I have not been fishing lately but have been thinking about it while sitting in a tree waiting for old Mose to step out. One thing I thought about is changing the oil in the lower unit since the boat is over three years old. The oil that came out was black and thick and obviously needing changing. No water came out on top of the oil which was a good sign. Filled it up with Yamaha factory oil so it should be good to go another three years. Even it’s during the rut, I’m going to have to break down and go to the Garhole one day next week.

A photo of the bait that worked on the last trip.  Note the suspend strips on the side, stuck on to make it suspend when stopped because it is a floating bait.  The color is called the ghost.  I could not find another as a spare so I bought a Tennessee Shad that I thought was close. It was too bright in my opinion for the clear water so I put a paint job on it to dull it a little. The bottom half was almost white before the paint job. We’ll see how it works.

I waited until the day warmed up before going fishing today so I started fishing about 10 a.m.  Monticello was extremely clear with a 6 foot visibility and the surface temperature was 56 degrees.  Started out with the 4 1/4 in the picture and caught  another just like it as well as a 3 3/4 and a 3 1/4.  Caught them all on the King Shad swimbait (very slow) also in the picture.

The fish were all caught in the small creeks that snake up each arm of the lake. The creeks are 12 to 15 feet deep and the sides are 7 to 10 feet deep. The King Shad runs only 5 feet deep max so I think the bass saw the shad a long way in the clear water and came to have a meal. The King Shad has a good thumping vibration also so the fish could feel it coming.  Sort of like those big bass speakers in that tonk I was in Saturday night, you could feel them too.  I think my head had that same throb the next morning.

Had a good day of fishing at Enid today with Hal as we caught 38 bass.  Hal was easy on me. There was only one case of “Where did you catch that one?” answer “Oh, I forgot to tell you about that top under there.”  We did some ICBM casting but we also both caught one on short (3 feet) line, right at the boat.  The lake was calm so fishing (casting) was easy except for the fact it was cold too and I didn’t have on enough clothes.We saw some eagles too.  A couple of photos of the participants.

I found a person in Leland ( www.jdbaits.com )  that custom pours baits.  He had a good looking frog so I ordered 2 bags of 8 at $5.00 per bag. I wanted purple (Junebug) with an anise scent. Here is what it looks like Even blown up, the photo doesn’t do it justice. They are well made. The frog has a good hook slot and I believe can be used on both sides. The 5/0 hooks I use fit it perfectly. The scent is good. The main question is about how much fuss it will create on top of the water. Just looking at the flimsy legs and the big fat cupped feet I believe it  will make plenty of noise. I will use a bead in front of the hook just like the Ribbit. Now for the field test. The garhole has some duckweed and on a warm day it might get the call but here is where I really want to try it.

Mickey and I went to Atchafalaya today. It was cold to start and although we got some bites, we caught our first fish at 10:00.  As the day warmed, so did the fish and they were most active from 2 to 4.  We caught 15 bass and a crappie. The FOD was 4-12 and we had another 4-1. Most were caught on a Booyah spinnerbait. The wind was blowing hard but the main problem was the leaves it was blowing into the water. First photo is the FOD and the second is the  4-1.

A report from Beaverdam that Hal and Richard caught 4 today. Richard had the FOD with a 6 3/4 and he is pictured in a very colorful photo. One of the fish Hal caught was over 4 also.Looks like the FOD had some lesions on his side.

I fished from 8 till 1 today and caught a 3-5, a 3-7, a 3-10 and a dink. All fell for a Booyah spinnerbait and all nailed it as soon as it hit the water. The water is about 2 feet deep in the trees straight across from Deerfield landing and is not moving up or down with the river.  Caught two early and then went looking for different places. The wind rose so I retreated to the sheltered place where I started and I caught two more. Could not try many of the places I wanted because of the wind.  No other bass fishermen seen.

I received a report on Hal and Richard’s trip to Enid today. They caught 25 with a 6, a 5 and 2 @ 3. Hal did not have 9 rods but gave a good accounting for himself, catching all the big fish mentioned above, and 16 of the total.  I know what happened.  He stealthly approached the brushtop and launched his first cast at ICBM range.  Hal is most accurate at that distance too, and we know the rest of the story. Enid is hot right now. If you go be sure to take your boat registration.  Hal had renewed but left the new card at home, had the  expired card in the boat. The officer was nice and believed Hal when he told him he left it at home. When the officer checked Hal the next day  he did not ask for it and good thing because it was still at home. I bet it’s in the boat now.

One of Hal’s nine rods came up with a good one. 6 1/4 pounds