Harley IV and I went this morning with a fly rod and a popping bug and caught these. There were a lot of little ones that would just suck on the legs of the bug but not really take it. I’d bet we got 100 bites of one sort or another but only a few that were serious. We’re having the ones that were serious for supper in the form of bream tacos. Harley did very well on his first time to fish with a fly rod. FUN ! !
Title says it all. Caught half what I caught the last time there and they were half the size. When I started I could tell the bite was not on because it took a long time to get the first fish in the boat. Usually early the DT-6 is very effective but not today. Then after about an hour the trolling motor quit completely. After paddling over to the boat launch I delved into the problem. The depth finder was still working , although it was showing the water temp as being 22 degrees, so I figured the battery was fine. I have a dimmer switch as a foot controlled on and off button. When I touched both wires together the motor came to life. Plugged those babies together and I was fishing again. I have always said that the wind in the Garhole positions the fish. Today there was no wind and indeed the fish were scattered. Today, like the last trip, I had the pleasure of seeing one in the clear water come up, and not strike, but just put its mouth on the DT-6. When it did, I set the hook and caught the fish. Besides the DT-6, fish were caught on an XD-5 and a small shaky head with a finesse worm on it that had been dipped into the garlic dye. The tail biters were terrible today. I have only a few of my favorite worms left, which are a Zoom Utail vibe. They have a little flapping tail that is very soft and comes off easily. The bream were pulling them off without me even setting the hook so I quit using them. The bream were everywhere. The DT-6 even caught 2 big ones. Next time I go a fly rod, some popping bugs and an ice chest are going too. Ended up with 13 and a 2 1/2 FOD. About half last time.
Why would a bass bite an artificial bait with this many bait fish in the lake?
I asked myself this question this morning. There were 5 that bit a DT-6 , a DT-10, or a worm. Not much else. The lake was full of boats but I didn’t see any of them doing any good. Lots of moving around. Must be a tournament tomorrow. Fished both ends of the lake but there was no secret spot.
The Garhole, which in previous posts has been referred to as the private hole, has recovered its original, and I think better, name. I went there Friday morning planning on an early start that did not happen. A culvert on an access road, that really needed lowering, was dug up and was across the road. I had decided to go back to Lake Ferguson when I ran across someone that gave me an alternative route to the hole. Due to the detour, fishing started at 8:15. I started off with a DT-6 of course and pretty quickly caught 8. Then I picked up a shaky head and caught some more. Just to experiment I put on an XD-5 and got a jarring bite right at the boat from a fish that I saw was a good one. Then I caught a 4 and then a 4 3/4. Seems like a big school had arrived. They did not stay for a long time but it was fun while they were there. I moved a little distance and caught a few more on the DT-6 and had another good one pull off that I had a good look at. Going around the bank with a DT-6 it seemed like fish were everywhere. I think they were just up and feeding. Around 10 things started to slow down and I went searching. Catching one here and there but not hitting the mother lode of fish. In the process I caught all types of fish on the DT-6, including a monster red bellied bream. The DT-6 is an amazing bait that everything seems to like. This morning the guy that won the Major League Fishing event on TV held up a DT-6 as one of his winning baits and mentioned that it was “just something about it that fish like”. I agree wholeheartedly ! The water was exceptionally clear, so after things slowed, I put on a deep diving 3 hook jerk bait. Right off the bat a good fish grabbed and made a break for the open water. It jumped and I could hear all those little balls inside rattling away. When it hit the water it dove and pulled loose. That was the second nice fish that got away but it gave me confidence it the jerk bait. I was throwing it over a large sunken tree and visually trying to work it through the limbs without getting it hung up. On two occasions in the clear water I saw the fish come up out of the top and get the bait. I do not fish with a jerk bait very much but I think it will be added to my Garhole repertoire. I ended up with 26 bass at 1:15 after draining my water jug. The FOD was 4 3/4 and the fish size stair stepped down from there. I had a pile of worms with the tails bit off due to a lot of tail biting small bass which is encouraging for the future. The small bream were swarming every where which ensures a good food source for those small bass to grow.
Started early this morning and went South. I fished 10 different spots including the one where Mickey and I caught most of our fish when we went last. All of those places were ones that have produced fish in the past. Caught 6 bass, a catfish, a gaspergou, two sauger, and several of the ubiquitous white bass or stripes as we call them. All the oddities were caught on the DT-6. I fished shallow, mid depth and as deep as 25 feet. As hot as it was maybe 25 feet was not deep enough. The FOD honors were shared by the gaspergou and the cat at about 4 pounds each. A very hot day temperature wise. Water temp was 92 degrees on top when I left.
Mickey and I met at the ramp at 12:30 Wednesday for a trip in the hot afternoon. We started in what I thought was going to be the best place but there were a few small ones. A lot of pickups on a worm and then putdowns. There was one pickup and I anticipated a putdown so I just shook it at the fish. It picked up the bait and eased off with it. I hooked it and up came a nice fat 1 1/2 pound fish. Any other day it would have scarfed it run. That size fish seem to always be hungry, especially when some slow moving plastic comes by. As the afternoon progressed, the bite may have slowed even further. At almost dark that changed. We came upon a gravel ridge with XD5’s and caught 4 or 5 . There was an adventure back into a hole that is usually cut off from the lake. We caught a few there, but you could have almost walked across the carp. They were almost solid. Not the 30 pound variety but some smaller ones probably in the three pound range. In Ferguson striped bass were everywhere. We probably caught 20 with many more bites as the fish were small and we were fishing with an XD5 which is a pretty large bait. We ended up with 12 bass and a FOD of a little over 2 pounds.
