Jackson, Juan Luis Hernandez, and I went to McComb’s Brake, an oxbow off of Bayou Bartholomew, Friday afternoon.  It is a beautiful cypress lined lake that has floating vegetation that is so thick it limits where you can go in the boat.  Many large alligators. Juan Luis was on his first bass fishing expedition but caught one and a large gizzard shad on a worm. Jackson and I caught about 7 in the two hours of fishing, using spinnerbaits, topwaters and a buzzbait. We saw a large bass hit near the bank and when I threw the buzz in behind the log he hit at it immediately but missed. The brush hog was next which he hit but when I set the hook got hung up. The buzz was next and it hit hung up behind a log.Upon retrieving the buzz we had to use the pole with the hook and had a hard time at that.  I kept pulling part of a small snake out from under the log.  When the buzz finally came out, so did the snake hooked in the mouth. Jackson held the snake, gingerly took the hook out of it’s mouth and threw it back.  He was much kinder to the snake than I would have been. The Pughs have a neat house built on the edge of the brake that is out over the water and has large windows that open out to the water. Close to dark, a 12 ro 14 foot alligator came steaming up for his marshmellow snacks thrown from the window. We were standing only about 5 feet away, behing a wooden wall thank goodness.  Came close for a portrait.Chasing a treat.

I made a dash to Ferguson early this morning and fished with a buzz bait.  I could and should have been even earlier because the few bites I had came early. There were no crushing strikes. Most were tepid.  I saw a bass hit in a treetop and on the fifth or sixth cast it finally came out and mouthed the bait. Missed when I tried to set the hook.  When I came home I saw why they were not enthusiastic .  On rivergages.com I saw the river had risen .56 feet in the last 24 hours.  According to the forecast it was to start to rise today.

I went fishing today with Richard at Beaverdam near Tunica.  The first thing that happened this morning was a barred owl sailed out of a tree and was drawing a bead on my scumfrog.  Only when I said “Look at that!”  in a loud voice did he abort his mission.  I didn’t want a hooked and mad owl on my line. We then dipped and dunked plastic  Baby Paca Craws around the cypress trees. Richard is the master of D & D and he was giving a lesson today.  D & D is traveling through the Cypress trees with a spinning rod and pitching around as many as you can. Some “casts” are as close as 6 feet.  It does not matter if the water is covered with duckweed or not. One of the secrets was to hit  very close to the tree. Inaccuracy was my downfall. I got better with practice as the day went on.Water depth went from 4 feet to less than a foot.  We caught 34 bass, a cat, and two crappie. The FOD was 5 even and I believe this is a photo of Richard and the FOD.I’m not sure if it’s the right one because the FOD kept being changed with larger fish. In the background you can see some of the territory we were fishing. Here is another view of the territory.A great day, good company and plenty of action.

Taff and his partner came in third at a Moon Lake tournament Saturday.  They caught them shallow in the cypress trees with a worm. The water is higher than usual is the only explanation that I can come up with for catching them up shallow this time of year there.  He has  never fished there before. Good job Taff.

Lake Ferguson was 21.1 feet this morning when I hit the lake around 7 am.  I managed to catch 7, most in the same places that were not productive Monday. Most were caught on a DT-6. The fish were better too, with most between2 and 3 with a 3 -8 FOD.  I tried out a swimbait that I designed and made. It swam straight and would swim at low speeds but it did not put out the “thump” vibrations that I wanted.  I’m going to make a few more and try them in some clear water situations before I ditch the mold. In the mean time, I’m going to purchase a mold.

With Lake Ferguson at 22.1 on the Greenville gauge I was going into the upper lake and came upon a 5 to 6 foot gator just on the upper lake side of the chute. It was not too shy and at one point started moving closer to the boat.  There was plenty of time to get the good camera and snap away. On the fishing front things were not very interesting.  I managed to catch 10 but they were small.Had a lot of pick ups and put downs. Went to some places where I wore them out last year at the same water stage but nobody home. One place I was especially counting on where I had good luck recently was a complete bust. There are some out there somewhere because the tournament winner this weekend caught 23 pounds and some change.

It’s 77 miles to Horseshoe from my house. When I was putting in a nice guy told me a couple of places to go. I went to the first one and had a bite, had one to hang me up on a root and caught this 7 – 12. I could tell the one that hung me up was pretty good but I almost jumped out of the boat when this one came up right by the boat. It looked like a giant. I could see it was hooked deep enough in his mouth that the line was being sawed by its teeth.  In my mind disaster was looming due to a not so great a start anyway. When the fish came beside the boat I jammed my thumb in its mouth and snatched that joker out of the water and into the boat. I was beginning to think it might not be such a bad day after all. After this place I tried place after place shallow and deep but could get no bites. Finally I got to a place where I caught two more and lost two more all about 2 pounds apiece. Every bite was on a “Wild Thang” creature bait, made by Strike King. It’s about the same thing as a Brush Hog. The whole lake looks the same. Obviously some spots are better than others but I only found one on my own and one by the kindness of a stranger.

I’ve had just about enough of this exploration. The Minter City Cutoff was dead today for me. Didn’t get skunked but I could smell him in the weeds. There were about as many gar as I’ve seen anywhere. There were great looking ditches just like at Wolf Lake but with no fish on the underwater points. Steep banks to deep water but nothing for me. How is this for polypipe disposal? I’d hate to get that wrapped around my prop. During the day I hung one of my favorite DT-10s about 9 feet deep. By sticking my “gitter”  (in photo)down to try to retrieve it, I figured it was hooked on a net. I couldn’t pull it up so I went for plug knocker #2 It consists of a 8 oz sinker some small chain and a loop to go on the line and a rope.  When I sent it down I got lock on and pulled the DT-10 up. One hook was broken off, the other was straightened out and the split rings were stretched out, but I had it. I took a picture of it but it was too bright and you could not see the hooks. The “gitter” is a 11 foot piece of cane with a big hook with the point and barb ground off and JB Welded in the end.  It has saved a many crankbait for me.

I went to Long Lake near Drew this morning. It is a beautiful cypress lined relatively narrow lake with a good dropoff out to 10 or 11 feet.I only caught 8 small bass. Had a better one on but it came unpinned. There was a lot of cover, ditches coming in, and shad balls everywhere. Never saw a bass chase the shad. I believe the lake has a good bass population but I just could not figure out the puzzle. Got a lot of “pecks” from little bass of this years spawn and one or two got hooked.How about that hog?

I believe the best time to go here is earlier in the year. The water temp was 83 to 91 degrees today. I’m going to go to another new lake later in the week. Maybe this “new lake syndrome” will get out of my system.

Speaking of a hog, Hal called me on the way home to say he and Richard caught 13 today at Beaverdam. They included a 6, a 5, and two over 3. A very good day.

Hal and I went to Enid today.  I met him at the landing after driving through quite a display of lightning.  The bad weather had passed and only a little rain remained.  Good weather to fish in.  The water was very clear for Enid which, I think , makes fishing difficult. We caught 23 but all were small.  We pulled up to the place where the two fish on the front of this site were caught.  Hal got a strike, hung it for a second, it got off , and got it back on. A fight ensued with both of us knowing that the bass were there just like before. Not to be.        It was a 7 1/2 pound goo.