Jackson and I started fishing this morning late, just before 10, in an effort to let things warm up some. The water is still about 1 1/2 feet lower than normal but it is up in the grass that grew up last summer while the lake was low. Temperature was 52 degrees to start and warmed to as much as 57.  Clarity was about 18 to 24 inches and there was a good green bloom. All that didn’t help us much as we only caught one and that was on a on a swim bait. We had two other bites with one of those coming to the top before it escaped. We rummaged through our tackle boxes but could not find the bait that would unlock the puzzle. Going to get cold so we will have to wait before going back. Lake Chicot is up 8 feet and is closed to boating, so it is out too.

That was the weather on Lake Chicot. Jackson and I caught 3 with Jackson doing the catching.  First we looked for the deep school that I saw the last trip but could not make contact. Then we tried shallow and of course I had on my trusty Booyah but it could not get a bite. Jackson put on a black and blue jig and caught 3 in relatively short order. I put a jig on but could not get a bite. If the fish had been cooperating the day would not have been so bad but with the weather so bad we cut it short.

The first bite came at 11:15 after two hours of fishing. The water temp started at 53 and saw 61 before the sunny day was over. Where I have been fishing, with very scattered success, was muddy with not even a foot of visibility. Farther down the lake it cleared up and was pretty normal clarity. The fish were shallow and on the bank (especially with rocks present) except for one on a secret sunken tree top in 5 feet of water and one on a cypress tree, the first one in three trips. All five fish were caught on a ¼ ounce Booyah spinnerbait, one of my favorite baits of all time. FOD was 3 ¾ pounds. Others were 2, 2, 2 ½, 2 ¾.

Pulling in to a good looking stretch of rocky bank I saw a good dropoff with a large group of fish down at about 12 feet. All were within 2 feet of the bottom. I guessed they were bass but continued to the bank. When I caught one on the bank, I forgot about the deep fish. The wind was blowing too and would have made fishing in that spot difficult. Thinking about it later I surmised that the fish in Chicot are mostly deep but come in to the bank thinking about a spot to spawn in a few weeks. All the fish I caught had a fat belly full of eggs. I marked the deep spot for the next trip.

Jackson and I met at the State Park on the North end of Chicot at 9:30 and were fishing at 10. It was so foggy I had to navigate by the GPS on the depthfinder. A short while after we started it started to rain pretty hard so we retreated to the shelter of a friendly boathouse for about 45 minutes. I believe Jackson had caught a four pounder  before the rain started. When the rain subsided we went right back fishing and had caught a total of four by 3:00. I thought both of the fish I caught were a stick at first but turned out  to be fish. The fish just were not “on it” today . The water was getting muddy because of the runoff from the rain. We called it a day at 3:00. Water temp 54 to 56 degrees.

Hal called to say he and Richard fished Beaverdam today for the first time this year and caught 24. After Richard went home at 2:00, Hal went to the Flower Lake borrow pits and caught 2 more, one over 5  and 1/4 or 3/4, I can’t remember which. They caught all the fish in one area that had some relatively clear water. They caught a few there and left to try some other places with no luck. Then they returned and caught some more.

I went to Lake Chicot this morning and started fishing about 9:30. I wanted it to start warming up before I started fishing in hopes the warming would start the fish biting. No bites for the first couple of hours even though the pad stems and cypress trees where I started looked like a great spot and I have caught fish this time of year there before. To start, it was a little cloudy which impeded the warming of the water by the sun. It was looking like it might be zero number two. About 11:15 however one “glommed” up on it right at the boat. Was glad to welcome her aboard. 3 3/4 . Tried to take a picture but did not want to keep her out of the water too long. It was fat with eggs. The guys on the fishing TV shows love to hold them and look at them as if they never have seen a fish before. They need to hold their breath when the fish is out of the water and then they would know how it feels. That really burns me up.  It was another hour before I got the next bite. This fish made my line sing in the water. That always brings on a little adrenaline. 3 3/4 made in the same mold as the first . I took a quick photo of that one.

As I went down the bank the water temperature was rising, 48 at the start and reached 57 before the day was over. The next fish swirled on top as the Booyah came over a stick. 3 even. It was obvious, things were picking up. Finally I caught two in the same spot and they were 2 3/4 each. After I had caught 7, I saw one hit on top and threw the Booyah to the spot. I was on a hair trigger and as soon at it hit, I set the hook and of course I missed it. My time was up so I had to leave but the fish were still biting. I really would have liked to go where I started after the fish had commenced to bite but time would not allow. The best 5 weighed 17 1/2 pounds. Not too shabby.