Mickey and I went to the Catfish Chute this morning early.  We fished until 1:00 and did not have much to show for it unless you count the gars. I’m going to have to find a recipe for gar balls it looks like.  The bass we caught were fat and healthy, it just was not enough of them. The fishing season  for me has turned into a mess. Going to have to turn it around.

Went to Lake Wilson in Portland Arkansas this morning early. It was my first time there. It falls straight down off the bank to 10 feet and from there on has a generally flat bottom. The water was clear with a two foot visibility. The lake is high and a lot of greenery is in the water. It was just right for a top water but there were no takers. I had heard that they could be caught on a big red worm so I tried one of those next. When that got no action I pulled out the trusty Booyah spinner bait. After about two hours and no bites one finally hit the spinner bait and went sideways. Due to my laziness of not retying the line, the line snapped. How disgusting ! To add insult to injury, while I was putting on a new bait, the fish jumped out in the open water trying to  throw the bait – – twice. The fish was not large just judging by the splash, maybe 3 pounds maximum. I picked up Sam at the landing at 10:30. We fished until about 1:30 not catching anything else, although Sam hooked a small one that escaped and had another to snap his line on the hookset. The sun came out and it began to get hot so we retreated to a short repair job to the boat trailer and  the air conditioning. The treat of the day was sighting a couple of bald eagles and a pair of black bellied whistling ducks.

I was at the private hole this morning at 5:30 because I knew there was cleaning to be done to the boat before there would be any fishing. The water has risen and was 2 or 3 inches deep in the back of the boat because I always leave the plug out so any rain will drain. I brought a broom to sweep up the leaves. After all that was done, I launched and was sitting preparing my equipment when I heard a strike around the point from where I was sitting.  A buzz bait immediately was put on and about the third cast after I rounded the point did the trick. Here is a photo.

The buzz worked so well I left it on and continued around the hole. The water being a few inches higher was back in the grass a little and there was a good crop of small bream trying to hide in it. The bass were working them over. The action was good until the sun got brighter but the fish even then were not far off of the bank. A DT-6 was just what they wanted. None of the fish were over 2 1/2 pounds but, not having been fishing in a while, I was glad to see each one of them. Getting your line stretched with regularity is fun. The water had even come up enough for me to be able to get in the South hole. It was difficult to fish due to the cottonwood cotton on the water. The game as the same there with the fish relating to the bank trying to eat the bream.  It began to be evident that the bite was beginning to slow. Things like bumps and when I did catch one it would be on only one rear hook. It was time to change tactics so out came a shaky head with a trick worm. The would bite but very lightly. I caught a few but it was slow fishing and bites became hard to come by. I quit at 11:45 with 23 bass.

My daughter, her husband , my wife and I are in Rosemary beach for a week. Yesterday was the last day of the 9 day red snapper season. We went out on a afternoon trip that started at noon. I thought that ought to be long enough to catch the limit of two each. I believe we went out around 35 miles which took the better part of  2 hours. Not to worry, because when we arrived at the spot, the action was instantaneous. We were fishing over an old sunken semi cab. The depth was 256 feet and pulling a big snapper up from there was a pretty good chore. The swells and the sun didn’t help things either. I was pretty successful at dodging the sun but not the heat.

 

Daughter Gayden Bishop was the star catcher of the day. She had an unorthodox style of pulling the fish up. No picture, but that is my bad.EDIT: second photo is of Gayden Bishop and a snapper whose swim bladder came out of its mouth. It looks like its tongue was sticking out so she stuck hers out in return. She stuck her bottom out to get leverage and pulled hard with her arms with lots of determination. Something had to give.  Did not take us too long to get the limit. Gayden and Edward on the ride in.

 

Edward has been reading cookbooks for two weeks in anticipation of the red snappers. Now I am the one in anticipation of the first bite. The second photo shows that a shark actually got the first bite.