Since Hal and were reliving some good old times we visited the private hole Tuesday. We fished there when we were in high school.  As per usual he had all his baits tied on before we got there and he caught one on the second cast before I got the first bait tied on.  He was using a KVD 1.5 squarebill crankbait and I was using a Netbait swimbait on a jighead. Things were slow for a while until we hit a spot where the fish wanted the swimbait and I caught several in succession.  It was his turn to quickly change baits. We had a good pattern that was working but only a few places that it would fit.  I ran out of the Netbait swimbait and tried three other kinds, only one of which was almost as good as the Netbait one. My jigheads are the problem because of the barbs they use to  hold the swimbait to the jighead. The barbs tear a hole in the bait after a couple of fish. I even tried to super glue a swimbait to the head. It worked a while but finally came loose after a fish or two.  Some fish were caught on a worm or a spinnerbait but the swimbait was the champ.  Hal is a true conservationist. He doesn’t kill snakes  and tried to discourage me from “sedating” the two bowfin (grinners) I caught.  I noticed his disdain when I cracked them in the head with my cut off hoe handle. The alligators were out today in force with three showing up, two little and one big. The big one did a good job of showing itself. Our guesstimate for its length was 10 feet long.  We caught 37 bass with a FOD of  4-3.  In the last four days 159 bass have made into the boat that I have been fishing in, and it’s been great, but now back to reality, for only a short time I hope.

Monday Hal and I hit the treeline again. It was once too many, but we were the ones that gave it the name back in the early 70’s, about 40 years ago. It does not seem like it has been that long ago, but time flies when you’re having fun. I had problems getting one in the boat with my Yozuri to start but Hal was doing fine with a Redeye Shad, so well in fact I rattled around in his tacklebox until I found one . We fished down the treeline but the fish were not there like they had been the two previous days. We moved further South and fished in the openings of the ironwood bushes and got right back on track. After we fished the ironwoods we tried some other spots with no luck so we fished the ironwoods again and had more success although it was muted the second time around.  We ended up with 47 bass and a FOD of 4 pounds. Our largest 5 weighed in at 18 pounds. No pictures because I didn’t know if I could make them work.

We couldn’t stand it. Such good luck yesterday we had to go back after church today.  They were still there although not quite as aggressive as yesterday. They also seemed to be in a few spots rather than scattered as yesterday. Again the Yozuri was the main bait, although a red eye shad and a rattletrap caught some too. The trick was to reel it slow and then pull it fast and stop. When you stopped it they would bite. The fish seemed to be smaller today but the FOD was 5-6.

Having problems putting up the photo. EDIT: Got it to work. We used the sidefinding Humminbird depthfinder more today since the fish were more in schools. Once it was looking out into the lake and it saw a fish I thought was a bass, so I cast in that direction and sure enough I caught one. That showed me exactly what it would do. Here is a screen shot of one of our good spots that I saved to an SD card. I put it on the Microsoft Paint program and noted the fish I saw.

Oops, it will not put up either. EDIT: Got it to work also. Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can see it better.  We passed a good looking place on the way in and looked at it with the sidefinder. There were a good many fish present so we stopped to make a cast or two. We stopped, however where the fish had quit showing up. We caught nothing so we cranked up and went back to where we had seen most of the fish and sure enough, we caught 3 right away. The sidefinder is a great tool and I’m learning to use it better with each trip. We ended up with 37, the largest 5 of which weighed 21-1.

On a February day back in the early 70’s, Hal and I went to Lake Ferguson to a certain treeline and caught 27 bass that weighed 87 pounds, thus the treeline’s name. We caught them on hot spots. So when Mickey asked me where I wanted to start this afternoon, the 87 pound treeline was the answer.  When we arrived there were a few boats scattered on it, most were in the two tournaments that were on the lake today.  Mickey started with a Yozuri and I started with a Booyah spinnerbait.  We had a bad start with backlashes, hangups, and etc but after Mickey caught the first 4 pounder, it was game on.

