Jackson and I went to Cane Creek this morning.  We found more people than we usually find there, maybe due to the fact a 12 pound 1 ounce fish was caught there last week.   A little more wind than we expected was blowing but not too much to fish in.  A Ribbit frog was the first thing we fished with but none of the usual spots were very productive.  I also had on a popping frog until one hit and the line snapped due to my not retying my line. Pure laziness on my part. We finally fished a line of pads close to deep water and the bass there seemed to be cooperative. We caught a few there, including the FOD of 3 – 15. Cane Creek is a pretty lake, full of stumps, with acres and acres of lily pads. This picture was taken in 2009 and it looks the same today.

As always when you fish with Ribbits, we missed some fish by getting them hung up in the pads. I had a particularly rough stretch of luck that extended over to  the spinnerbaits we fished with out in the stumps after the Ribbit bite dried up. Most of the fish we caught were around 3 pounds, one side or the other, except for one fish that was smaller.  We ended up with 10 in all and had action for most of the day. Unfortunately we couldn’t take advantage of the ” action” and put a lot more fish in the boat.

Yesterday I received a card with several crankbaits  attached with ribbons.  On the card Craig Tucker had composed and penned a neat poem. It’s worthy of passing on.

Someday the flood will pass

And waters will go down

You’ll want to fish for bass

And get the hell out of town

But then the weather’ll be hot

And these baits you’ll need to keep

Coz fish will not be on top

And you’ll need ’em to get deep

At about 8:30 this morning, I looked out and the trees were still and it didn’t look like rain, so I left for Lake Chicot. Since the fish really didn’t bite well yesterday until about 10:00, I figured I would be right on time. Started fishing at 10:15. Since I knew where to go, after the first hour I had 10.  Again you had to hit the tree with your bait and let it fall to get the fish to bite. They continued to bite well until I ran out of the spot I was fishing.  Fishing the docks was next in line.  The first few I fished were maddening because the bass would just bump the limetruse Booyah and not hang on.  I missed a lot because either the dock bass are different in their approach to feeding because of all the people fishing off the docks or my catlike, lightning 65 year old reflexes were too much for them.  I finally managed to catch some by almost letting them run with the Booyah before setting the hook. Did I mention the wind ? It blew hard enough to actually blow my hat off. Only the catlike reflexes saved the hat from the drink.  Today I fished with the wind as opposed to against it yesterday so it was manageable.  I ended up with 29. I caught all but 28 of those on a baby Paca Craw. ( swiped that line from Jackson). The FOD was a 3 – 2 .  I caught one about 2 pounds that had a puncture wound high right behind the gills.  It appeared he came a little too close to a great blue heron.  The great blue must have really been hungry. The gnats are getting bad so if you go fishing you need to take something to repel them.

Jackson and I went to Lake Chicot early this morning to take advantage of the topwater bite.  A friend of Jackson’s had told him about some other fishermen that caught “a lot” of bass on spooks and buzzbaits, even told the exact location.  We had previously talked about going to Cane Creek Lake but armed with this fresh intelligence, Lake Chicot was our spot. The wind was blowing when we arrived at our spot but none bit the spooks or Ribbits right off the bat. Since the wind had a chop on the water we resorted to spinnerbaits. Mine was a 1/4 ounce “limetruse” Booyah.  Things started to pick up around 9:00. The bass started to try to eat the bait rather than just bump it . Our spot started to play out so we went to another we had been told about called the “gravel pit” which is accessible through a small ditch through the trees. There the water was deeper and there was some moss. If you found a log or small treetop with some moss around there would usually be a bass there to sample your Ribbit. While in the pit we saw this limb festooned with corks. Click on the picture to blow it up so you can see them all. It must be a popular bank fishing spot. We counted 7 and a jig on this one and several on another.

After we finished with the pit we motored to fish some docks. The wind was blowing even harder now so fishing docks was difficult to say the least. When we finished the trolling motor was on speed 4 out of 5. We were still getting bites but only catching one now and then when we quit. We ended up with 43 and a FOD of 3 pounds.

