Cane Creek is between Gould and Star City Arkansas.  It’s a 83 mile drive that took an hour and 35 minutes. I say all this because when you go to that much trouble you expect results.  It gets light at 6:00 and I was out casting then.  The lake has acres and acres of lily pads and looked like a perfect place to use up some Ribbits.  Last year Jackson and I fished it in June which I thought was too late in the year.  The first week in May should be just right or so I thought.  It took an hour plus today to get a bite.  I kept on fishing and the bites were few and far between. Every bite on the Ribbit came outside of the pads, usually about 5 feet out. I don’t know whether they came out of the pads or were hanging out outside the pads.The fish were not hesitant to bite because they were slamming the frog. The FOD, a 3 – 10, actually jumped out of the water and came down on the bait.. At 11:00 the wind had picked up and was blowing hard making it difficult to fish the Ribbit in the pads in the middle of the lake.  It was not the waves, for the pads kept the water relatively smooth but you could not hit your target, and if you did hit it, the wind would blow a bow in your line and have your bait speeding off to the side. I retreated to the lee shore for some wind relief but there were no fish there, so back to the middle. I was ready to quit, but not wanting to accept defeat, I had on a Booyah spinnerbait and started throwing it around all the submerged stumps.  A bite right off the bat may have been the “old Indian trick” but I continued to throw it and caught two more small bass eventually.  Five bass for the early day was not too sporty in my opinion.  I never had the motor over and idle today due to all the stumps in that lake.  If you go there, it’s best to go in a shallow draft boat because of the stumps.  I saw two men in a large bass boat who were idling and hitting stumps that looked like they were going to damage the boat. The water temp started at 72 and went to 77. Visibility was about 2 1/2 feet in spots.  I do not think I’m going back soon.

I have a lifetime supply of Ribbits and wanted to use some of them up in Monticello’s lily pads.  I started out on a spot that I don’t get too many chances to fish because usually the wind is blowing there. Caught two pretty quickly but then hit a dry spell with no bites. Then I hit a hot spot and caught two on consecutive casts.  I think those two were guarding fry because they aggressively attacked the Ribbit. Then the drought returned as far as the Ribbit  was concerned so I pulled out a swimbait and caught one pretty quickly and had another follow it to the boat.  They were in 8 to 10 feet of water. The water was extremely clear with 5 to 6 foot visibility, the water was  calm and the sun was bright so you could see anything behind your bait.  I tried some more Ribbit spots but no bites so the swimbait got the call again and continued to pick up one here and there.  Some of the pads are thin and not as developed as usual.  I don’t know if that is the reason the bass were not in the pads .  I feel all the sight fishing has affected them too. It’s the first of May and they are already going for the deep water. I was really disappointed because fishing with a Ribbit is so much fun.  Eleven bass today with a FOD of 4 -5 and one other 4.

I talked to Bill Walker the other day and he has been using the rear end of a Ribbit as a jig trailer. It sounded good so today, during the drought, I rigged one up with the rear of a torn up Ribbit.  It had great action and slowed the fall of the jig. Here is a photo.

Richard and Hal are back from a fishing trip to the marsh where the fish of the trip ( FOT) was the a 40 pound black drum shown here with Richard straining to hold him up. They also caught a box full of redfish and some trout, saved for the fillet knife. They had a good trip. Hope the oil doesn’t mess up the fishing there.

The turkey season is over and so is the whipping they were giving me. It’s almost a relief. A terrible season with not a turkey to my credit. Last year was stellar and this year was one of my worst in recent times. I guess that’s what makes averages. Now I’m ready to get on with fishing. The river lakes are out for a while because of the rise that’s coming but I’m sure I can find somewhere to fish.  The river is going to be in the Catfish chute in a day or two so it’s out but there’s always the Garhole and some others. I’m going to start in the morning somewhere.