Today was cold with a North wind, not my favorite fishing weather. Since it was cold I waited until later to go. Then I had to clean all the leaves out of the boat and add some rope to the winch because there are no trees in the right place to move the winch closer to the boat and the water is falling. Fishing started at 11:45. Within the first hour I had 10 fish, mostly on a DT-10. The North wind set the fish up in two spots but they were not as thick as I had anticipated because not many/any people have fished there in the last few weeks. The fish were deeper hence the 10 rather than 6. In the next place the 6 did better because it was shallower. Then I tried yet another place where thought the wind might have the fish bunched up. The first cast there brought a 4 pounder and the next a 4 3/4.
Next a 3 3/4 and a 3 even. I thought I was going to really wear them out but after a couple more they vanished. I circled the hole but if I shook the worm they would pick if up but put it right down. Still nothing in one of my favorite places. Not one fish this year. Can not figure that out. On one cast with the DT-10, something grabbed it and powered away from the boat pulling drag reminiscent of the fish down at Ben’s. The drag was set just right so the line wouldn’t break but would tire the fish out. Finally the fish came up to where it was visible and was the largest silver carp I have ever snagged. Thank goodness it was hooked where its tail would not hit the line and break it. It finally came to the top close enough for me to take the boat hook pole and snatch the DT-10 out and save it. Each place gave up one more fish but no more. It was obvious that it was over so I quit. Caught 23 with the 4 3/4 FOD.
Yesterday I drove to Port Gibson to fish with Ben in a Lake that has been managed for large bass for years. Ben is my children’s age and was truly thoughtful to ask an old guy to come fishing. The lake is in the loess hills west of Port Gibson, a straight up, straight down environment. As we drove back to the lake the road ran down the ridges and you could look almost straight down on either side. It was perfectly beautiful country. The lake is about 30 acres and deep with numerous coves. We started out fishing with a DT-6 and caught a fish in the first five minutes. The lake has Florida bass in it and they are healthy . Part of our job was to remove small fish, since the lake is intensively managed. As we were signing up there was a tally on a board of how many pounds had been taken out. As we worked around the lake you could see that the above the water topography translated into an almost straight down drop below the water. We fished with the DT-6’s mostly, although Ben caught some on a worm and I caught a few on a DT-10. I made a cast on a point in the shadows and got a sharp lick but no hookup. On the second cast a bite resulted in a powerful fish that took off for the middle of the lake. It made another run then turned and ran for the boat which it decided to dive under. I was trying to keep my rod from hitting the side of the boat and barely succeeding when the hooks pulled out of the fish’s mouth. We never got a glimpse of the fish but as strong of a fish as I have ever had on. Disappointment, but that’s just fishing. Maybe there’s another one around. We kept fishing and the bite was steady all afternoon. We quit at dark with 26 bass in the cooler and 4 more released the largest of which weighed 4 1/2. This one was a good representative of the afternoon.
Ben spent the night and returned this morning for two hours and caught 17, 4 of which were in the 5 pound range. Caught a few on a spook but most on a crank bait. I had a great time. What a wonderful place!
This morning was the first time fishing for me in 10 days. Lake Ferguson is at just about the same level as the last time I was there. Of course I went to the place where the fish were caught last time, but not many were there . The ones that were did not bite like they really wanted it. Caught on the back hook and jumping and throwing the hook were the symptoms. There were two boats fishing near the spot. One came by and allowed that they had been catching them pretty well but each day they became less and less. That’s what happens when you keep them all. These people didn’t look like catch and release guys and judging by their girth, they were not going hungry. I passed them by and went down the 70 bank with a DT-10 and caught a 4-1 FOD. Another just over 3 came from the same spot. I got a little happy but could not get any more to bite there. Keeping down the bank, I picked up another 3 but no more. Something just stopped the DT-10, and I was thinking big, but it was just a hybrid striper. Hardest hit all day.
Kept going with the DT-10 and ran into another 3 pounder, again just glomming up on it. It was 11:45 so I headed for the waterfront. I caught only 9 but good size. As I came into the waterfront a guy carrying a piece of paper was walking by and spoke . On the paper was some of his pen and ink artwork that I assumed he had done this morning. He said he wanted to bless me with it and I said I’ll bless you and he said he wanted a monetary blessing. He wrote my name on it. It was good so I pulled out a $10 and also had a couple of ones. He said “give me those too, I want to get some chicken”. I said “I can’t give you my ones, then I’d be broke”. He laughed and was happy. Here’s the pen and ink.
