I went to Ferguson this morning after early church. That put me up the lake talking to Tom and his son at 10:30. They had been there about 30 minutes and they already had 8 fish. When I put in they were the only truck at the landing. After a short conversation I headed to my starting spot and had a DT-10 on. It had no interest so I put on an XD-5 because that is what Tom and his son were using. It took me a long time to put the first fish in the boat. After the first couple there was a lull in the bite but later it picked back up. I tried to call Tom but cell coverage was spotty. As the bite picked up, I began to get more optimistic but I soon slowed and I left that spot. The wind was blowing pretty hard and when you say fluorocarbon and wind in the same sentence there is a backlash. The XD-5 is not as good at laying out on the wind as a DT-10 is so I put on a DT-16 to see if it would equal the 10. It did and with a small reel adjustment the casting problems were solved. In my new spot I wanted to cast toward the shallows and pull to the deep but the wind was in the exactly wrong direction. I put the boat in 12 feet of water and made casts parallel to the drop, sometimes out a little bit and sometimes in. Soon I hung something heavy that I thought might have been a large gar. When a large bass came up and jumped it surprised me so much I shouted. It was a fat with eggs female that weighed 5 3/4. I was eager to get her back in the water so no photo. Later I felt a tap tap on the DT-16 and on the third tap I hung a 3 3/4 . Almost every bite down that stretch of bank was the tap tap variety. Down that stretch I caught 5 fish but on the second trip there was not even a bite. I figured the bite was over for the day so at 4:30 I left with 16 fish and an FOD of 5 3/4. The top 5 were 20 pounds even. Tom and his son caught 19 with a FOD of 4 pounds.

The photo is not of a large fish but one that had black spots all over. I’ve seen them before but not very often. Catch and release works ! This afternoon I caught one weighing 4 pounds even that had a boo boo on the side of his jaw where it had been hooked before. When I weighed it the membrane at the top of its mouth where I hook my scale had already been punctured. I have fished that spot a good bit in the last few months and I guarantee either Mickey or I have caught that fish and weighed it. Maybe we can catch it again.

Hal and Richard fished Beaverdam on Monday. Hal caught two 5 1/2’s and a 6 1/4 or maybe it was two 5 1/4’s and a 6 1/2 I can’t remember exactly. Dyslexia strikes at old age. Whichever it is, it’s real good. He caught them on a Strike King Rage Blade swim jig with some sort of crawfish trailer.

Jackson made a “forced march” back home from a party in Little Rock and met me at the landing at Monticello at about 7:30 Sunday morning. He had a new assortment of new swimbaits that he wanted to try so that is what he had on to start. I of course had on a trusty 1/4 ounce Booyah spinnerbait with a golden shiner skirt. The  G/S skirt due to the clarity of the water in Monticello. I wanted something that the fish couldn’t see so well and determine it was a bait rather than something to eat.  The starting water temp was 55 degrees but in the shallower areas during the day it was 65. Due to the unseasonable warm weather the lily pads have grown a little thicker than normal. The Booyah connected with a small one but was having problems going through the pads. Jackson had some bites on a variety of swimbaits so I changed to a Basspro speed shad swimbait. We caught fish in the shallow areas but none were of much size. They were probably all male fish that were in preparation for the spawn. Only two of the fish we caught all day had a protruding belly and were probably females and they were the co-FODs at around 2 1/2 pounds each.  Hal emailed me that on March 9th 2006 when I caught a 9 1/2 in Monticello on my first trip there, according to his records the water temp was 55 degrees. Armed with that info we headed for the very log that the big one came from. When the bait came over the limb and started to sink, I felt a “tic” just like on the 9 1/2. I set the hook but only another small one came out. That “tic” really had the adrenaline flowing for a split second. Some of Jackson’s swimbaits were large which started the discussion of were they too large. The question was answered by a small fish that was caught on my swimbait. The bait was over half as long as the fish. I really like the speed shads. They do not have the “thump” of the Bass Magic swimbaits but have a good swimming motion and have hook slots bottom and top. Their hookup ratio is very good. We quit at 4:30 with 15 bass, all released of course.

As I drove to the private hole this morning it was raining lightly. I was undecided if my personal forecast was accurate. I thought the rain was going to split and go North and South of us but I was not sure. The weather finally broke off around 10:30 and the first cast was at 11:15. None of the places or the baits from the last trip worked. The water had warmed to 55 degrees at the start. I caught the first fish on a swimbait on a jig head. Next, the old standby Booyah came out and had a couple of nips. Continuing with it, I finally found a spot where the fish had been hiding and caught fish pretty quickly. That lasted one pass because when the second pass came by there was nothing. No way I could have fished out those treetops. The fish just retreated back down to their hideout. On fish number 15, I put my pliers on my belt and thought I may have put the Hoo Doo on myself. Sure enough, that was the last bite until I decided to leave. When I was finishing up, I saw a bass knock a bream up on the bank about 100 yards away. The trolling motor has a new battery for power so it did not take long to get to the spot. Several casts later with the Booyah there was still nothing. I was just in the right place to make a good cast so I hurriedly reeled in the bait across the top of the water. One thought it was going to get away and it came up and nailed the bait. 16 was the final count with a 3 – 14 FOD. Final water temp 61 degrees.