When your boat becomes a planter. Putting all those steps on the trailer to good use.

The water has receded enough so the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks is able to open the lake. It opened Friday and there was a crowd this morning. I truck number nine. Don’t know when I arrived but fishing started at 6:11 with a Booyah down a step bank with cypress trees. It took longer than usual to get a bite and when it came it was like the fish just glommed up on it. Not a hard strike but I was glad to get the skunk chased away. Continuing down the bank I pulled out a swim jig because there were some trees with low lying limbs that the swim jig could skip under. Caught a couple on the jig before the Booyah came back out but only one more on it. I started to title this post “Over the Limit” because this morning I took 5 rods where 4 is my usual limit. All my fishing partners usually have me “outrodded”. The rods were for the Booyah, a worm , the swim jig, a DT-6, and a DT-10. At the end of this particular bank is a high bank that has a washdown that makes a little flat where the fish feed. When I arrived I threw a DT-10 because that is what I have used there with success in the past. Nothing, so out came a worm. Bites and fish started coming so the worm was it. By the time I left that spot I think I had 20. I had some spots I wanted to try but each of the first three had someone on it or near it. There was one that was empty so I stopped. I believe I had caught one or two when a root fooled me and I set the hook solid on it. As I eased over to get it free, I was shaking the line trying to get it off. As I neared the spot I noticed my line was going off in another direction so I set the hook again. The fish had taken the bait off of the cypress root, but as thanks it got a hook through the jaw. I quickly released it. The person had left the main spot I wanted to fish and I was preparing to go when another drove up. There is another place where I have had good luck that you would never suspect to be good. That is where I went. It was one every cast with a worm. As usual the wind was from just the wrong direction making fishing difficult, but with the fish biting like that I didn’t care. I figured out a way to make an anchor of sorts and things got easier. I even got out a DT-6 to see if it would work and it did but not as good as the worm. DT-6 WARNING: You have to watch a DT-6. The front snap ring that holds the front hook will stretch and allow the hook to come off. The front hook is a Number five and almost impossible to find. One came off of my DT-6 today, with the FOD 2-13, luckily in the boat. Hal had one to come off the other day and he lost the fish as well as the number 5 hook. I am going to change out all of my DT-6 snap rings on the first rainy day. The good spot slowed down so I left to try some other spots but of the 4 none were productive so I returned to the one where the fish were. They were still there but not every cast as before. I then tried all the spots that were occupied earlier and caught none in any of them. On the way back to the landing I stopped at the very first place and caught a few more but they were tired too. There were a lot of crappie fishermen out today, most with the spider rigs, some sitting in the back of the boat using the wireless trolling motor control to guide the boat while they sat under the umbrella and tended the poles. When I started this morning there were two local guys, one sat in the front seat and the other sat behind the steering wheel that were jig fishing around the cypress trees and logs. They were nonchalantly burning the crappie up. When I quit they were still burning them up. I just had to go over and tell them how much I enjoyed watching them catch a lot more fish than the guys with all the technology. They were nice guys and we had a very pleasant conversation. I ended up with 75 bass, a very few of which were a little over 2 pounds. A fun return to Wolf Lake. Quit at 3:00.

Jackson and I met at Grand Lake at 5:15 this morning. The wind was blowing at a pretty good clip although the waves were not too bad. We started at the North end where the lily pad area has expanded. It has expanded at the South end too. I fished with a swim jig because of the waves but changed to a Ribbit pretty quickly. Had a bite on the first cast with it but the fish missed completely. Had more bites and misses. I’ve seen that kind of day before. We fished a long time before one hit a topwater close to the bank under an overhanging tree (estimated 4 pound FOD). We thought we had it figured out but no more of those. Another fish bit a worm by a dock but could get no more. We quit at noon with 2 fish.

Mickey and I met at the waterfront today at 3:00 knowing there was a good chance of rain, as a matter of fact, it was visible on the radar and heading straight for Greenville. It did the same thing yesterday but the rain gave out before it arrived. “Maybe it will do that today” we thought or hoped. We headed for the 87 pound treeline and fished enough of it to see that nothing was happening there. Mickey fished with a Yozuri and I fished with a swim jig. The rain did not give out and came into view so we retreated and luckily found an empty boathouse that we quickly ducked into. We did not get wet and had a nice rain cooled conversation. The rain quit and we went to an old sunken barge. That called for an XD5 and a worm. Mickey caught some on a worm and when we went in shallow to retrieve a hang up, I picked up the swim jig and caught a few that were hanging out shallow very quickly. That gave out so we went down to the #1 bitespot where we were sure we were going to wear them out but nothing but stripes. From there we headed South where we only caught one more in six spots tried for a total of 6 bass. The FOD was about a 5 pound catfish that hit the swim jig with great authority.

