I went to Washington this morning not having fished there for bass ever, I think. The reason I went there was because of its similarity to Beaverdam. I had no idea of where to go. The one person I felt comfortable calling to ask for some directions did not answer so I went there blind. On about the fifth cast I got a nip from what must have been an awfully small fish. Several more nips followed but all felt small. Every time the bait hit the water there would be a spray of 3/4 inch minnows. There was plenty of food for the bass. I fished cypress trees from deep to shallow and was making accurate casts but there were nothing but nippers and a few gars. Finally at 11:20 a small bass grabbed the Booyah and hung on. I don’t believe you could have stuffed another small minnow down its throat. By this time I was beating the bank so I decided to give it another 300 yards before quitting. Washington was not at all like Beaverdam because Richard and Hal caught 38 there yesterday and had a 6+ pounder and another over 4.

On Thursday morning I had two different ideas on things to try in Lake Ferguson, not having been on the lake in quite some time. My father and I used to fly fish around the Yacht Club early in the morning for bream. The fish would bite very early and usually quit around 8:00 as the sun got brighter. This was my first idea and it did not work. Not a bite on the fly. Not wanting to admit defeat, I quickly went across the lake to some willow trees and tried again. No bites until finally one timid fish came up and gently sucked at the fly. On the second cast it bit twice and got hooked. After that no more could be coaxed into volunteering so I left for plan number two. This one involving bass. I like a smooth sandy stretch of bank and have had pretty good luck in places like that. My second plan involved the west side of the upper lake that is just one big sandy bank that has a very slow drop. A Whopper Plopper (WP) top water would be perfect for a spot like that I thought. The WP is a bait that you just reel. No need to twitch or anything else to impart any action to the bait. Pretty soon I had a halfhearted strike and soon after that two more that ended up with fish in the boat. A pretty good time after that another one scarfed it down just as I said to myself “if one does not bite before I get to that next bush I’m going to move”. I moved across the lake to the steep bank that was still in the shade and right away I caught the 3 1/4 FOD. It was beginners luck because no more bites in a quarter mile of bank. Since the sun had risen and was beginning to get hot I changed to a 5XD and caught another. I then moved to the steep bank of the main lake with the deep diver and caught two more albeit small. I tried two more smooth sandy spots on the way back to the ramp and caught another, still small. A total of nine bass for the day.

Did not start fishing in the Private Hole until 12:30 today. I wanted to go earlier but things started happening to keep me from going and kept on happening until mid morning. One of the first baits I wanted to try was a new swim bait I bought the other day because I noticed there were no Bass Magic (my favorite) swim baits in the Bass Pro Shop. The first cast I made with it got a bite as the bait was falling to the bottom. I was not surprised when I set the hook there was no one home due to the fact there are so many small bass in the Private Hole. I unlimbered a shaky head and caught a few as well as a DT-6 that did well too. It seemed like there was a bit of a bite going on but nothing hot. After the first two hours I had 12 and then the lockjaw hit. I couldn’t even get the little ones to bite.  I tried a spot where Mickey and I caught a bunch of fish and only caught two. Our little (4 feet long) alligator friend was on post and when I approached him with the trolling motor he growled a little before he left. I went to another spot we had good luck and caught none. A move by the bank got my attention and I was able to catch four in one spot on the shaky head. Another bite came close by and when I set the hook there was something on that could not be easily moved. When it finally came into view, it was a goo weighing about 3 1/2 pounds. Continuing around the bank and changing over to a DT-6, I saw another movement by the bank. I made a cast to the movement and when the DT-6 hit the water, I saw a fish shoot over to it and inhale it. It was about a 3 pound carp or buffalo of some sort. I was more round and long than flat sided like a bream. As it got later in the day I went back to one of the good spots and the fish had gotten hungrier as had the mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were those teenincey little aggressive black ones. I was catching fish and swatting mosquitoes. Toward dark I finally decided to quit. I had 33 with a FOD that got away on the jump that would have weighed about 3 1/2. That happened the last trip there also.

Richard had me up to Beaver Dam again Thursday morning. We used the same three baits that we used the first time, a 1/4 oz. Booyah , a Brovarney swim jig (me 1/4 oz. Richard 3/16 oz.) and a baby Paca Craw. The  4-5 FOD bit first. We were afraid that might be a bad omen for the rest of the trip. It was not however. Since the last time there I had changed over a spinning reel from  a long rod to a short one. The reel has 14 pound test Nanofil line on it that has almost no stretch and casts like braid. I have found out that at Beaver Dam your casting has to be accurate if you want to get a bite. Not only does it have to be accurate, it has to be accurate under and around the cypress limbs. The ability to “skip” a bait is a big plus. We had a pleasant day fishing mostly in the shade. It rained just enough to make us put on the rain suits but quit just after we put them on. No lightning so we got to keep fishing. I had heard Richard speak of the 55 log, a place where he and a friend caught 55 in short order toward the end of a challenging day. Since I asked about it we went to look. It is a large hollow cypress log that has drifted over to a bank that has only three small trees close to the bank. We went down the bank casting to the open water and caught 5 or 6. Richard caught number 26 when he cast his Booyah over a limb and as the bait was getting close to where it would leave the water the line went sideways. He set the hook and caught the fish.

We will rejoice and be glad in it are the words from from a hymn that were most appropriate for Saturday at the private hole. Mickey and I started fishing around 7.  It was cool for this time of year and the humidity was much lower than normal. A wonderful day to be fishing even though you could hear the shotguns popping at the doves on the first day of the season. Three species of doves have been coming to our bird feeder, Eurasian Collared Doves, Whitewing Doves and our regular Mourning Doves. After feeding them and enjoying having them around, I’m not so mad at them anymore.

We started with topwater baits. When casting to a downed tree, Mickey went an inch or two too far and the rear hook of his crazy shad became stuck on a small limb. He tried to shake it off even as we trolled over to  free it. At the last minute the bait became free and popped two feet into the air and immediately as it hit the water a two pounder blasted it right next to the boat. It was better than coffee for waking you up. It was quickly evident that the topwaters were not going to get the job done so we had to change. First to a DT-6 and then to a worm. In one spot we caught a few small bass on a worm and then a 3 to 4 foot alligator appeared from out of the middle of a large ironwood bush. He was interested in the splashing that the fish made when they fought. After a while, Mickey caught a Goo on a worm and had it hooked deep. It did not survive the ordeal and floated. When we saw that, Mickey picked it up and threw it over to the gator. The fish still had a bit of life in it and the first time it twitched, the gator scarfed it up and headed back under the bush to dine. As the morning progressed the bite picked up and things became a bit more heated. By now the bait was a DT-6 or 10 or even a 5XD. The wind had positioned the fish in one spot, where although scattered in all depths, they were relatively concentrated. They were cooperative and willing to bite pretty much all day. The fish that would have been the FOD (between 4 and 5) made a big clean acrobatic jump and threw the worm, so we had to settle for a 3-5 for the FOD. We caught 68 and ended up with 34 fish each. Truly a wonderful day fishing.