I don’t fish in public lakes on the weekend because of the tournaments and crowds so I went to the Garhole this morning. Got up early so I could start early but when I came downstairs the wafting odor of dog poop hit my nostrils. It took an hour to clean up the mess. I still reached Catfish at a reasonable hour except there was a slight drip of water under the house. It was the A/C drain stopped up. I got it cleaned out and some bleach poured down to keep it from happening again. THEN I headed for the Garhole and made the first cast at 8:30. Must not have missed anything because nothing was really going on. It took an hour to catch the first 2 pound fish on a DT-6. A DT-10, a Carolina rig with a Net Bait paca craw on the hook and a rugby head jig with a chigger craw were also in the arsenal. There was a bait rotation going on. The second fish was on the chigger craw and was about a pound. some good places had been covered where I would usually expect to have 7 or 8 fish. At a favorite place suitable for a worm or a DT-10, I used both and with extra time each with no results, so out came the ball and chain (Carolina rig). The stiffest rod I had in reserve had a spinning reel on it with some of that hi vis chartreuse line and a leader. This was one of the few places where a C rig could be used efficiently so it also got extra time. Finally after trying deep and shallow I got a bite and caught a 4 3/4 and not much later came a 3 3/4. I fished there a long time afterward but nothing and had to move. I was getting a lot of practice because I’m new to the C rig and I like the results it gets. Headed to another spot where I could use it and caught a 3 1/2. Just going around the hole and using the chigger craw there were no bites until right in the edge of a large tree that is submerged I got a slight tap. When I set the hook I thought the fish was in the tree but not so just a big fish. It was a 5-1 FOD and when I lipped it and pulled it in the boat the hook just fell out on the floor.

I usually like to hold the fish out toward the camera to make it look larger but today it ended up the opposite. Hard to hold the fish and work the camera too. Only one small bass today. Usually they are a large portion of your catch in the Garhole. There was just nothing going on. It was hot and time to quit. Total of 6 fish but good ones. Top 5 weighed 19 pounds. I really like the C rig and plan to use it more.

Had a late start this morning and the first cast was at 8:00. Things were dead to start off with no activity and no bites in the spot where there has been fish. The lake stood at 20.3 and rising but that was not enough to move the fish a great deal since the lake has been so low. The water temperature was 87 degrees on the surface. I told myself, “Harley you’re fishing too shallow”, so I put on a Carolina rig and moved the boat out to 23 feet and threw toward the shallow. I have very little experience with a Carolina rig and have caught only one fish on one. Confidence was low but a three pounder came on the third cast. Two more 3 pound fish came a little later. Then I had the deadly “I’ve got this figured out ” feeling, sure to end any rally. And end it it did, no more bites. Finally I left to try two more places where there have been fish but again nothing. Returning to the first place still with the Carolina rig there was nothing deep but just in case I made a cast up on the flat somewhere between 6 and 10 feet deep. Caught the FOD 3 3/4. After no more bites, again just in case, the R2C DD went up on the flat. The flat was too shallow for it but it would be fine when it came over the dropoff. One hit it up on the flat, and again 3 pounds. after pounding the flat with no more bites, I left and went to the #2 bitespot still with the DD and caught one in the exact place a 5 pound fish came from Thursday, but not 5 pounds. Caught two more there but smaller, both on the DD. Tried a worm but no takers. By then it was very hot and was time to go. 8 fish and the FOD 3 3/4.

With 70% chance of rain today I was worried about the weather when I awoke and looked at the radar. It was covered but after I had my coffee it appeared that the storms that were coming were starting to evaporate like they have been doing all week. I headed to the lake a few minutes to 7:00. I reached where I wanted to start fishing about 7:45. Nothing was going on in the spot I caught the first ones Tuesday but I continued down that bank until I reached what I consider the best place. It was today. In short order A 3-0, a 5-3 and a 6-1 came to the boat. All but the 3-0 on the River 2 sea DD. The fish all hit very close to the boat which I had positioned right where the acute drop off started. When that had run out, I went looking where the schooling bass had been Tuesday but nobody home. I returned to the first place and caught a 4-12 (DD) but no others. From there I crossed the lake to the place I caught 6 Tuesday and fished it from stem to stern without a bite of any sort. On a cast to relatively shallow water the DD ($15.99) became hung and I could tell it was hung down deep in a submerged top and the line was over some springy limbs. If I dropped my gitter down the line it would not reach the bait. My boat hook was long enough to reach the top and I finally hooked it with the hook and pulled it up but the bait was hung down deep in it. The top was weighted down with something heavy making it more difficult but finally I was able to get the line untangled from the limbs and get it free and breathe a sigh of relief. On the way back to the wharf I stopped at Bitin’ spot #2 that my Daddy and I named it back in the 1960’s. Daddy liked to troll and as we went by one day the bass started hitting shad. We stopped and with our 500 Bombers caught a few. They weren’t stacked in there but I did catch a 5-0 on the DD. Only 8 bass today but some good size. 24 pounds even for the best 5. Best quality in a good while. EDIT: Someone else I know caught 23 fish with 5 over 5 pounds. Wow!

