It seems like it was a tough tournament on Ferguson for the BFL guys. Of the boaters, only 42 caught fish and of the non-boaters only 37 caught fish. A respectable  bag of  20-07 was first but weights quickly deteriorated to the 6-13 that  captured 10th place. Locals Bates and Jones caught fish with Bates 14th and in the money with 3 fish and 5-03 lbs. Local non-boater Gibson was 19th , only one place out of the money, with 2-08. There were more zeros than fish catchers. Only 6 boaters and 1 non-boater caught a limit of 5 keepers. This info is from the BFL website. Aside from some locals I know about, there were some semi-professionals and people that guide in other places that didn’t do very well. All good fishermen. In the last year fishing has really declined in Lake Ferguson. The BFL website is at: http://www.flwoutdoors.com/bassfishing/bfl/tournament/2013/7063/lake-ferguson-boater-results/

This morning when the alarm went off, I laid in bed another 25 minutes, not because I was tired, but it was like if you had to get up and then take a whipping. The way fishing has been for me lately, that has gotten in between my ears.  I got up after thinking each bad day makes it another day closer to a good one. I went to Lake Chicot and by the time the clock on the courthouse chimed 7:00 I had caught 10 bank bass on a Booyah. By 8:00 there were only 2 more and by 9:00 only 1 more. Then those lily pads in Chicot drew me like iron filings to a magnet. Nothing there for me however. Most of the bank bass had been on chunk rock banks so I started to look for the rocks and just fish them. By 10:00 there were 6 more bass.  I had been saving the spot  where Jackson and I caught the 102 a couple of years back so I went there.  We had caught them on a Yozuri, a red eye shad and a rattle trap. I had on a brand new 1/4 oz. red eye shad. I caught a few but it seemed they were hesitant to bite it as they were hitting close to the boat. Maybe they were following it out, or as the light bulb came on, maybe I was sitting right on top of them. I backed out a little where the water was deeper, and sure enough they started to bite better. Then I got the idea to put on something that went a little deeper, a DT-6 perhaps, since the water was 6 to 7 feet deep. The DT-6 was the ticket and started catching them, once coming up with a double.  I also put on an Alabama rig and caught one on it  before the line snapped on it  in the process of making a cast. The bass were out deeper than when Jackson and I fished there but were also more spread out. I believe you could troll along with a rattletrap  and find more good spots like that one. May have to do that next time because I went down the bank some just before I left and a boat pulled in to the exact spot and fished it hard to no avail because I had done a thorough job. I ended up with 43. FOD 3 1/4. A lot better than it has been.

To get to the private hole this morning I had to call out the 4 wheeler due to our roads being closed to anything but ATV’s.

I hauled the boat down there yesterday with it.  You can see the boat back in the bushes just over the white ice chest. The water is good and high as the ATV is parked at the top of the ramp. In time it will really help the fishing. The water is very clear with a brown, tannic tint. I went right to work with a Ribbit since there is so much moss and duckweed. There is also an area of flooded coffeebeans where the tops are just sticking out. In addition, the moss and cottonwood seed are floating on the water and the wind blows them up in a raft. All perfect frog spots but the bass didn’t get the memo, nothing. I tried a spoon, a swimbait, a DT-6, a DC-13 and a shaky head, all no no avail. Mickey gave me a popper with a rattle he picked up on a bargain table at the BPS. It’s a pretty bait and has good hooks, so I put it on.  I figured the frog might be a little too fast and they might want something in their face a little longer. Sure enough, it wasn’t too long before I had, as Sandy Ingram used to say, a “solid three pounder”.  A couple more fish blew up on it but were not serious. How a fish can hit that bait, take it down and not get hooked , I don’t know. The banks in the private hole drop straight down. The only way to get the bait to the bank in some cases is to skip it under bushes. I became able to, not adept at, skipping the popper with a bait caster under the overhanging bushes. I caught four more including the 3-14 FOD that airballed it and then came back for more on the next cast.  I’m glad to see the fresh water but a few things worried me today. The first thing, I did not see one small  this years bass. With new water like this they are usually cruising in packs.  I did not see a bream. In these conditions they are usually out “floating” in droves. I am hoping the water clarity has all the fish deep or in the shade. Maybe things will improve if we can get an algae bloom and cut down on some of the visibility and light penetration. The deepest depth I saw today was 36 feet but I didn’t go hunting for the deepest spot. I think I remember the deepest was 22 before the rise.

Mickey and I went to Lake Ferguson at 4:00 Friday afternoon with a few places in mind where we might catch some fish. The place we had the highest expectations for was a bust, only a few stripes and a foul hooked skipjack. We then went to some other places we had in mind, one was too shallow, and another was so thick with bushes we were snookered and had to crank the motor to power out to open water. After all of these exercises, we had caught only one fat, small bass on a Booyah spinnerbait. On the way back to the landing we tried the first place again but we caught even less, nothing. I have heard stupidity defined as trying the same thing over and over expecting a different result. There was still light left, so as we were going in another place came to mind and we decided to give it a try. Mickey had on a Yozuri and I had on a Johnson’s sprite with a little larger sharper hook installed. Mickey started catching stripes and I couldn’t get a bite so I changed to a DT-6.  Willie wanted some fish so we were keeping the stripes and were glad to see them because we didn’t have a “mess” yet. The DT-6 caught stripes but also came out with a largemouth or two. Expecting a stripe, and not guarding for a jump, of course I let the largest one of the day jump and throw the bait which came almost all the way back to the boat. Dark came and we had to leave. Willie met us at the landing to retrieve his box of fish.