Mickey and I went to Ferguson Saturday. The lake was full of hydro blasters with, I think, two tournaments going on. A boat on every spot. Not many boats fishing on the bare sand so we did not have too many issues with the crowd on our sandy spots. We caught 10 and a catfish most on a DT-6.  Will not be going to Ferguson again on the weekend anytime soon.

Upon getting to “my spot” as Taff calls it, I was greeted by it already being occupied, along with two or three more before the day was over.  There were a lot of bass fishermen on the lake this morning, but to me, the fish were not very active early. Caught the first one on “my spot” at 9:35. From then to 11:30 I caught 9, not counting the SFOD shown in the first photo.  That tiny bass was going to eat the DT-6.  I never cease to be be amazed at how pugnacous a bass can be.  I caught most on a worm but caught the best ones ( they would have weighed 3 if they had eaten just a few more shad) with a DT-6 on the spot in the second photo.  They were schooled up. When I would catch one, another would follow it to the boat.  A bare sandy bank. I love bare sand when the lake is falling. Finally, is a photo of the second modification of the paddletail worm. I think I’m going to melt down the first model and make them the second.

Mickey and I went to Ferguson Tuesday afternoon after the rains had gone and caught 7 bass. The Rapala DT-6 was again the bait to use. Unfortunately it did its normal thing and reached out and foul hooked a large silver carp in the tail. It took a long time to get my bait back since I had 8# test. With so much drag being pulled out my line was twisted and it had to be let out behind the boat to be untwisted. Pain in the neck. Looking in my book, last year from 7/15 to 8/15, I only caught 35 bass with 2 over 4. This year it’s 105 but none over 4. Got to correct that. Did I mention Mickey buffed up my shine 5 to 2 ?

In a flat buttered pan (with shallow edges) put your bass fillets (from under 14 inch fish) skin side down. Melt a butter, lemon juice, and garlic mixture and pour over the fish. About 3/4 stick of butter, two good lemons worth of juice and one clove of garlic, minced. Sprinkle lightly with lemon pepper and sprinkle with a layer of parmesan cheese. I like more parmesan rather than less. Cook in the pan outside on the grill, top closed, adding wood to make smoke if possible. It can also be cooked in the oven under the broiler if the rack is lowered so it will not catch the butter on fire. It’s done when the fish flakes with a fork. In the last we cooked, I added capers on top of the parmesan cheese. You can add anything you like as a topping as I did with the capers.

Revisited the chute Saturday and hooked a “grinner” on the first cast. Got it to the boat before my spinnerbait broke in half. After putting on another, I caught a bass and then caught, this time, another “grinner” 4 1/2 pounds. The Booyah was mangled, almost beyond repair and it took about 10 minutes of intense work with two pairs of pliers to get it to run almost right. “Grinners” and spinnerbaits are a bad combination, especially for the spinnerbait, but in my case from now on, for the “grinner” too. When I had him with the grabber, I tried to give him a needle nose pliers headache. I ended up catching 11 bass, a “grinner”and a crappie with the FOD (bass) at 3 Pounds. Five bass under 14 inches and the crappie were kept as the ones I kept the other day were delicious. Recipe in another post. The bass were caught mostly on a worm. Speaking of which, I tried the new worm and found it spirals . First one way, then the other. It did not seem to twist the line but the time I fished with it was not long. To get the bass to bite the worm you had to shake it at them. Was able to take a picture or two because of the lack of mosquitoes.

This afternoon I cranked up my casting lab to make a new type of worm. The idea came from Richard and Hal who wanted a relatively short worm with a big flapping tail to fish under the duckweed. A small tube was the head, a Zoom finesse worm was the body and a Zoom speed worm tail was the flapper. Poured a plaster of Paris mold, made a couple of prototypes and headed to the lake front for a test. No flapping motion, so back to the drawing board. Looked in the BPS online catalog at the worms with the flapping tails and theirs appeared larger than mine, so I carved on my mold to make the tail larger. Prototypes made and back to the lake. Perfect. When you just reel it in it makes your rod tip vibrate. I had enough plastic saved to make 8 and a piece. Field test begins tomorrow at the Catfish Chute.

Wednesday afternoon I sneaked off to the Catfish Chute and got started about 4 P.M.  It was still hot and when I was not in the shade the perspiration was pouring off. Caught two right off the bat in one spot and then could not buy a fish. Had some bites and hooked a few but could not catch one even with a trailer hook on my Booyah spinnerbait.  Finally, exasperated, I returned to the place I caught the first ones and again, they hit the Booyah but would not stick. They liked the Zoom U tail vibe worm that I showed them next.  The fish were biting faster than the microscopic mosquitoes, almost on every cast. Ended up with 18, the largest of which was 2 1/2. While I was fishing there I heard a trickle. There were springs coming out of the bank. No wonder the fish were there.  They quit biting a little before dark and I was almost glad because the mosquito onslaught had intensified. No pictures today. To busy slapping mosquitoes.

Mack and I are shown in another picture, vintage early to mid 1970s, from the treasure trove. This string of fish was from BarLake in Lake Whittington and was caught under one green ash tree with a Cordell Big O, chartreuse and black. From thence on that color was known as a “Bar Lake Special”. Catch and release was unknown in the 1970s.

Mickey has a treasure trove of old photos from the 1970s. One below has written on the back “5/9/73, Harley and I with 9 bass at 26# – caught by the “Cowpen” on a Red Fin ( chrome)”. The other is Mickey and Harley at a wedding in Chattanooga and according to Carol, ” Talking about the “big one” no matter where you are”. She was right.Pretty distinguished looking guys.

I broke my rule today about fishing public water on the weekend and with good results. Mickey and I caught 22, many on the same place as the other day, but a lot on bare sandy banks. The sandy banks were good especially early before the sun got too bright. The fish were not piled up, one here and one there. Mickey caught the FOD 3 1/4. Most were on a DT-6, but some on a DT-10 and a worm. Lake is going to rise for a while. The water is beautiful and clear and the fish have a wonderful color to them too. Had to take a picture of one even though small. Mickey caught 5 more when he went back. They had moved deeper and he caught them on a DT-10.

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