I awakened at 4:00 this morning confused about where I could fish. Lake Ferguson was on top of the list until I went outside and saw the low clouds hustling by. Too much wind. I would have loved to go to the private hole but the road was too muddy. My jeep would have made it but I didn’t want to rut it up. Deer Creek, since there is a new ramp at Arcola, was also a possibility but with all the rain recently it may have been turbid. Yesterday when I went up to check the cabin, I saw Frank  fishing in the Towhead Chute. That gave me the idea of going up there. It came slow after about a half cup of coffee. I rounded up my stuff and took off. Frank was fishing a top water at 6:30 when I finally got in the water. He allowed as how he had caught “just a hand full”. Going a long way down the lake and on the other side so as not to cut him off, I too started with a cripple killer.  Bites were not forthcoming from bass but there were plenty from the gars. I finally managed to catch one but it was on his second try. One place got extensively worked over with the killer and no bite but when I threw in a found crank bait the 2 1/2 FOD latched on. That told me they really were not wanting a top water. The sky had become dark and ominous looking. The first thunder sent me to the landing where I parked the boat and sat in the dry truck. Shortly I was joined by Frank and we compared notes.  He said he had a good many blowups too. I went back when the rain slacked up and was going to fish a Booyah. The fish were not shy about biting it. The first fish broke the wire in the bend but it was already in the boat. I caught a few more before the next thunder rattled things. I had a rain suit on but by now I was worried about pulling the boat out and not getting stuck. The tires on my truck are street tires and are beginning to be worn. I quit at 9:30 with 6 fish and, although the tires spun, I made it up the hill just fine.

Jackson and I started out at daylight Friday morning on lake Enterprise. The fish had to wait until it got a little more light before they started biting. Topwaters were on our mind. Jackson used several chugger and spook type baits and I used a Cripple Killer. The fish were around scattered cypress trees in rather deep water. They would come a good way out from the tree to hit the baits which made it good for me and my poor casting. We caught 8 by 9:00, the largest being about 2 – 13. After 9:00 they stopped completely for us. Cheeseburgers called us off the lake at 12.

Arrived at the water front about 30 minutes later than I wanted to this morning. The wind was blowing up waves and there were already a half dozen hydroblasters in the lake. There were 20 by the time I left this morning. Must be some big tournament this weekend because I noticed some of the trucks had clothes, enough for a few days, hanging on racks. I had topwater on the mind so I started with a whopper plopper in a relatively calm place. No takers so I went to the other extreme a worm at 20+ feet and again no takers. Then I saw some activity and caught 2 small bass on a red eye shad but no more. Got back on the worm and caught two more in the 10 foot depth range. The worm fishing was slow so I put on a DT-10 and caught one more that just “glommed up on it” as Hal would say. That means, that when it bit, it felt like you had snagged a dishrag. The last three were just under 3 pounds. I fished a little longer but the weather was looking iffy. A big clap of thunder sealed the deal and sent me to the ramp at 11:00 with a total of 5 fish. I had a lot of places I wanted to fish but the weather stopped that. Discretion is the better part of valor. If no rain tomorrow I might go again.

Mickey and I arrived at the private hole this morning with top water in mind. We started on top but when nothing was really going on I threw a new Yozuri crank bait, a DB3 I think. I was hoping it would be close to a DT-6 but it was smaller, lighter and harder to cast without a professional over run. To start pickings were slim. We fished the two spots I thought would be the best but by 8:30 we only had caught 4 or 5 . As we passed a place that is usually good but produced nothing the first time we passed, a 4 – 3 latched on the new Yozuri. When Mickey had the crazy shad doing the little “chirp” that he is so good at, a 4  – 14 came up and ate it at another sunken top.

The best substitute I have for a crazy shad is a cripple killer and it was on the line after that. As we fished around the hole the bream were everywhere and coming to smack the back propeller on the top water baits. I am going to return with my fly rod on the next trip. The sun was high by now chasing the bass back into the shade. We tried the first spot again and the fish were active. A 3 -4 came up to smash the cripple killer as well as a few that hit a swim bait. As 12 o’clock rolled around and the sun was getting hotter we quit and headed for the air conditioning. We had a great time catching 21 fish, many on top water.

I have had my boat , motor, and trailer since 2005. My trailer lights have been a problem at times. They are now going through a spell where they will come on when I leave the house but one or both go out at the first little bump in the road. If you go back and slap the light fixture it comes back on, only to go out at the next small bump. When I investigated the problem, it seems the bulb holder was not holding properly (cheap) leading to the light going out. I had just had enough, so I bought a set of LED trailer lights at the Bass Pro Shop in Jackson. When I came home they went on the trailer and one would not come on  when the lights were on. The brake lights and the turn signals were fine. It was time to quit because it was late and the mosquitoes were hungry. I was stewing, ready to raise Cain because of having to take the drive back to Jackson for the exchange.  This afternoon the problem was revisited as I knew where any trouble with the wiring would be found. Sure enough I had not crimped one of the connectors. Hopefully no more trailer light problems.

I awakened this morning at 2:00 this morning and tried to go back to sleep but it just would not work so I bailed out of bed at 3:00 and started to go fishing. Cane Creek was my destination and was on the lake by 6:15 but a little late. On that lake you do not run to your spot because stumps are everywhere. Fishing started a little later with a Ribbit. The fish were just slapping at it to start but later hit in earnest. By then I was immune to the strikes, did not even want to set the hook. Almost, as Hal says, could have smoked a cigarette before I set the hook. That worked very well but the number of bites had really slacked off by then. I would just watch the line and look for movement. Some of the time the line would not move because the fish was swimming toward the boat. After I started that the hookup percentage rose a good bit. I had read about some schooling fish on the Arkansas Game and Fish fishing report website and that called for some inspection. The tip was good because they were there. The fish were widely spread out but would bite if the bait (red eye shad) was presented shortly after the came up. Finally about 2:00 that slowed down and I departed. Four schooling bass plus five on a Ribbit was nine for the day. FOD was 3 – 9.

On the way home, I talked to Jackson on the phone about Lake Enterprise. He had been talking to a friend who had been fishing. His friend told Jackson he saw a bass chase a shad up a cypress tree. The shad, running from the bass, hit the cypress and went up about a foot before falling back and becoming dessert.