ran across the road. Looked nice and fluffy, almost like a large black poodle.

I went to Washington this morning not having fished there for bass ever, I think. The reason I went there was because of its similarity to Beaverdam. I had no idea of where to go. The one person I felt comfortable calling to ask for some directions did not answer so I went there blind. On about the fifth cast I got a nip from what must have been an awfully small fish. Several more nips followed but all felt small. Every time the bait hit the water there would be a spray of 3/4 inch minnows. There was plenty of food for the bass. I fished cypress trees from deep to shallow and was making accurate casts but there were nothing but nippers and a few gars. Finally at 11:20 a small bass grabbed the Booyah and hung on. I don’t believe you could have stuffed another small minnow down its throat. By this time I was beating the bank so I decided to give it another 300 yards before quitting. Washington was not at all like Beaverdam because Richard and Hal caught 38 there yesterday and had a 6+ pounder and another over 4.

On Thursday morning I had two different ideas on things to try in Lake Ferguson, not having been on the lake in quite some time. My father and I used to fly fish around the Yacht Club early in the morning for bream. The fish would bite very early and usually quit around 8:00 as the sun got brighter. This was my first idea and it did not work. Not a bite on the fly. Not wanting to admit defeat, I quickly went across the lake to some willow trees and tried again. No bites until finally one timid fish came up and gently sucked at the fly. On the second cast it bit twice and got hooked. After that no more could be coaxed into volunteering so I left for plan number two. This one involving bass. I like a smooth sandy stretch of bank and have had pretty good luck in places like that. My second plan involved the west side of the upper lake that is just one big sandy bank that has a very slow drop. A Whopper Plopper (WP) top water would be perfect for a spot like that I thought. The WP is a bait that you just reel. No need to twitch or anything else to impart any action to the bait. Pretty soon I had a halfhearted strike and soon after that two more that ended up with fish in the boat. A pretty good time after that another one scarfed it down just as I said to myself “if one does not bite before I get to that next bush I’m going to move”. I moved across the lake to the steep bank that was still in the shade and right away I caught the 3 1/4 FOD. It was beginners luck because no more bites in a quarter mile of bank. Since the sun had risen and was beginning to get hot I changed to a 5XD and caught another. I then moved to the steep bank of the main lake with the deep diver and caught two more albeit small. I tried two more smooth sandy spots on the way back to the ramp and caught another, still small. A total of nine bass for the day.

Did not start fishing in the Private Hole until 12:30 today. I wanted to go earlier but things started happening to keep me from going and kept on happening until mid morning. One of the first baits I wanted to try was a new swim bait I bought the other day because I noticed there were no Bass Magic (my favorite) swim baits in the Bass Pro Shop. The first cast I made with it got a bite as the bait was falling to the bottom. I was not surprised when I set the hook there was no one home due to the fact there are so many small bass in the Private Hole. I unlimbered a shaky head and caught a few as well as a DT-6 that did well too. It seemed like there was a bit of a bite going on but nothing hot. After the first two hours I had 12 and then the lockjaw hit. I couldn’t even get the little ones to bite.  I tried a spot where Mickey and I caught a bunch of fish and only caught two. Our little (4 feet long) alligator friend was on post and when I approached him with the trolling motor he growled a little before he left. I went to another spot we had good luck and caught none. A move by the bank got my attention and I was able to catch four in one spot on the shaky head. Another bite came close by and when I set the hook there was something on that could not be easily moved. When it finally came into view, it was a goo weighing about 3 1/2 pounds. Continuing around the bank and changing over to a DT-6, I saw another movement by the bank. I made a cast to the movement and when the DT-6 hit the water, I saw a fish shoot over to it and inhale it. It was about a 3 pound carp or buffalo of some sort. I was more round and long than flat sided like a bream. As it got later in the day I went back to one of the good spots and the fish had gotten hungrier as had the mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were those teenincey little aggressive black ones. I was catching fish and swatting mosquitoes. Toward dark I finally decided to quit. I had 33 with a FOD that got away on the jump that would have weighed about 3 1/2. That happened the last trip there also.

Richard had me up to Beaver Dam again Thursday morning. We used the same three baits that we used the first time, a 1/4 oz. Booyah , a Brovarney swim jig (me 1/4 oz. Richard 3/16 oz.) and a baby Paca Craw. The  4-5 FOD bit first. We were afraid that might be a bad omen for the rest of the trip. It was not however. Since the last time there I had changed over a spinning reel from  a long rod to a short one. The reel has 14 pound test Nanofil line on it that has almost no stretch and casts like braid. I have found out that at Beaver Dam your casting has to be accurate if you want to get a bite. Not only does it have to be accurate, it has to be accurate under and around the cypress limbs. The ability to “skip” a bait is a big plus. We had a pleasant day fishing mostly in the shade. It rained just enough to make us put on the rain suits but quit just after we put them on. No lightning so we got to keep fishing. I had heard Richard speak of the 55 log, a place where he and a friend caught 55 in short order toward the end of a challenging day. Since I asked about it we went to look. It is a large hollow cypress log that has drifted over to a bank that has only three small trees close to the bank. We went down the bank casting to the open water and caught 5 or 6. Richard caught number 26 when he cast his Booyah over a limb and as the bait was getting close to where it would leave the water the line went sideways. He set the hook and caught the fish.