This morning I drove to Tunica to fish with Richard at Beaverdam.  We started a little after 7:20.  I started out with a Chatterbait and Richard had on a white swim jig with a creepy crawler trailer. The first four came two by two with each of us catching one almost at the same time.  This 4 – 4 was the FOD and came early on the Chatterbait.

Richard soon put on a ribbon tail Culprit worm that was black with a blue tail and it started taking names. A gar cut off my only Chatterbait and Richard supplied me with a Strike King Rage Blade behind which I put a Zoom chunk dipped in the red spike it. My casting started off pretty good but after awhile the accuracy deteriorated  and I started falling behind.  I picked up a spinning rod with a chartreuse and white swim jig and things picked up for me because of accuracy of casting. With the spinning rod you could skip the swim jig under the low hanging limbs all the way back to the tree. We would run into a pocket of fish and catch a couple then we would have to hunt to find another pocket. Most of the casts were short and many were under cypress limbs. The deepest bass we caught might have been in 3 1/2 feet of water and it was lurking on top of a log, so shallow in fact I saw the flash when it hit the swimjig. It seemed that the fish would be where there was deep shade and in almost a circle of trees. We would circle those spots like the indians circling a wagon train, throwing from all angles. As usual at Beaverdam, a few fish were caught right beside the boat, which makes for great excitement. The sky was cloudy for most of the day which kept the temperatures at a very pleasant level. All in all an extremely pleasant day of fishing, the fish bit quite steadily, and there was good conversation and company. We ended up with 33 healthy bass, two at 4 or better, most around two pounds or a little more, and a catfish. A splendid day!

The boat finally got into the private hole today about 3 in the afternoon. As I tied on the first bait, which was a DT-6, a small bass started to harass some bream on their beds. A backhand cast or two or three gave the bream a break by bringing the fish to the boat. A worm was tied on next and just to try it out I made a cast to a little hump close to the landing. The thump came just as the bait hit the bottom and upon hook set the fish came to the boat. That worked so well I threw to a small log that was in relatively shallow water and another thump, fish sequence. Could raise no more with the worm so I tied on a DT-10 and on  about the fifth cast it delivered one to the boat, although the fish was not one to brag on. Whopper Ploppers have been good in the private hole so one of those was tied on next. Unlike the other baits it did not produce right off the bat. The private hole was where you needed all of those different baits. Fish were hitting next to the bank or they would be biting 10 feet deep and all points in between. Finally there was a spot for the WP and a fish cooperated and blasted it. When I started the bite was really going on but after a while I could tell it as slowing down because one fish hit the WP and knocked it a foot into the air and did not come close to getting hooked. There was one spot where we caught them last time that 5 fish bit and only one was caught . The mosquitoes were hanging around a little too much for my liking so I had determined fishing would end before dark. I tried one of the good places again and caught the 2 1/2 FOD on a worm. I ended up with 16 bass.

Mickey and I left the ramp at a few minutes after 5 on Friday afternoon. We went directly to the 70 spot where we started catching a few with a DT-6. When the DT-6 played out a few were caught with a worm but that was going pretty slow. Mickey pulled out a Whopper Plopper. WHAT a topwater on an August afternoon? It surprised us by catching fish right off the bat. They were in the shallow water and could not stand the sound that the WP makes. The strikes were very aggressive, like the fish were mad at it and really wanted to eat it. We had a great time catching them on top. That’s always fun. Even the WP played out as the fish were in just one little area and efforts to find more bore no fruit. We searched for more but only found a flight of 10 Roseate Spoonbills and one missed bite. The final tally was 14, one below our Ferguson limit, and a FOD of 3 – 4.

I was launched and ready to fish on Lake Ferguson (21.9 feet) this morning at 6 a.m.. The wind was out of the South Southwest at 9 MPH which foiled my plans to fish topwater on a particular bank. There are plenty of banks on the lake however, so I chose one where the water was smooth. The fish would hit but unfortunately they hit about 6 inches behind the bait. Airballs again ! When the small ones airball it does not sound too good for the prospects of the day. When I saw they were not going to cooperate I moved to the deep water with a DT-16. Pretty soon one hit out where the bait was at its deepest point. After about 5 seconds the line broke. It was not due to the usual not retying but due to a kink in the fluorocarbon line. This year the lake has me at a crankbait deficit. I usually find almost as many as I lose but not this year. I am way behind. After putting on a parrot colored DT-16, I continued my deep efforts that resulted in another good bite but only a few seconds of having the fish on. I kept trying but could not raise another bite. I finally caught one by bumping the worm up and down at the end of the cast until one was finally enticed to picking it up. A little later one bit a DT-6 and had another following it to the boat. A school, I thought but a thorough covering of that area yielded no more fish. After a long drought of no bites, I finally managed to catch 2 more on the deep bank on a worm bumping it on the bottom at the end of the cast. A guy pulled up and asked me if I was doing any good and I quickly replied no. He allowed that he only had caught 4 but a few days before had caught 20 in the same spot. He probably kept those 20 and thus only a few today. Add on the fact that the bite was nonexistent and there you have it.  More people need to learn to put them back.

