Mickey and I were going to the “private hole” relatively early this morning.   When we hit the first dirt road everything was fine regardless of the rain last night because the road was sandy and not slick.  We made the turn going to the hole and things took a turn for the worse as the road turned to silty clay and was as slick as it could be. We started off to one side but with corrective steering made it back up to the center of the road but then slid off the other side into a low spot where we nestled into the mud. The rut were not deep but the mud was so slick we had no chance to get out.  We assessed the situation, considered our options and then went fishing. We carried the battery a few hundred yards, put it in the boat, trolling motored the boat around to our fishing stuff and then went fishing.  Mickey worked his magic with his crazy shad and caught a couple on top. He was setting a good example so I dug out my spook jr in the clown color, that is gold body and shiny red head, and caught a couple myself. The bass were not hitting  the topwaters like they meant it and finally quit hitting at all so we quit the topwaters.  In the meantime we had called for help. It was arranged that help would come to pull us out at 10:30 so we fished on. Around 9:30 we noticed a pickup in activity. I was using a trusty “found” bait which was a proxy for a DT-6 . It had a crack in the side and was slowly taking on water until it would not run straight. The bait is partially clear so you can see the water in the body of the bait. It went back into the box and was replaced with  DT-6.  Of course as the bite crescendo was reaching its peak we had to leave to pull out the truck.  That’s the way it seems to work. When the truck was extricated from the mud, we returned to the fishing where we continued to catch fish, basically with the same baits with the addition of a Yozuri.  We caught some more including Mickey catching the FOD of 4-3 by hooking it in the tail. He said ” Anybody can catch a 4 pounder in the mouth but it takes a real pro to catch one in the tail. We ended up with 21 and even stuck and muddy we had a great time.

I made a quick trip to Ferguson this morning as it stood at 30.5 feet. It seemed at first that the bite was lagging but as time went on you could tell it was picking up. You would see bass schooling and coming up on the shad.  My time was up at 9:20 because it was getting hot and the man was coming today to start to raise my house at Catfish to maybe keep it out of the flood waters. I caught 8 but none were over two pounds. They seemed to all be deep, not in one place, and maybe suspended out in deep water.  Of course a DT-6 was the starter, and a DT-10 came next, both catching fish but they were not “catch one every cast” concentrated  as I like them to be. Since the house action has started, I doubt if I’ll be fishing much, at least until the weekend.

I went a little earlier today because the other times I fished there the bite had been on for a while when I arrived. When I started pushing the boat off the rack made of pallets I heard a slithering and a stumptail eased into the water from under the boat.  A bad omen. The start time today was 2 p.m. and just rigging up had the perspiration dripping on my shades.  Nothing was going on even at the best spot.  I tried the small crankbaits with no results. Finally I resorted to a worm and managed to catch a couple. Then, in desperation, I put on a Worden Timber Tiger DC-13 thinking the fish were deeper. It caught two immediately and I thought the riddle was solved. A photo of the bait.

The riddle was not solved.  Those were the only ones hungry right then.  The worm was the best producer but it was even slow. As the afternoon progressed the fish activity picked up. The fish were a good size with a lot of 2-13’s. One I weighed had been caught and weighed Saturday or Sunday afternoon because the small membrane on the upper lip was punctured and that’s where I always put the hook on the scales. I managed to catch 5 to take home but most today were over my maximum keeping length of 13 inches. Once I had a small bass coming to the boat and swimming behind it was another between 4 and 5 pounds. I caught 14 in all with the FOD at 3 pounds even.

Mickey and I started a little earlier today than I did yesterday at the “private hole”. We caught some right away on  DT-6’s. Besides DT-6’s, today we fished with Bagley crankbaits, a Rapala Thug, an X- Rap, A Bomber Fat Free Shad, a worm, a Yozuri lipless crankbait, and a shakey head with a finesse worm on it. In short, everything but the kitchen sink. They were biting pretty hard when we first arrived and, as usual, that trailed off as the day progressed. That’s when the assortment of baits came out.  We caught fewer large fish but the FOD was still over 4 at 4-5. There were 5 others over 3 and we invited some under 13 inches home for dinner. The total was 48 bass. That’s 93 in two trips and that kind of gets me out of the funk I was in.  A few days rest will probably do it some good. After that, I’ll be back at it.