Mickey and I started fishing at about 20 til 7:00. Why didn’t I just say 6:40? Today the battery was charged on the Garhole Boat and the trolling motor was doing a good job. First on the agenda was a seminar on fishing a Crazy Shad top water bait that Mickey put on. There are a couple of trees with the leaves still on that have caved in to the hole where the steep bank has sloughed off. I fished with a swim jig until Mickey had caught about 7 with the crazy shad. He was calling them out of the green leaves into the open to eat his offering. They were up in the green leaves and would not come out unless they heard a shad in trouble. It was fun for me to watch. When they stopped there we started to move down the bank to a spot known to us to be pretty good. We passed a good green spot on the way but could not catch anything there. The swim jig started to catch one here one there. In what we thought was the good place we caught a few, some on the swim jig but we had to resort to the DT-6 to catch some just swimming out in the open. I caught a good sized grinner on a DT-6 and had tired him out or so I thought. Mickey had a lip gripper and I grabbed the grinner with it. As I picked him up he slipped the grip and went crazy breaking the line and swimming off with my DT-6. My mistake was not to tenderize the grinner with the cut off hoe handle at first opportunity. Going to make that a rule. Mickey also pulled out a worm and caught some. I put on my last D & L advantage jig instead of a worm. That jig has a good hook but also a very streamlined head with an enclosed line tie that enables it to come through cover without hanging up. Mickey was still getting a little interest in his crazy shad but not as enthusiastic as before. The swim jig was beginning to be the bait the bass were liking best. I was fishing it on a short light spinning rod with 17 pound hi viz Nanofil with a short length of fluorocarbon leader tied on with an Albright knot. A cast with the bail closed parted the leader so it was either tie the knot from memory or quit fishing with that rod. I tied it from memory and it held up fine for the rest of the day. Before it separated this 5-9 FOD bit the swim jig.

We caught a few more in various places as the time got closer to the major period that was supposed to occur from 11:00 to 1:00. . We then went by the little green spot we had visited earlier with no results. For a short while it was one on every cast with the D&L and they were in the 2 1/2 pound range. When they quit on one side, they started a little on the other where we caught a few more. A trip around the hole produced nothing so we returned to the green trees in the water. The trees are in a spot that drops off almost straight down. On one cast, the jig was just swimming deep while coming to the boat but I felt something, and knowing that there was no wood out that far, I set the hook. It was a 4-14 with about a 3 1/2 swimming around him trying to get the bait. Mickey tried to get his worm in the water but the fish wasn’t buying it and swam off . I think he caught that fish a little later. A little later the temperature was rising and the fish had stopped so we decided to quit. We had caught 34 bass with the aforementioned FOD of 5-9.

I received a letter from Van that contained this photo taken around 1973, 47 years ago. The 47 is quite sobering. The photo was taken at the mouth of Lake Whittington. The lake must have been falling, as you can see the clear water running into Old Muddy. As Van said, I was “one mo’ casting” him to death. On the way back we saw a stick, stopped to cast and started catching them on every cast. Great memories!

Things are looking up at bd.28 today.  2 @ 5.5#, 3 @ 4+# and 1 @ 3#. Couple on frogs, half dozen on “punch rig” (3/8 oz wt with worm for thick duckweed) most on black/blue chigger craw. I like the black/ blue for muddy water but it’s going to be hard to use something else as it clears. It is still falling and clearing but no clusters of bass yet.

This is from Hal’s email. I guess it is picking up 23 pounds best 5.

Mickey and I met at the waterfront this afternoon at 5 for a quick sojourn to a few spots that we thought might be good. At the first stop, and on the first cast, a fish nailed my DT-10 and escaped before I had a visual on it. It may have been a large stripe because there were those around of all sizes. We caught a few small bass there but we had to resort to a worm to catch most of them. Things slowed to the point that we left there and went to the Number One Bitin’ Spot, where we caught 3 bass and a gaspergou. The first was caught on a XD-5 and the rest were caught on worms including the goo. We left there and went on a long ride to another place where we drew a blank. The water was just right for that spot but no one home. Hopping across the lake again, we tried a gravel bank and caught a few more. It was getting late so we put up our baits and headed for the trailer. We ended up with 13 fish with an eyeballed 3 pound FOD. While we were putting the boat on the trailer, there were two women walking around on the waterfront picking up trash. They had picked up a good bit in two garbage bags. On the way by them, I blessed them and gave a big thank you.