With the lake so low I was not very optimistic about the fishing especially since I would be starting just after noon. The day had warmed up considerably so I figured the fish would be off the bank and in the deep. I started where Mickey and I caught a few the last trip but on the whole bank not even a bite. When I reached the end by the dreaded net, I continued but it is not really a bank but a shallow flat that drops off into deeper water. There was some activity, shad flinching and the like, but no real striking on top. The wind was low and the water varied from slick to a slight chop. I even considered a Whopper Plopper . Having started with a DT-10, I changed to a DT-6 to throw into water that started at 2 to 3 feet deep and came out to 6 to 8 feet where the boat was sitting. It started with a small bass and then a stripe that had another small bass with a bright red wound trying to take the DT-6 away. After disposing of the stripe, I threw back to that spot and caught the wounded bass. It was not a place where you could just sit in one spot and “every cast” them. The fish were moving around so you had to search when they left in order to find them again. The DT-6 was coming up with too much junk on it so I swapped to a Red Eye Shad. I could cast it farther and it came up with less junk in the shallow water. It has new hooks on it but on a long cast it didn’t always keep the fish on. I had to laugh when one bass about 2 1/2 pounds jumped a good ways out and threw the hook and when it did the Red Eye skipped like a flat rock 3 or 4 times. Today there was a minor period from 12:40 to 1:40 p.m. and a major period from 5:18 to 7:18 p.m.. I’ve always said that you need to be a couple of hours early on the periods. Today the fish started around 2:30 and it was over by 4:30, obvious like someone cut off the switch. When the switch was off, I left the shallows to try the deep before coming home. The fish there were caught with a DT-10 casting parallel to the drop off which started about 10 feet deep. The fish I caught there just “glommed” up on it and most were caught on the rear hook, a sure sign that the bite was over. It was 6:00. I ended up with 51 bass and a FOD of 3 1/4 and two others 3+. Outstanding day especially considering I was so pessimistic about it at the start.
Saturday at noon Mickey and I cast off from the waterfront. The ride up the lake was kind of chilly. We caught nothing going down our starting bank where a good many fish have been caught in the last month even there is deep water there. We were looking for the school that resides around those parts, so we went to where I caught them on the last trip. Four fish came from that bank but only three close enough together to perhaps be called a school. One was a good fish that was up beside the boat while I was fiddling around with my grabber. It made one last jump after calmly waiting for a few seconds and threw the hook. Probably would have been the FOD. We were using DT-6’s and 10’s and a 5XD. After going to the first bank again, we were dodging other fishermen, and only caught one. At one point , I looked over into the shallow water of the chute and something triggered the silver carp. An acre or so of them started jumping and kept it up for probably 30 seconds. We thought it may have been a bird flying over but they kept it up with out birds around. We crossed the lake to another old spot that I have been checking on with no luck. They were there today and we caught 4 along with Mickey catching one of those big orange carp. The fish had the DT-6 in its mouth and we had to use the net to get it in the boat. I think I caught one in that same place last week, hooked in the mouth. Everything likes a DT-6. It was obvious nothing much was going on so we started back toward the ramp. We stopped at an old sunken barge where we caught 3 or 4, one acted like a silver carp that was foul hooked but when it got close to the boat it was a nice 4-2 with one of those finesse hooks stuck just above the tail. FOD. We just tried one more place and caught a few small ones and a net, the second one that day. We were both hung in it and when I cut my bait out there was a 5XD hung a little deeper down that I uncharacteristically left right there. On some of the favorite banks we had several hard hang ups, two of which became fatal to a 5XD and a DT-10, even though we tried to save them with the “gitter”. The “gitter” has a pretty good save record but was only about 66% Saturday. I had two split rings to fail on DT-6’s, one was when a gar went crazy next to the boat. The gars have been tough on my DT-6’s lately. We ended up with 17 bass, one 4-2, a 3-10 and another over 4 unweighed.
The first cast this morning was at 8:00 due to a late night (for me) last night. The lake was at 17.6 feet and falling. Where I caught the fish on the last trip was dry ground. The starting place was the same as the last few times but nothing was there until a straggler bit the DT-6. There was not another, as I had hoped, so I moved down the bank where I had another good fish on but as it made that dive under the boat it came unpinned. Then still moving a 4-0 came to the boat and ended up being the FOD. Ran out of real estate at that spot and moved across the way coming down a tapering bank with a DT-6 and catching a small one now and then. Then a bigger one showed up, and then another but I could make a few casts without getting a bite. The DT-10 was called on to see if the fish were a little deeper. They were and in good size too. One deserved weighing, and when the fish was on the scaled it registered 1.53. That was not right I thought, what’s going on? I finally figured out it was in kilograms and I couldn’t figure out how to change the units of weight. Kilograms just was going to have to do, 2.2 kilograms to a pound, 3 pounds = 1.36 kilograms. The fish were biting and that was no time to be wasting any time. The size on these fish was good too, a good many in the 3 pound range. Finally that spot wore out and it was search mode again but I was never able to locate the fish again. I did locate an old gill net. I knew it was around there somewhere and was hoping that somehow it had gone away during the high water. The DT-10 found it and I saved it with the lure retriever, twice. Since no fish were found, I returned to the starting place where the fish were scattered. Scattered was better than nothing so I went back and forth down that stretch of bank and even found a small school in one spot and was able to catch 4 or 5 out of that one place. The gar became bad for some reason in that spot. I thought I had a nice bass but it was a nice sized longnose gar. The line was wrapped completely around the fish and the hook was embedded it its head. I was scared for my DT-6 but I finally got my pliers on the bait, and the fish went crazy and since the hooks were through the gar hide one of the hooks broke and also pulled the split ring completely off of the bait. Got most of it back anyway. My cutoff time was looming so I went back to the net spot and thought I knew where it was but I hooked it again and again rescued the bait but this time I took a gatoraide bottle and stuck some of the net strands in the bottle and screwed on the top making a float as a marker. I finished there with 31 Bass, a 4-0 FOD and 6 fish between 3 and 4. I did some arithmetic when I got home and figured that the best 5 weighed 18-5.
