Rufus and I went to Lake Ferguson this afternoon once again under beautiful weather conditions.

The fish were not as cooperative today as yesterday. They were there and chasing shad but it was hard to get them to hit a spinnerbait. With as many shad as are in the lake now I don’t see why a fish would ever hit an artificial lure. We caught 9 bass and a couple of stripes using a 1/4 ounce Booyah spinnerbait.  Mickey was there too with Ed as his fishing partner. They caught 15 or so but it was obvious that it was not the same as yesterday.  The word must be out because there was a good crowd of fishermen.The good part is the ones we did catch were the small good eating size fish. We kept all but one we caught and a couple of  stripes.

That is what the ice chest looked like just before we left.

Lake Ferguson stood at 17.4 feet when Mickey and I went fishing Saturday morning. The major period was in the afternoon so we did not start at the crack of daylight. As the morning progressed, we caught a few on DT – 6’s and worms but we could see some schooling fish that were just not interested in those offerings.  We started rattling around in tackle bags to find out what would work.  A 1/4 ounce Booyah spinnerbait seemed to do the trick.  There were millions of small shad that the bass were chasing in shallow water. A lot of the bass were small but every now and then the big ones showed up. After noon is when the bite picked up and remained for the rest of the afternoon.  We did however catch a couple of 4’s in the morning on a DT – 10.

Mickey caught a large Goo and also another grinner too.  He is within striking distance of wresting the Grinner Meister title from Richard.

The afternoon also had an appearance from Dr. Metcalfe when Mickey had a hook from a 400 Bandit stick up to the barb in the pad of his right index finger.  It hurt the doctor more to look at it than it was hurting the patient. After a pull didn’t work, a little finessing by the patient finally got the hook out.  Watch out for the 400 Bandit hooks because they are the sharpest I have seen. After some antibiotic and a bandaid, the fishing continued. We had to keep moving because the fish were spread over a large area. Later in the evening, Mickey pulled out a Yozuri lipless crankbait and caught a few but the  big stripes were giving him fits.  He said he got the Yozuri because he heard Mark liked them and it was one of his main go to baits. I did not keep count, but I’d guess we caught 30 stripes.  Most were big ones too. I did count the bass and our total was 103. A terrific day of fishing – I mean, catching.

Wednesday morning I went to Lake Whittington with the water stage at 8.8 at Arkansas City. I have not been there in a long time and have heard some success stories from there but had no idea where to go or what bait to use. Looking for some wood in the water was a good place to start. The water falling had left most of the tops up on the dry ground.  I found a few in the water and a Booyah spinnerbait started getting good results.

Around 10:00 or so things started to pick up as the fish started to sting the Booyah and get the hook deep in their mouth.  I ran out of  productive tops and moved to a different part of the lake. There were a line of tops down the bank and only a slight change of the steepness of the slope of the bank made the ones on the steeper part better than the others. By noon I had 33 and called John Shackelford on the phone to return his call that I had missed.  I was sitting on one side of a treetop. When I finished the call, I moved to the other side and it was on!  The fish had the shad hemmed up and were working on them. I started catching them every cast, those zinging hits that make your line go out to the side.  Hence the name of this post. Old Milwaukee beer had a TV commercial a good while back whose ending line was “It just doesn’t get any better than this”.  That was  exactly what I was thinking.  23 bass came off of that top.

It was getting close to the time I needed to go if I wanted to bowhunt that afternoon so I only caught a few more before I left.  The total for the day was 59. Most were in the 1 1/4 to 2 1/2 pound range.  I had some guests for supper in my backyard too.

The truth is the bass at Monticello have me whipped for now.  I went there this morning and fished in good conditions only coming up with one 3 1/2 pound fish on a swimbait. The fish  had a larger one trying to steal the bait out of it’s mouth. Florida bass got cussed, as did the full moon, but the truth is I just can’t figure them out over there at this particular time of year.  I fished where I caught or hung fish the last couple of times I’ve been there but nothing at all. The only thing that has been steady is all the contact with fish the last three times has been in 7 to 9 feet of water. When I caught one today with a follower at 12:30, I thought they were schooling but I circled and circled to no avail. The water was clear and beautiful with 4 foot visibility so I know they can see the swimbait.  I’ve never done very well there on a full moon but I know that’s not the problem.  A look at the front deck before the baits were put up for the day shows  that I didn’t just stick with one bait.

