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.

The landing was open Monday morning and I launched early. Fishing started at 5:50 with a slight Southwest breeze. There seemed to be no interest in my Ribbit whatsoever. I fished with it for an hour or so with no bites so it was time to try something else. Having watched Major League Fishing Saturday where they caught fish on a bladed jig, out came a chatter bait. My casting accuracy was a little off but it got better after a little talk with myself. The bait came scraping by a cypress tree and one just “glommed” it and it felt like it was just the tree, but when it ran to the side I figured it out and set the hook on a nice fish in the 2 pound range. A few casts later the same type of bite and another in the same range. After that I ran out of fish so I moved to where there were more cypress trees and on the first cast came up with a tight eye. Thought the right decision had been made but it was a while before another bite came. When it did the “glomming” had gone away and the fish almost swallowed the bait to the gullet. The size had picked up to 3 1/2. The wind was blowing harder now and blowing the boat from the rear which made it hard to control in instances of a hang-up especially. I caught one more in the 3 1/2 range and then no more bites. I plan to try again soon but with a Ribbit in the shallow water where I ended up. After that with a Booyah and a worm with a light weight, like the guy told me he was catching them on the other day when the South landing was closed. I’m too hard headed sometimes.

I went to lake Jackson about 5:45 this morning but when I arrived at the landing it was closed with a plastic drum with a cinder block on top. In reading all of the instructions about the ramp use I got the idea by the wording that the owner was not a nice person and I had best drop back to plan “B” or go home. There was no other landing on the South end and I had just about made up my mind to go back home. On the way I passed the landing to the North end and there were two vehicles with trailers so I decided to give it a try. The North end is almost jammed up with water hyacinths and has some coon tail moss under that. After launching there was no need to even crank the motor, just start fishing. One of the other boats was bass fishing and the other was fishing for bream. Both boats had been to the South landing too and surmised that it was closed because it had rained but it looked solid to me. I fished the sides of the water hyacinths next to the trees and finally a small bass came out and kissed the Ribbit like a bream. I let it have it and caught the fish. No more action was to be had around the edges so I decided to try the middle. One hit it like it meant it and I caught it too. There were floating patches of hyacinths as well as spots of thick coon tail so I just went down the middle with the Ribbit . Some of the fish just hit in the wide open because they were actually in the vegetation below. By now I had 8 fish. I was doing a pretty good job of catching the good bites that I was supposed to catch until I hit a certain patch of hyacinths that the wind was blowing into just right. There I missed 5 straight good bites. Different things caused the misses but two were missed because of the frog balling up on the hook. At 11 o’clock I caught number 9 and it was time to go because when I got to the North end I said I was going to fish until 9. The size was good with all but one from 2 to 3 pounds except for the FOD at around 4 unweighted. In speaking to the guy bass fishing he has been catching a “good many” “good sized” ones on the South end on a worm. He had caught none this morning. I didn’t talk to him until just before he left or I would have let him try a Ribbit.

Mickey and I started fishing on Lake X at 6:10. Disaster struck immediately. Not being able to stir up a top water bite on a beautiful morning for it, I put on a 3/4 ounce red eye shad and started casting around the bank . Right away I had a hard hit and started to fight a strong fish. I couldn’t move it much and it did not come to the top to show itself. It had almost become an open water stand off and the line broke. Only 3/4 ounce red eye gone. Not retying bit me in the butt again. The line looked as if it had been pinched where it broke, not at the knot. Bad start makes for a good ending the old rationalization goes. We then started to catch some on worms. It seems the fish were sort of schooled up on one particular section of bank so we went up and down. Mickey came up with this one, 4-12 I think I remember.

We continued with the worms until we came upon a shallow spot where the red eyes came back out, a 1/2 ounce one that is. We caught several more smaller ones but then a 6 1/4 showed up. When that place ran out we went back to the worms fished into the cover and caught some more good ones, almost just one at a time. Then bad luck struck again when Mickey hooked one on a known high spot and had a battle going on for a good while. It was another open water standoff that came to and end when the hooks pulled out. We were getting pressed for time and decided to go back to the first shallow spot. We caught nothing there this time. The question is, where did all those fish come from and then where did they go? It became obvious that the bite was over and we were headed to load the boat. We caught 24 in all counting 4 small ones with a long handle net. From memory we had 3 at 4 3/4, and 3 more over 4, and the 6 1/4 FOD.

If I had been at the lake any earlier this morning it would have been too early.

By now, I have figured out the trail marking system that makes for a stress free and stump free trip across the lake possible. When I reached my destination the water was slick but no fish movement was seen. The first cast was at 6:00 sharp. It took 15 minutes to catch the first fish. After that there was a long pause in the activity, some small ones came out and chased or hit at it and missed but nothing that really wanted to eat the frog. I got to the place where on the first trip there was a 5 3/4 and caught one but only a 3 1/2, but it was a fish that I was glad to see. That place was at the end of the bank that I had been fishing the pads next to the shallowest water. Leaving I made some casts to some small groups of pads that I had been ignoring. I caught one in short order and missed another because the frog was completely balled up and covering the hook point. It was obvious the fish were on the isolated pads so I went down that bank again just a little farther out. The fish were biting like they meant it with even a Kawoosh or two. Almost at the end of the spot, I made a cast and got it through the bunch of pads when the phone rang . It was Willie reporting on things at the house. The wind was blowing the boat a little, so in essence I was trolling with the Ribbit over coon tail moss. Talking on the phone, I felt a pull on the line and instinctively set the hook. Had to put the phone down to catch the fish that I would not have caught had Willie not called. Then another dry spell ensued. This snake doctor sat on my casting arm for a half hour not bothered at all by casting. I just knew it was going to bring me luck, and it did finally when the last fish bit.

Today I caught a better percentage of the bites and the fish were larger as a whole. Of the 7 fish caught, 5 were between 2 3/4 and 3 1/2. I didn’t realize how hot it was until the boat was on the trailer. I didn’t get too hot but it was hotter than I like.

I left a little late this morning because the wind on the Star City weather decreased to 7 MPH. At 3:00 it was at 11 MPH and I was not going to go with it that high. The 7 must have just been a lull because when I got to the lake the wind was really blowing. Fishing started at 6:55 and the first fish was caught at 7:05. I thought that was not too bad but it proved to be the old Indian trick. It was a long time before another bass came to the boat. Something hit at my ribbit on 4 straight casts and when finally hung, a 20 inch pike made a rousing jump before cutting the line. There were several other pike bites only one causing a retie. I did not realize the pike werre in that lake. A lot of small bass would make a run at the bait or give it a half hearted slap but they were not serious. I tried hard where there were a good number of fish last Tuesday but nothing. When it got hot I figured the rain was not too far off so I quit. Only 3 fish in all.