Friday morning I awakened at the right time to get to Lake Whittington for the early morning topwater bite. I punted although there were only a few jobs I had to do that day for the daughter’s upcoming nuptials. With things overhanging, you just can’t enjoy yourself as much as if there is nothing to do. Gayden Bishop had opined as to how she wanted to have some fish to eat and I had said I would furnish them. Not to be. Saturday I was going to Jackson to get son Harley from the plane and as I crossed Lake Atchafalaya, I thought about Mickey who loves that lake and I decided to call him to see what he caught that morning in Lake Ferguson. He and a friend had caught 43 by 9:30, mostly on a Crazy Shad. He had filleted 8 and was taking Gayden Bishop the fillets when I called. They had run into one another later Friday and Gayden told him about wanting some fish but that I had “wussed out” on the fishing trip. How about that for a true friend ? He caught the fish on a Crazy Shad that Hal had sent him. The bait was old and scratched up. Mickey put on a new paint job and new hooks and when finished the bait looked great.  A bunch of those fish today thought so. Here is before and after.

         

The fish in all the river lakes are on fire. I’m not going to be able to go for at least another week+. I’m delighted my daughter is getting married but I wish the fish weren’t biting so well.  I’ll just have to take my whipping like a man.

Mickey and I went early this morning to the private hole to load the boat so we could take it to the “L” hole (known by some as the 4 1/2 pound bass hole) and fish some new territory. I took my waders because both landings are rather shallow affairs and the boat trailer does not have a winch.  We got the boat loaded and unloaded without mishap by backing the jeep out into the water until the exhaust was bubbling.  When we started it was still relatively early, cloudy and a very light sprinkle of rain. Last week we started with topwaters so they got the call again. At the start Mickey was wearing me out by 5 to 0 so I had to mount some sort of comeback. There is a rudder that we clamp on the boat to keep it from swapping ends in the wind, so I told Mickey to clamp it on. While he was clamping it down I made a two fish comeback. A man has to do what he has to do. After the comeback I figured out the reason I fell behind was simply accuracy. Mickey was throwing so much closer to the cover that he was getting the bites.  The “L” hole is a lot smaller than the private hole but by the time we circled it once we had caught 13. By the third time we had 38. The first time was with topwaters and the next two were with shakey heads. Today was the first time I have been in that hole with a depthfinder. It was 22 feet in the deepest part and drops down quickly to that depth. We had to take the boat back to the private hole so we left at around 11:00 so we would have time to fish some in that hole too. Although it was almost noon when we started fishing again, I pulled out my topwater again and caught a few before resorting to the shakeyhead . The grinners were terrible. I bet we hooked a dozen for the day. The ones we caught got cracked on the head before being released. Every one had a bloody tail which shows they were in the spawning mode.  Just like last week, another one hit Mickeys topwater with a lick any 4 pound bass would have been proud of.  There was no lull in the bite today- pretty steady all day which is why we stayed longer than we should have. We ended up with 71 bass and a FOD of 4-0.  Our top 5 today weighed 17-13.

Dan Branton emailed me this picture of a bass he caught in Cottonwood Chute. It is the body of water that you cross on the new river bridge before you get to the river.

It, like all bodies of water affected by the River, has benefited by the high water the last few years.  He said  the fish was caught on a black jig, which I assume was a crappie style jig. Speaking of crappie, Mickey caught two on a worm yesterday which is sort of an odd occurrence. Dan also mentioned that the bream were out in the open water in force. We noticed the clouds of them floating out in the open too. I thought they were supposed to bed on the full moon in May which is now.

This morning Mickey and I went to the Private hole since the river is rising which generally messes up the fishing for me.  We started fishing at around 7:20 so we missed a part of the “good” time of the morning. The weather was overcast with no wind which was perfect for topwater fishing. I started with a Phillips Cripple Killer and Mickey had on a Chrome Crazy Shad. The fish cooperated right off the bat. We had 10 by 7:45 and some good ones in the mix. Here is one that just came up and sucked it down.

They would not just come up and blast the baits. Especially the big ones just sucked it in.  As the morning went on the fish got a little more timid. Sometimes a little luck was needed to get one to bite. I threw out in the middle by a log that came in with the flood that I have never caught a fish by. After working the bait for a few feet, my attention shifted to whatever Mickey was doing and when I looked back my bait was gone. Four pounds and change.  Another time when I threw by the end of a top, a gar ran out to get it and then another 4 pounder charged out and took it away from the gar. EDIT:  I forgot to write about when we saw a fish feeding in shallow water, knocking small bream up on the bank. Mickey threw his Crazy Shad to the spot and the fish hit with gusto. As the fish came to the boat, we discovered it was not a bass at all, but a large grinner. It hit the topwater just like a bass would. It also had one of Mickey’s few remaining Chrome Crazy Shads in its mouth. Finally the hook came out and we were relieved. The large 3 1/2 inch versions are no longer made so he is guarding the ones he has left. They are all scarred up but boy do they still work. We caught 22 on topwaters before we shifted gears and tried spinnerbaits, worms, DT-6’s and 4’s.  When trying a spinnerbait, I tied on a “found” one  that was small and had no skirt. For a skirt I threaded on a curly tail Kalin grub whose tail I had dipped in the red dyed Spike It.  I caught one little on on it before the line snapped when I set the hook on another.   That fish jumped several times in the next 15 minutes trying to throw the bait. Each time the fish jumped the bait’s blade jingled like 5o cents worth of change.  We ended the day around 2 p.m. with 46 bass, the largest 5 weighed 21 – 3. The FOD was 4-8.  A sure enough fun day of fishing.

I have not been fishing since last Sunday afternoon but I hope to correct that pretty soon. In the meantime, I received a call from Hal yesterday afternoon telling me about his fishing trip to some borrow pits.  He had a great day, catching over 50 fish. On his first trip there about a week ago (caught high 40’s that day), he caught a 5 1/2 pound bass on a spinnerbait by an isolated cypress tree. When he came back by the tree he had changed to a square bill crankbait but caught the 5 1/2 again. He could tell it was the same fish because of the hook mark in its mouth. Yesterday when he came by the tree he had a white swim jig on  and his old friend cooperated again. By then they were getting to be pals and he recognized the fish easily. I accused him of going over there to run up his big fish numbers with that one bass.  The whole episode is a great example of the benefits of practicing catch and release.