I was nervous about going to the Garhole after talking to a person that fishes there often. Not only had it fallen 2 1/2 feet but this person did not have glowing reports of his fishing there lately. Fishing started at 7:00. For the first three hours, fishing was terrible. Nothing on plugs and missed bites and “pull it down and run” on plastics. I started with a rugby head and a 10 inch Berkley worm that I believe was intimidating to the little bass so later I swapped to a shaky head and a smaller worm that seemed to work better. The fish were deep in the tops and the only way to fish for them was to drift up to the top and dip the worm in between the limbs and jig it up and down. Sometime they wouldn’t hit it until you were pulling it up to put somewhere else. I was using a spinning reel with power pro braid with a leader so when I felt the slightest tap I set the hook. Hookups were good. Most of the tops were in 2 to 6 feet of water and it was amazing to me how many might be in a top. Caught 18 with a FOD of 2 pounds. No telling how many bites were missed for one reason or other. It was satisfying to figure the fish out even they were small. Now to figure out the big ones. I already have some ideas.

I went to Lake Ferguson at 7:00 and fished until 10:30 when Jackson called,with only one peck of a bite on a Carolina rig. He wanted to have lunch. I left immediately. ZERO.

Mickey and I launched at Lake X at 7:00 Saturday morning which is a little later than usual. The major feeding period was supposed to occur around 2:00 p.m. so we went a little later than usual to save our strength for when the feeding was supposed to happen. Trying to figure out exactly when the fish are going to feed is an exercise fraught with error. In my observation the real feed will happen 2 to 3 hours before the time shown in the table, most of the time. It seemed there was a little activity right at the start that declined until about 9:00. After that it was hard to get a bite at all, and when you did it was in the middle of a bunch of wood where you were likely to hang the fish for a short while and then get hung up, only for the fish to get off and maybe you having to break your line. Frustrating to say the least, but that was the game the fish were playing. Around 11:00 bites picked up a little, still down deep in the wood. One time Mickey had one to hang him up but the fish stayed on. We charged the top with my 11 foot pole with the big hook on the end. After reaching down amid the limbs, we finally hung the line and the fish was still on. We pulled it to the top and got the fish in hand. After dealing with the fish, we dropped the jig head back in to get it back out of the wood but it got hung again and eventually lost. We should have just cut it off, reeled in the line, and retied, but that is afterthought. We both lost a rugby head jig which is the first one I’ve lost in about a year as they are very weedless. They will get hung up but usually come out easily due to a hidden line tie. We quit around 1:30 with 10 fish caught and a FOD of 6-1. We had another 4-10 and 4 more in the 3 to 4 pound range.

You know how some of the worst time spent on a fishing trip is when you pull the boat out and it is the at the hottest part of the day. Mickey came up with a great idea to pull the boat out and go straight to a nearby shade tree to strap down the boat, get our equipment out, and to have lunch. There was a pleasant breeze and it was quite pleasant. The only problem was, I left my cane leaning up on the side of the boat when we drove off. I discovered it when I got home and had to drive back to retrieve it. That cane is perfect and handy so I was delighted to get it back.

Started fishing at Lake Enterprise at 6:30 this morning. I was planning to pick up Bland’s 13 year old grandson Jack at 7:30 so I just hit a couple of spots to check out the “lay of the land” before I picked him up. He was waiting on me when I drove up to the dock. We started fishing and tried several places with no success. I watched a boat fishing close to the trees and figured they would be having some luck just dropping a jig in quietly. Jack and I tried the trees and the middle and all points in between with no luck. Later in the morning we crossed paths with the boat I thought was doing such a good job. They were having a tough day too. Misery loves company. Shortly after visiting with the other boat, while fishing with a swim jig near the bank, I got a bite, but when I set the hook I thought I was pulling in a limb. When The “limb” broke the top of the water it turned out to be a cormorant. It looked like an immature one but it quickly spit out the bait and flew off. I’m usually observant, but that thing came out of nowhere. After the cormorant caper we left and visited the spots I visited first this morning. At the first one the bass were schooling. Not large ones but we were glad to see some fish that were hungry and finally caught 7 fish in all ,3 pound FOD. The fish would chase some shad to the top, hit them and go right back down to the bottom in 12 feet of water. Drop shot next time. It was past the time Jack needed to be back so we left. I thoroughly enjoyed my day with Jack. A delightful young man. I hope we can fish together again soon.