I was planning to fish some with a Whopper Plopper this morning so an early start was a must. When I arrived at the ramp at 6 a.m., the wind was blowing 9 MPH from the SSW which would not be good for the place I had planned. A rematch with the airballers was what I wanted but the wind saved them. Another place looked really good and was shielded from the wind. The water was 3 feet deep over a wide area and the bass should have been cruising . The gar were cruising instead and one quickly pounced on the WP. It was one of those that just goes berserk when they are hooked, often getting the line in their teeth and ending up swimming off with your bait.  When in Scotland, I saw some short 8 inch pieces of antler with a string lanyard for sale that were labeled “fly priest”. Not knowing what they were used for, I Googled them when I came home. They are used to knock a fish in the head when you are going to keep one. Little did I know that I had been using one for years in the form of a cut off hoe handle. In my boat it might be known as a gar priest. The gar with my WP in his mouth got blessed good fashioned. I got out of there quickly and went out into the deeper water as the 70 spot was close by. On about the fourth cast this happened on a 5XD.

A twofer. The next cast brought another one in the boat. I was sure that I was about to rack them up. The next cast hit something solid and I set the hook but it was a stump. I tried all my “gitter” wizardry but had to leave the 5XD on the stump. Need less to say that spot was messed up for a short while so I moved on catching nothing. Shortly I returned and caught  a couple more with a worm. Further down the bank I caught a few more scattered  fish. The number had increased to 13 and I went prospecting with no luck other than hanging 2 on a crankbait on successive casts only to have them get off after a couple of seconds. A little one finally volunteered but that was all in that spot so I returned to the starting point throwing a DT-10.  One scarfed the 10 and was hooked in a difficult spot for me to remove the hook. The grabber that I have would not fit in its mouth because the bait was in the way. I gingerly slipped my finger in its mouth to lift it into the boat. Some bass have more teeth than others and I believe this one was first cousin to a barracuda. Of course when I latched down the fish shook and  roughed up my finger enough to draw blood.

I ended up with a Mickey and Harley Lake Ferguson limit, as of late, of 15 bass. Probably caught that many stripes too. The FOD was 3-15 and there were two other 3 pounders.

Friday afternoon around 2 p.m. , Mickey and I hit Lake Ferguson which was at a level of 25 feet. No rain was forecast but some was coming across Arkansas that looked as if it would go North of us. We started fishing deep, as that is what has worked lately for Mickey. We had some bump and drop bites on deep plastics and a skunk seemed to be lurking in the weeds. Along with the skunk, there was a thunderstorm that didn’t go North bearing down on us with cloud to ground lightning. We quickly retreated to shelter under a house on the lake and waited the storm out. Afterward, still fishing deep, we returned to where we had been fishing thinking the storm would have turned the fish on. Noticing some activity on top, out came the Whopper Ploppers and a Booyah. The fish hit both for a while but there were a lot of hits and misses. We caught 6 with a FOD of 3-0. Hal and Richard have been catching around 25 per trip at Beaverdam with a five pound FOD thrown the mix. Most were caught on white swim jigs and rage blade baits. Beaverdam is a shallow water spot and I’d bet all were caught in 3 feet of water or less.

We just returned from the River Oykel in Scotland courtesy of Son in Law Edward . It is located in Northern Scotland, so far North in fact, that it wouldn’t get dark until almost 11 p.m. and would start to get light around 3 a.m.. Needless to say it is a beautiful place and is very comfortable . The low the morning we left was 45 degrees. The river was full of salmon, as you could see them jumping, but they do not feed once the come in to fresh water. No one knows why they do bite but it is thought that aggression has something to do with it. Edward was able to make three mad and two other people in our crowd caught one. One who thought it would be good to try to fish a bit and caught one on the fourth cast. Go figure. Some photos of the trip.

     

     

  

We cooked some salmon on the bank of the river, about as fresh fish as you can have. Edward brought fine wines and champagne. Everything was wonderful in a beautiful setting.  I felt lucky to be there.