The only way to get to the Garhole is on an ATV, which in my case is a Yamaha 4 wheeler. This is because the river came over the main road to it and the rains have the other road through the woods muddy and in places rutted up. Sunday I was going to go down and check on the boat that has been strapped to the rack with the plug in. Almost there was a large tree that had fallen across the road in a thick place so there was no going around. On the way back I told Rob and he immediately went down and removed it with a backhoe. This morning I put the new battery, tackle bag, boat bag, new boat hook, and fishing rods on the Yamaha. It was all strapped on with ratchet straps and bunge cords and quite a sight to behold. The water had fallen to where the boat rack was on the ground, which was just right as I didn’t have to bail the boat, just pull the plug. The new marina is great, pull the Yamaha right up beside the boat and transfer your stuff, which I did. After I hook up the battery and depth finder, I usually tap the trolling motor button just to make sure everything is right. This morning it was not right- nothing. Just to check, I touched both terminals with a piece of metal an there was barely a spark. When I bought the battery I asked the man if it needed charging before I used it. “No”, he said, “just use it”. It’s on the charger right now. I hope it’s not a bad battery. I dug the paddle out from under the deck and started. A DT-6, a swim jig, and a D&L 1/2 ounce Advantage jig each occupied a rod with one in reserve. It didn’t take too long to figure out the DT-6 was not working. Next up was the swim jig. It was on a small spinning rod with one of the new spinning reels spooled with Berkley Nanofil 17 pound hi-viz line. Nanofil is not braid but has a lot of the same characteristics, as in no stretch. It is slick and casts farther and easier than any line I have used. You have to use a leader and tying one on you need a small knot. The Albright knot or the uni to uni are the ones most used for the job. On my last leader I used the uni to uni and could hear it going through the guides on most casts so I tried the Albright this time. It came out small and in my opinion better than the uni to uni. I have a new version of WordPress and can’t figure out how to put the picture in. Just figured it out. Here it is. Pretty small.

The bass started biting the swim jig, and unfortunately the bream did too. The would pull off the tails of the trailer. It was one here one there for a while but I found a spot where the water was running out and there was some duckweed. A cast on top of the duckweed and pull it off of the side was good for a bite when the jig came off the side. Caught the 2 3/4 FOD doing that. I also caught a nice crappie with the swim jig. After a while the bite seemed to slow for the swim jig so I broke out a regular jig with a trailer. I caught a couple on it but now the wind had picked up a little and since I was paddling , it did not take too much for me to decide to head for home. The gnats didn’t help either. They were out in full force and if you got close to the bank the mosquitoes were too. The buff that I wear for the sun helps with the gnats but the mosquitoes can bite right through it. The total was 10 bass.

Jackson and I were sitting in Lake Enterprise at 4:45 this morning anticipating, for the second time, the shad spawn. We sat listening for a Kawoosh of a bass hitting on top but none came. When it was really light enough to cast accurately, we started down a treeline with top waters. I saw a dimple on the other side of the boat in the open water and threw to it just on a whim. To my surprise a very small bass hit and got caught, effectively chasing away the skunk. We continued down that bank until we came to two trees with a small gap between them. Jackson caught one there and while he was getting the fish off of the hook I cast to the same spot, saved his spot for him as Mack would say, and caught one too. We caught 4 there in all with me losing two others. There was a beer can tied to the limb so if you’re ever in Lake Enterprise and see the beer can be sure to fish those trees very well. The top water bite gave out and we started trying other baits looking for the secret bait of the day. We used a spinner bait, a bladed jig,a Rattletrap, a Yozuri, a swim jig and of course a DT-6 and 10. At Jackson’s favorite spot where we caught good bass last trip we caught the 4-15 FOD on a DT-10. Jackson has a 1 ounce Rattletrap that he lost a couple of fish on last trip and he said the hooks were the problem. He remedied the problem with some large sharp Owner hooks that turned the bait into a formidable looking instrument. Still in his favorite spot, he made a long cast with the Rattletrap and got a bite. He set the hook and declared that it was a big fish. In fact the fish was big enough that we had to chase it with the boat. The fish got the line around a tree and kept going, heading for a trot line that was tied to a snag. By now, he had determined the fish was not a bass and just wanted his Rattletrap back. The fish went under the trot line. The end of the trot line was tied above the water so Jackson handed me the rod that I stuck under the trot line and handed it back to him. The fish finally was getting tired and came up beside the boat so we could get a good look at it. It was a 40 to 50 pound buffalo that was hooked in the tail. When Jackson pulled the tail up out of the water the fish didn’t have much power and was easier to deal with but there was still no way to net the fish or get it in the boat. The Rattletrap was plainly visible and relatively still so I took the lure retrieving pole and hooked the end in one of the hooks. Just as I was about to try to snatch the lure out the brute surged and did it for me. Rattletrap saved! We fished a few more places and caught a couple more fish on that Rattletrap and a DT-6. We ended up with 18 fish but I believe we are finished with the shad spawn.