This morning early I went to the private hole for the first time since the river got in and added 10 to 12 feet of water to it. It looked beautiful with lots of duckweed and water with at least 40 inch visibility. The duckweed was in the middle of the hole as well as around the sides. I have caught them before hanging under the pieces floating out in the middle so optimism was high. The condition was perfect for a Ribbit frog. I went a long time without a bite from a bass. Finally in a shallow spot with some weeds and some duckweed I caught one small one. Some of the weeds were under the water and the ones 6 feet deep or less were covered with spirogyra, that slimy green moss. The clear water probably allowed enough light to penetrate to let the moss grow. It was a pain to try to fish anything that went underwater. I stayed with the frog and caught two more, another small one and one about 2 1/2.  It was hard for me to figure out what the game was today. I am quite familiar with that hole and know many of the good places to fish but was stymied today. The baits used were shaky head, red eye shad, Rex spoon, and a crank bait that dives to about 8+ feet. No bites on any of those things. The gar, about 18 to 24 inches long, were everywhere. The were eating the cicadas that have hatched this year. There are so many buzzing in the trees you can hardly hear yourself think. There have been so many water rescues on television, I didn’t want to be left out so I made one today. I saw this pretty io moth in the water struggling to get up on something dry. It was actually tangled up in some spirogyra and never would have been able to climb out onto something dry. I went over and pulled it out, cleaned it off and placed it on a leaf. Not sure it will survive but at least it was not lunch for one of the gar. Picture below. Disappointed, I quit early.

Jackson had me over to fish Enterprise Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Friday afternoon there was not too much going on but we were fishing for the skillet so we tried a little harder. First we went to an area that was shallow and was solid duckweed, a perfect Ribbit spot. We had some halfhearted bites there but there were no real takers. There was another spot where you could get inside the outside cypress trees and fish in an open area next to the bank where grass and weeds were in the water. Jackson was able to coax a couple to hit a devil horse and if they got even close those hooks stuck and held. We had to leave early because we didn’t want supper to be too late. As we were leaving a tighteye finally hit my Booyah. We had four for the afternoon.

Saturday morning we ran down the lake to an undisclosed spot where the shad were spawning on the duckweed out in the middle of the lake. The bass were there too and soon started to show themselves. A pop R, a Ribbit, and a discount table popper that Mickey gave me were the best baits. Here is Jackson with the 3 – 6 FOD.

You can see the duckweed in the middle of the lake. As we were taking this photo he had his rod across the boat with his bait dangling in the water.  “One just hit at my bait right there ” he said as one made a pass at his dangling bait.

The fish bit during the major period and then slowed down considerably, but even when they bit many of them would miss the whole bait. We ended up with 9 bass. We fished out of Jackson’s new boat. It’s an 18 foot aluminum with high sides, a wide bottom and is powered by a 70 Yamaha four stroke. It has a 24 volt Minkota trolling motor. I like everything about the boat and is very comfortable to fish out of.

I caught a fish on the first cast, a stripe, and another on the third cast, a 5 – 2 FOD, all on a new rod and reel that I have caught nothing on for the last three trips. What did I catch them on ? A DT-6 of course. After that opening I thought I was going to wear them out but the bite slowed quickly. Figuring they might be a little deeper, a DT-10 was used but with no luck. A few more volunteered but only a few so I went looking. I headed to the south end fished a little but mostly ran my depthfinder. With the lake falling 8 feet in the next few days some spots down there will get good. In one place down there, the Ed King spot, the towboats have pushed all the trees down  so the place is almost unrecognizable. I found it and plan to fish it if the water does not fall out before I can go again. Enough time had passed for my first place to rejuvenate so I headed for it. Someone was already there. I should have stayed. He had caught a few but was not fishing the “mother lode”. The spot is not big enough for two so I just fished close by. Finally I left and rode to check out some more spots on the North end of the lake. It was getting late so I left to go in and as I passed the good spot it was empty. I stopped in and was able to catch some on a shaky head worm. The DT-6 had been lost to an ironwood bush that  my “gitter” couldn’t even rescue it from. I put on a 3 XD instead. They are a good substitute for the DT-6 and may run a tad deeper.  A  4 – 1 bit on the first cast. A couple more were caught on a shaky head. The total was 12 bass, two stripes and two goo that bit the shaky head. The gnats were terrible. If you go be sure to take some Buggins Natural to keep them at bay.

After reading all about the shad spawn, Jackson and I tried to catch it on Lake Monticello. It happens on the first full moon in May. I got in on the end of it once on Monticello and it was wild. The bass were hitting at everything but missing most things because I arrived late at the lake just as it was ending. It starts right at daylight and ends when the sun comes up. We saw some shad spawning at Lake Chicot on Friday so we thought is was beginning. We arrived early, primed for action. There was no shad spawn. The best laid plans of mice and men go awry.  There was a minor period just after daylight. We caught a few and had some bites, all on frogs, but we tried a lot of other baits. After an hour or so the bite tailed off to that Florida bass sulk of nothing. We saw many swarms of fry, most with a male bass protecting  them. We were able to catch only one of the protectors. It was maddening as the male protectors would be hitting the bream or anything else bothering the fry but would totally ignore our offerings. They would hit 4 or 5 times with us dropping our bait on their heads but getting ignored completely. We ended up with 4 with the FOD at 3 1/2.

Jackson and I went to Chicot after seeing all the weeds poking up after the low water last summer. We chose a perfect bulebird day to go with no clouds and a North wind. Only a few nips. We figured out what we had done and quit very early. Getting better at that.