Your darkest day is only 24 hours long.  Fishing, for me,  started to change today for the better.  I hit the water at 4:10 and by 6:10 31 bass had made it in the boat. They fell for a DT – 6,  an X-Rap, a 300 Bandit, but most for some sort of “found” Bomber crankbait (EDIT: It is a Rebel Deep Crank R ). The fish finally broke the front hooks off of the Bomber ?? and that’s when I switched to the other three.  I had a 4 – 0 coming to the boat and it had two about the same size escorting it and trying to take the bait out of its mouth. Exciting stuff ! Multiple times there were escorts. Caught a double once but they were small. I was fishing along the bank and heard a commotion in open water behind me.  Upon a cast in that direction out came a 2 1/2 pounder which had been cruising out in the open.  Most bass do not have much for teeth but two today had as many as I’ve ever seen. One happened to be the FOD at 4 – 12. Just as I grabbed it and started to lift it into the boat it shook  and decimated my thumb. It’s still burning from the antibiotic.  There was another one too that had some grinner style teeth. That may be exaggerating a little, but not much. I quit about 7:30 and ended with 45 bass, 3 of which were over 4, and 5 more that were from 3 -14 down to 3.  The trip took place in a private hole that by the rules I’m not supposed to give a name.  I used my garhole boat for the first time since the flood.  Mickey and I plan to go back tomorrow for a rematch.

In the edit to the previous post I said uh-oh Wolf Lake was open to fishing.  I should have stayed home.  The level of the lake was where it has been the last four years when I had wonderful days fishing.  The first place was devoid of any bass action but was full of shad and 12 to 15 inch gars. I finally went down the bank and caught a 2 – 13 on a Booyah. The spot I stopped is one of my favorites on Wolf and is one that usually produces fish of a good size consistently.  A little worried I went to two more good proven places with no results and no visible bass action. This time of year on Wolf Lake the bass congregate on the underwater deltas to feed on the shad as they pass by in the slight current of the lake as it falls. I tried 12 of those places today with DT-6’s and 10’s, worms, a shakey head and a jig all to no avail. I even just fished down the bank with a Booyah and also with a DT-10 throwing from far off the bank. Nothing. I did catch a 4 3/4 cat and a 6 3/4 goo but only 2 bass. I did see one about 4 come up and just kiss my bait early this morning. In the past 4 years I have averaged 24, 47, 69 and 34 bass per trip on Wolf, fishing mostly in these spots. I say this, not to toot my horn, or to relive past accomplishments, but to say I understand Wolf Lake pretty well and it was a very different place today.  I am quizzical as to what the problem was today. Was it just a day when the fish had the lockjaw, or did I just do a bad job of fishing, or was the “small” fish kill on Wolf that was caused by the high water earlier this year larger than people thought? I hope not the fish kill because Wolf Lake was/is full of bass.  The people with houses on Wolf Lake like people here have suffered flood damage. I’m going to raise my house at Catfish. Here is a photo of a trailer on Wolf Lake that I think was raised just before it flooded. It is sitting on  timbers stacked up on both ends. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

A quick trip to Ferguson this morning started at 8:30 and ended at 11:30 . I got a late start but I really do not think that made much difference. After catching a couple right off the bat, I started hearing voices.  Then a boat came into view from behind some ironwood bushes.  In the conversation with the occupants, they revealed they caught 80 fish last time they fished there.  That spot has turned into a community hole. I think it was about the time the water was falling just before the last rise or about the same time Harley IV and I went and did pretty well too.  It was time to leave that spot and look for greener pastures.  I fished some spots pretty quickly because it was hot and the air from the moving boat was feeling pretty good.  Every fish I caught was on a DT – 6 or 10 some in extremely deep water which surprised me. I caught five bass in all,  pretty paltry for Lake Ferguson.  EDIT : Uh -oh, I just read that Wolf Lake is open to fishing.

Lake Ferguson was at 39.9 feet this morning and falling slightly, almost where it was when Harley IV and I went and had a good day.  Of course I went to what I thought was going to be the good spot first. Indeed there were some fish present, making themselves known by promptly biting and then jumping to throw the DT – 6 back with such speed, I had to duck. I finally caught two after losing four more. In checking my hooks for sharpness, only one of six was found to be even the slightest bit questionable. After changing baits and the results were still the same.  Pretty soon there were no more bites, even with a worm. To make matters worse, the stripes were not even biting, which I took as bad sign.  I usually do not take a cooler to put fish in but this morning I did so I could bring Willie a mess of stripes.  Nothing doing, so I went to the upper lake on the hunt. The hunt did not produce anything but a small grinner and the FOD, a snagged paddlefish.

It was about 3 1/2 feet long and gave a good pull but nothing too exciting. You can see in the picture it was hooked with a DT – 10 and only with the long “sure set” hook.  You know you’ve had a pitiful day when you find as many baits as fish you caught.  Here are the ones I found.  A creature and a nice square bill crankbait that is full of rattles. The square bills are supposed to be relatively snag free in logs but that does not work with ironwood bushes.  A terrible day fishing but I saw someone that I consider to be one of the best around and he was having trouble too.  A small consolation.