The second picture is a scan of the picture in the 70’s that was in the paper. We kept them all in those days and the people on the farm were glad to see me coming after a trip like that. After Mickey struck first, I quickly put on my Yozuri, the Mark Fratesi signature edition.  We both started working on the fish and they seemed to be following the bait out before they hit. Just to check, I cast parallel to the treeline and sure enough the fish were out in the open too. As we went down the treeline, the mallard ducks were back in the bushes close by and were feeling talkative which really added pleasure to the afternoon. The water temperature was 55 degrees so the fish were pretty active. They were hitting the bait with authority, especially if you stopped it. Several fish had the bait all the way in their mouth.  We made one pass on the bank and then came back again and caught some more. The FOD was 4-8, but we had four others over 4, for a best five weight of 20-14. The total was 38 bass, a snagged carp and either a fresh water mullet or a skipjack, I’m not sure which. I’ll have to look it up and edit. I looked it up and I believe it was a freshwater mullet.  They have two dorsal fins and while I don’t remember about the fins, the cigar shape was more like the mullet than the flat shad shape of the skipjack.  A great trip for fishing from noon to 5:30 in February.

Jackson and I went to Monticello this morning. Before daylight the flags were standing straight out in the wind, not a good sign.  The lake has come up a bit since I was there last and could stand to come up more. To start off we used the auxiliary trolling  motor, that is, we tied up to a stump, fished around the boat, moved and tied to another stump. We were having no luck when we saw two men circling watching their depthfinder, and then stop and tie up. They then put out the live bait and soon caught a fish. We saw them do that twice. They were finding fish and then catching them. The wind was still blowing a gale at 2:30 so we surrendered, took our zero and came home.

When I arrived at the private hole Thursday morning I found a closed road sign and a business card propped against my boat.

Frank and John Howard just wanted me to know they had caught them all. But alas, they had not, although at first it seemed that might be the case.  The best spots yielded only a slight hookup and escape on a jerkbait. The first fish was a Goo caught on a tube. There were lots of bites and bumps with no hookups before the first bass made into the boat.  It was a good day to try baits that are not normally in your arsenal. Here are four that I used.

Pictured are a tube, a small BBZ 1 swimbait, a wackey worm, and a 4″ Netbait swimbait on a jighead. The Netbait swimbait has been touched up with a small paintbrush and some Spike It garlic.  I caught my first ever on a wackey worm that had been dipped in Spike It on both ends. Finally I found a spot of cooperating fish that would eat the swimbait with the jighead. When that gave out, I knew of another like it, and sure enough, it was good too. Trading between these places two or three times I managed to do pretty well although the results declined with each visit. Once when I had a bite on the swimbait, I set the hook and pulled the bait out of the fish’s mouth, the fish not getting the hook at all. As I quickly reeled up the slack, it bit again and got it that time. That just shows you that you can’t reel fast enough to take the bait away from them if they really want it. There were acres of geese on the other side of the levee that were continuously flying over the hole. One time something aroused them and as they came over they pooped all at once, as if one had announced “bombs away”. None of “it” came close to me but I was leery of the geese for the rest of the day.  The day ended with 26 bass, all but three caught on the swimbait, and those were caught on the wackey worm. The FOD was 3 1/2 pounds.  The River is falling now so the private hole is due for a rest.

As I walked by my boat in the garage Thursday morning it looked a little lonesome. November 12th was the last day I fished in it.  I was on my way, again, to the private hole and was able to start fishing there about 10:30. On the way the birds were feeding in the fields and the cows on the levee were up eating, both good signs that the bass were feeding too.  When I started, the fish must have gotten up from the table and gone to watch TV because the bite was not on. After a couple of hours I had caught 4 bass and 3 grinners, one with a shad’s tail sticking out of its mouth, not just its gullet.  I started out with a swimbait on a jig with an exposed hook, a worm, a shakey head, and a XRD 8 S.  Alternating baits until one showed its mettle is how I’ve started recently but no leader emerged.  There was nothing even in the very best spot. My guess is the warming water has changed the program. A gar relieved me of the XRD 8 S but not until it had caught some out in the middle in the 30 feet of water. Getting better with the jerkbaits.  I put the swimbait on that light spinning rod because I had removed it to make way for a Booyah spinnerbait that caught a few slow rolling it.  The count was up to about 15 and I was considering quitting with a little more than an hour left of light.  On the way to the landing, I used the swimbait, casting right next to the bank. Quickly one cooperated, and really swallowed the bait down. Thinking I might be on to something, I cast parallel to the bank and started to catch fish regularly. As dark approached the action got even better. I ended up with 28 bass, 3 grinners, and a crappie. The largest were just under 3 pounds except for the grinners, which I didn’t weigh, but know they were over three pounds. Other things seen of interest were 2 gators, 5 hogs , and a river otter.