I went to the Garhole this morning not knowing whether I would have a boat to sit in. Been a long time since I have checked on it. I usually take a leaf blower with me when it’s been a long time since I have used the boat but rather than spend the time riding around to the house, I preferred to spend it fishing. The boat was a mess but it was fishable. Fishing started at 6:00. The DT-8 is a new crankbait that fills in between the 6 and 10. I had one and intended to try it out today so it went first. It looks like a junior sized DT-10. The body is the same size as a 6 but has a little larger straight diving bill like a 10. I am impressed by it . Casts as good or better than a DT-6 and it caught a fish in the first 10 minutes. That fish was the first and I thought was going to be the last. There was a long drought afterward that lasted an hour or two with a good many different baits in really good spots. Finally with a Carolina rig I had a bite, a sharp peck, but nobody home. I thought it may have been a gar but the plastic came back with all its appendages. A gar usually gets one of them. Over a short time there were two more with only one holding on for a short time. A little later I threw a DT-6 next to a log coming in to the water intending to fish the tree top, but a bass grabbed it before I made three turns of the reel. Next I dipped and dunked a worm in a top and caught another. Then another bass hit a DT-6 beside a log just like the other one and ended up the FOD 3 3/4. Had some more worm bites where the fish held on for a few seconds but then escaped. Had some other small ones on a 6 or 8 but nothing was really ever going on. The water temp was 91 on top but there was shade and the depth finder showed 31.7 feet deep at one point, plenty of cool water was available. I ended up with 7 bass. A pretty poor day in the Garhole.

Hal and Richard caught 37 the other day at Beaverdam fishing back through the cypress trees. It must be the shade keeping things cool.

Started early this morning, and thank goodness for it. Ran into some small ones with a 1/2 oz. redeye shad to get things rolling and was feeling some slight optimism. Then I went all the way down the 70 bank without a bite both deep and shallow. That put things back in perspective. On some very good places I just sat on with a DT-6, 10 and 16, a Carolina rig, a worm and a 3/4 oz. jackhammer, casting it out and letting it sink to the bottom and pulling it slowly up the drop off. Nothing. Finally, I stumbled onto another small one with the redeye. Tried one more good spot and then quit. I did see something this morning to foster a little optimism. When I launched there were a good many 3 to 4 inch bass swimming around harassing the little minnows in the shallows. Until they grow up I’ve got to figure where I’m going to go fishing.

Hal had an interesting morning on Arkabutla. When he arrived at the landing there was a line of boats, trollers for crappie , waiting in line. Not wanting to wait for that mess to unravel, he headed for another landing 15 minutes away. On the way, he had to stomp the brakes to avoid hitting a deer but the deer’s pal ran into his boat. We all hate the unpleasantness of hitting an animal, so after stopping and looking without leaving the vehicle, he continued to the landing. When he launched, he found a reel handle in his boat from his worm rig. None of the other six rods on the deck were hurt. On the way home he stopped by the scene and found the remnants of his rod and reel.

Mickey and I hit Lake X at 6:05 this morning and the first cast was soon thereafter. There were no bites for an hour after we started. Mickey broke the ice with a 6-2 .