Tommy and I went to Lake Jackson this morning, leaving at about 6:00 a.m. and getting to the lake about a half hour later.  We started off with spinnerbaits and caught a few on the side that the road goes by.  The fish that bit were right on the bank and you had to hit right on the bank to get them to bite. Almost to the dam Tommy caught this 3 1/2 pounder.

We continued to the dam and came back down the other side.  When we hit the treeline where the trees were thick we caught a few quickly and I thought we had found the mother lode. That played out so we motored to the other side of the landing and to the roadside. Not much was going on there so we went to the West end of the lake. By this time we had switched to plastics, mine being a Baby Paca Craw. We caught a few by casting up to hit the tree and letting the bait drop down to the bottom.  I caught the FOD a nice 4 – 7  doing that.

We caught 12 in all and quit around 1:00 p.m.. Afterward we had a great cheeseburger at Roy’s Store and came home.  I also got word yesterday that Hal caught 36 at Enid, the FOD being a 4+ caught from my favorite spot.

I don’t know what has happened but I can’t catch the fish I used to at Lake Monticello.  Jackson and I went there today on what should have been a good day and we caught 7 but again none over 4 pounds.  F O D  = 3 – 10. The fish were hesitant to bite a Ribbit, most following it and took it only after you stopped the bait and let it sink.  Some were caught on a swimbait but we fished them in some places that in the past have been great this time of year. I’m full of questions but have no answers.

After having spent the last two days preparing our house on the river for the high water, I went fishing today to clear my mind.  The water is going to get into the upper floor at the projected crest.  We even took off the doors to the outside and put them up, putting plywood in their place. With the levee closed I will not be able to even take the boat to look and see if I still have a house. The current may get severe when the water comes over the point that protects it. We’ll see what happens.

Now fishing. On the spur of the moment at 9:00 last night, I decided to go to Lake Monticello.  It’s been a while since I got beat over there last. This morning I started slowly with a Ribbit frog. The water temp was 63 degrees. I caught the first fish at 7:50 but by 8:20 I had a total of three.  They were just making a wake behind the frog, making me stop it and let it drop until they decided to inhale it.  All the larger fish had spawned. By larger I mean between 3 and 4 pounds. The frog bite was anemic. It just did not seem that they were in the pads in large numbers. So coming out of one of the coves where I had fished the pads down the sides, I came out the middle with a swimbait.  After the swimbait  I used a shad-O which is a cross between a sluggo, a fluke and a swimbait. It’s rigged like a swimbait but with a light hook that really gives the bait a lifelike look when you let it drop. In Monticello’s clear water I got to watch the 4 pound FOD scarf the Shad-O in plain sight. Finally things got so slow about 4:30 I left after catching 7 for the day. Ribbit 5, Shad-O 1 and swimbait 1.

It’s been almost a month since I fished last. The last day was April 9th. Turkey season and dealing with the flood have taken precedent.

And what a flood it is ! This is a photo of the river in front of  the house at Catfish taken a few days ago. The water level by now will be up to the bottom edge of the picture. I had to do something to take my mind off of the water getting 5 feet into the bottom of the house so I took some fishing therapy. Mickey and I went to Lake Jackson to try to ease my mind. Lake Jackson is divided into two parts. The North end has  a lot of coontail moss and the South end has grass carp to control it. We started in the North end thinking Ribbit frog. We caught two there and had this guy bail off of his perch and try to eat my Ribbit.

The moss was so bad we had to leave for the South end. Upon arriving there, the Booyah spinnerbait came out and caught one pretty quickly.  We had a couple to miss the Booyah so Mickey pulled out a Paca-Craw and started to catch some. I rattled around in my tackle bag and came up with one but Mickey had the technique down pat. Hit the tree and let it slide down. The FOD at 4 – 11 was caught that way.

When that one came to the top it looked a lot larger that it was and that caused a lot of quick activity in the boat as he tried to keep the fish on and I dove for the landing net.  Late in the afternoon the fish got close to the bank and would bite the Booyah again. We ended up with 14 and had a great time.