I caught one right off the bat on a swimbait at Monticello, but then the  bite settled into the doldrums as the wind shifted to the North and was cold.  One hit a Ribbit in shallow water twice getting hooked the second time. It hung me up on one of the millions of stumps and escaped. The thunder bumped in the distance about 10:30 so I got out of the deep stumps in preparation for a dash to the landing. The sprinkle had just started when one hit the swimbait.  I got a good hookset but the fish jumped and threw the hook just like last week. The fish was a little smaller but not too much. Mad as a wet hen and getting wetter myself by the minute,  I broke for the landing. Discretion is the better part of valor. Upon reaching the landing there was a crowd of official looking vehicles and some onlookers too.  I asked what was  happening and was told someone had reported a car under the water.  I offered to find it for the divers with my side scan depthfinder but they already had it located. When I loaded the boat the depthfinder got a picture of the truck that was submerged.  You could tell what it was for sure. The divers found it, hooked up the cable, and the wrecker pulled it out. The truck had been under for a long time as algae was growing all over it. Here are the pictures.

In the third picture the bed of the truck was still almost full of water.  I’m glad there was excitement at the landing because there was not too much on the lake.

We might have to change the name of the Garhole to the grinner hole. Mickey and I went there this morning and the water was down a good bit.  We backed down in some deep ruts but the bottom of them was hard.  We caught 8 grinners today and had a large one that would have been the grinner of the day get off near the boat.  They were mostly caught on worms that had the scent stick applied to them.

A note on grinners.  Willie says after you cook them you have to eat them while they’re hot because they are not good after they get cold. You couldn’t prove that by me. Next is a picture of Mickey preparing to give one a sedative.

We also caught some bass, mostly on a worm but some on spinnerbaits and  swimjigs.  Of course we used the scent stick on them too. We caught 73 bass with the FOD at 4 -5.  We need to keep some of the smaller fish out of this hole because it is becoming overpopulated.

Lake Monticello was  about 2 1/2 feet low when I arrived Monday morning. This is the sight that greeted me.

Stumps everywhere and still more just under the water. It’s a wonder you can ever land a bass there without it wrapping your line on a stump and breaking off. That’s just what one did right off the bat. Then to add insult to injury, another one grabbed the swimbait as I was moving when the bait was actually behind me.  I tried my best to set the hook but it was not good. The fish stayed on long enough to jump and spit it out. It was a big fish, under 8 pounds but over 6.  I found a pocket that had the wind blowing into it that had some fish. This one bit a Ribbit in the pads.

I caught a few more using the swimbait much like a spinnerbait in the stumps in 5 to 8 feet of water. The main bite seemed to be around noon.  I ended up with 7 but no biggies, FOD = 3 1/2 but also no dinks. I’m going back when the water cools a little more.

Mickey and I left for our third annual foray to Lake Guntersville on Thursday confident that we were going to catch a lot of fish.  The first cold front had hit, which is supposed to put the fish into the grass where they should fall prey to our Ribbit frogs. We arrived to a North wind and bluebird skies. The first afternoon we fished a new area, to us, with limited success.   Mickey caught this one on a buzzbait.

another one

The second day started at the Goose Pond exactly at the spot where I caught an 8 1/4 two years ago. None of those this year, but we did manage to catch a couple there. The bass were not in the grass but on the edges near deep water. The morning bite quickly turned into a long lull, so at around noon we left for Brown’s Creek, where in the past we have done well. We came around the corner of a pocket and saw bass schooling and busting shad. They were hard to catch but finally we caught a few on a swimbait that we had rubbed with the scent I’ve been writing about.  We would have caught a few more but I broke three off setting the hook.  Finally I thought to check my drag and it was locked up. I freed it up but those three were gone.  We found another pocket out of the wind where the fish were schooled and caught a few including this 7 pound catfish Mickey caught on the flavored swimbait.

Saturday morning we just cut to the chase and went straight to Brown’s Creek knowing we were going to burn up the schooling fish but the shad were not in the pockets and the fish were not concentrated there.  So we searched for new places. This one  came from one of the new spots.

We pretty much got whipped Saturday. We were not the only ones. A man told us, that in a big tournament, 6 pounds got a check and there were a lot of zeros.  Sunday it was Brown’s Creek again mainly because it was on the way out of town. We started about 7 and fished until 10 in the new spots and caught 7, all on a Ribbit.  For the whole trip we caught 30 fish, not too good in a place you are supposed to catch that many in one day.

This is a photo of a rod holder I rigged up to keep the rods neat on the trip. It needs some tweaking but worked well to keep the rods straight.  One thing is certain, when Mickey brings the food, you’re going to eat very well. With spaghetti and crayfish fettuccine we ate like kings .