He did it with a worm near the pipe that was adding water to the lake. We just knew that we were going to wear them out there but no more were present. I feel that perhaps that well water may not have enough oxygen in it but that is purely a guess. We continued to search for fish but they were slow starting to bite. We discovered that we had more luck fishing the humps with a redeye shad or a Yozuri. This 7-0 went for a 3/4 oz redeye

We were looking for the humps and had two main spots. In between those spots we tried every top or woodpile we could find but no fish were in them. Did I say it was hot today. It was, but there was a nice breeze to keep us comfortable. We fished to around 1:30 but never got really uncomfortable until on the way home we stopped on the side of the road to get something out of the boat and it was stifling. We caught 17 fish. Large fish of note were 7-0, 6-8, 6-2 and 6-2.

Mickey and I met at the wharf at 7:00 this morning for a lone awaited low water trip to Ferguson. We started down the 70 bank expecting a bite with every cast. The little stripes were there but not many bass and it was a little surprising. The bass we caught were small and shallow although we tried deep as well. We left and headed to another area where we struck fairly quickly with DT-10’s, only a few but they were better fish. When that played out, we continued our quest in another area with Carolina rigs, worms, deep (16 feet) diving crank baits and DT-6’s to no avail. We than revisited the place we caught the fish and a couple more came to the boat. After that, we tried a spot that was gangbusters last year at this water stage and nothing but a gar. The lake seemed to be full of them today. It was full hot so we tried another old time good place and caught one more. We stopped at the old metal barge on the way back to the wharf but we couldn’t even get hung up. We finished the day with 8 bass . FOD was 5-0 and we had a 4 1/2, a 4, a 3 3/4 and a couple of 3’s. 20.25 pounds for the best 5. Good size but not much action. I must be getting old . The action was so slow I would forget the details on what we had caught and have to keep asking Mickey. It’s easy to remember when you are catching fish for some reason but when it’s slow it is very difficult. I going to have to start marking them down again.

The title of this post says it all and should tell you all you need to know. Lake Ferguson was at 25.8 feet this morning and slowly falling. I knew it was early after the cold front but I wanted to go anyway. After two stops, I came to the 70 bank with the water 6 to7 feet deep at the edge of the trees. A 3/4 ounce red eye shad got no interest until I got down to the tree that the beaver had skinned all the bark off of last year. Mickey and I had a good trip there before the water fell out. As I was pulling the bait out of the water I saw a flash where a bass made a pass at it. I downsized to a Yozuri and soon I had caught a couple of small ones but no more. I fished deeper and even deeper than that (30 feet) with no luck except for a gar on a Carolina rig. I felt a solid peck and set the hook and had a good pull going . I was happy until I saw that it was a gar. Thought I had it figured out. I sat on the 70 spot and fished all points of the compass with the Carolina but could not raise anything. Tried the 70 bank again before I left for home and caught another small fish. Three in all.

I was 20 minutes late to Lake X this morning as first cast was made at 6:05. At 6:10 I had this one on a Berkley 9 inch worm.

7 pounds even. I have not mastered the art of taking my own photo with a fish yet. Since I had been exposed to the Wuhan, I was going solo this morning. By 6:30 I had a 6 1/4 caught on a 3/4 ounce redeye shad. With this auspicious start I was ready to wear them out. The major period was early and just ending because I caught no more for a good while. One of the best spots in the lake did not produce so I resorted to fishing the treetops and woodpiles. If your bait was in the wood and coming over a stick and you detected a bite you had best prepare yourself for a whipping. The fish would go down into the top and there is no way you could set the hook or expect to land the fish. Frustrating ! This 7-1 was on the outside of the top.

I was able to land it and felt better about my day. A new bait was being interviewed also, a 3XD deep from Strike King. It is supposed to go 10 to 12 feet deep but I don’t think it did, probably 8 or 9 . It casts pretty good, not as good as a DT-6 however. It did catch some fish, a 5 3/4 being the most notable with a couple more in the 4’s. Jury is still out. I meant to fish until noon but later the bite picked up as did the heat. Ended up with 16 fish, 8 of which were under 16 inches so those came home with me for supper. The wind blew after about 9:00, which made the heat bearable. A fun day of fishing despite the heat.