Got off to a late start this morning and the first cast was made around 7:45. The water has come up some since the last trip. The starting place was the same however. The results were not the same. Nothing was doing on the DT-6 or on the Redeye Shad that was substituting for the Yo-Zuri. I went down the whole bank before I caught one and then another. Visions of wearing them out came but soon went when no others showed up. The trip down the bank continued catching one here and there. I had the feeling that they were close but I just couldn’t get up in the middle of them. A 5-9 bit but no others so I back tracked and in the process saw one hit in a place close by but I had not fished. They started biting, not every cast, but rapidly enough to make me happy. The Redeye had some new hooks on it, and they were doing a good job, but some managed to escape. I was having to work the bait so fast some of the fish didn’t make a good hit in their haste. I then tried a vibrating jig and a 1 minus, catching a few fish on both. When that spot cooled, I went down the bank farther to see if I could make contact, but nothing doing so I turned back around heading to the hotspot. A hydroblaster evidently practicing for a tournament tomorrow pulled in just in front of me about 100 yards with his big motor running almost into the good spot. Needless to say I was a little perturbed . Finally he left, catching nothing, and continued out into the lake. I caught a couple more but the bite was pretty much over. Still mad, a plan was concocted to crank up and head for another spot and passing his boat about 20 yards off. Talked myself out of it, for if I had done it I would have reduced myself to his level. I quit at 11:00 because of dog duty and it was over anyway. The total was 18 bass with the aforementioned 5-9 FOD and another non weighed over 3. I really hate it when they are practicing for a tournament. They are really spying. You will see them idling down the lake supposedly looking at their depth finder but shame in you if you catch one in a good spot. I guarantee it will be noted. When one of those spies comes by I just cast out into the middle of the lake where I know I will not catch one.
Mickey and I met at the waterfront at 1:00 today to a 15 to 20 Mile per hour wind from the East Northeast. The lake was at 20.3 up .4 feet and forecast to rise a little more. We proceeded to the 70 bank where we started catching a few fish right off the bat. Not on the first cast however. The first ones were hooked pretty well but the later ones started jumping and throwing the hook or just being hung on the back hook indicating to me that the bite was slowing down. We would have liked to switch from the DT-6’s to worms but it would have been impossible to fish a worm with a 15 Mile per hour crosswind. The new Minn Kota with the spot lock had its test today in that wind and it passed with flying colors. We caught 11 I think before we ran out of bites in the first place. Trying to get out of the wind some, we left there for calmer waters. There were several places we tried where we have had luck in the past but only tight eyes bit. I have warned about the split rings on a DT-6 coming loose and for good reason. I had another one separate today. You had best change them. We ended up with 20 fish and a 3 pound non weighed FOD
This morning the start of fishing was late again and again there was a Northeast wind, a little cooler than it has been. I had decided today was going to be for looking. The first hour or so was taken up with running the side finder. In particular interest was a log last seen when the water was low in the shallow end of the lake a few years ago and an old sunken barge in deep water. The barge was found but the log was not. I’m pretty sure I ran all over where the log was and it was big enough that it wouldn’t be missed. The number of fish of all kinds in Lake Ferguson is amazing. You can tell the large gar and see the schools of shad that are monstrous. The bass and etc are a different matter as far as determining the variety of fish. There were some that I could determine were bass when they were off by themselves and not in a mass of other fish. Looking was an educational endeavor. My stopping time was 11:00 for I had to be home for a Zoom call with my children. I intended to concentrate on fishing new places and I pretty much did but with no luck. The first old place I fished was the new place I fished on the last trip with good luck. No luck today there however. The baits fished were DT-6 and 10, Yozuri and a worm. Four small bass in three different spots were the only bass caught. A smallish silver carp was snagged in the tail by a DT-6 and the bait was saved. A buffalo was hung in the mouth with a DT-10. It was probably 10 pounds but the problem was how to get it in the boat. The small mouth made the grabber impractical and the net was under the deck. I finally got out the long pole with the hook on the end and used it like a gaff . On the second try it worked and the DT-10 was saved, the buffalo was not however. A few licks with the cut off hoe handle had him floating. When it bit I thought I had a really nice bass and I took out my disappointment on that fish. I’ve always heard bad fishing luck comes with a North wind but Tuesday and Wednesday it was from the same direction and they were great fishing days. Today’s breeze did have a chill to it however. Who knows?