Right away this morning I tried a few new places with absolutely no success. Then I tried the rockpile with the same result. I had come to believe the fish were very deep and I was not fishing deep enough. I went to a place where the bottom changes from a gradual slope to one with a gradual slope and then a drop-off. The depth finder showed a good many fish (what kind?) at 23 feet and I figured that was deep enough. Could not get a bite with anything. Moved in a little closer to 10 feet and same result so I said what the heck and threw toward the bank in probably 3 feet of water and a 5 1/4 FOD came out. Go figure. Continuing down the bank another 4 – 1 bit and was apprehended. A good start but could find no more. I believe it was getting too late and the sun was getting a little too high. Went to the 70 bank and tried the same succession of baits and depths but came up with the same results. A little farther down that bank I noticed some nervous water and threw a rattletrap in because it was shallow. One grabbed it and I sat right there and caught 8 or 9 from 1 1/2 to just over 2 pounds. When that ended I continued in the shallow water with a DT-6 and a rattletrap. On the DT-6, I had the hardest lick of the day. I figured it was a big bass but it was a Goo. Getting close to noon I had one more place in mind. It was one my Daddy and I used to catch fish in . Back then there was a boathouse tied off, and if you threw close enough to the boathouse to splash water on the sides, you would get a bite on a worm most of the time. The fish would be out on or past the drop-off so I broke out a River 2 Sea tactical DD crankbait. Supposed to go 18 feet deep. It did the job coming up with a 5 even and then another 3 pounder. Couldn’t get another bite so I broke out a VMC rugby head jig with a Berkley chigger craw. It worked too with another 5 even. Must have been sisters. Caught a couple more on the other end of the spot but then all bites ceased. It was 2:00 and the clouds that had been keeping me shady had left so it was time to go. 18 fish in all with a 5 1/4, 2 @ 5 even, a 4-1 and a 3-2, or 22-7 for the best 5. A very good day on Lake Ferguson.

I was not able to leave the house this morning until 9:00 and decided to go to the rockpile. The piles are marked on my GPS. A rattletrap is a great bait to use fishing around the rocks because it doesn’t hang up much. I caught 2 small ones right off the bat on the closest pile to the bank. The third one was the best a good many years ago. Tried it second with a DT-10 but nothing doing so I went out to the outside pile where the water goes from 6 to 40 feet almost straight down. Hung one out there but it shook off. From there I went to the spot that was so good Tuesday but it was cursed. First a DT-14 got hung in a remnant of a net that had been hauled to the middle of the lake so I thought. I got it back with the lure retriever that hung in the net itself and was very hard to pull up. Thought I was going to have to pull it up with the boat but finally it gave and came up. I changed to a found Poe’s crankbait. After a couple of casts it hit the bottom and when I set the hook thinking it was a bite, the line broke. It broke at a place where I had a backlash brewing and didn’t know it, and the line buzzed on the reel when I cast and weakened the line. I had a new Poe’s that I put on. I was having so much bad luck I was not about to put on a good bait. The new bait would not run straight. Even after bending the eye a slight bit it would go off to the side. Next up was a digger 17, and surprisingly it caught a fish, I believe the first of its career. Shortly after catching the fish I looked up and my found Poe’s came swimming slowly by. It had a good length of line on it so I reached over and picked it up with the hooks on a DT-6. The line was draped across a cruising gar and it was just pulling it over to me. Felt like I won on that one. Couldn’t get another bite deep so I tried shallow with a rattletrap and caught some small ones here and there. I had to quit at 2:00 and I did. 7 bass for the day with no biggies.

It was windy this morning right off the bat and that made the ride up to the bend in the lake rather rough. Only caught one at the first place where I thought there would be good fish but that’s what I get for thinking. Left there and went to the 70 bank where an out of town guy sort of pulled in on me . I asked if he was prepping for a tournament and if he was from out of town. Both answers were affirmative, upon which I told him that all the tournament pressure had adversely affected the fishing in Lake Ferguson. I also asked him why didn’t he tournament fish on his own lake. Oh I fish all over was the reply. I caught a few down that bank and then left for another spot. At that place, I began to catch a few scattered out fish. Eddie Gibson came by to talk and hung up on a net that has plagued that place for three years at least. He pulled the whole thing up and took it out to the middle of the lake. Give Eddie credit for making things better and a big thank you. While I was talking to him I caught the 6-0 FOD . He was prepping for a tournament too. Guess where he will be fishing Saturday. After he left I continued to fish in the spot and the fish started to bite. They were scattered but were decent fish. There was a 4-9, a 3-12, a 3-8 and a 3-1 for the 5 largest of 20 – 14. A total of 22 fish. Not a shoddy day. Caught them on a DT-6 and 10, a rattletrap and a Berkley chigger craw on a rugby head that Hal gave me. This is the third trip with it and I haven’t lost it yet. It’s beginning to grow on me a little. Probably just put the Hoo Doo on it with the “haven’t lost it yet” comment.

Went pretty early this morning. Northeast wind did not make me optimistic. I tried a couple of prospect spots before getting down to business. The first business spot with a DT-10 got things going rather quickly. I believe I caught the same fish that I caught last week with the buzz bait. It had a big head, probably 4 pounds worth, but only weighed 2-13 because it was so skinny. It also only had one eye. It also was all the way across the lake from where it was caught last week. After that there was another good bite on the DT-10 but the five pound fish came up and jumped completely out of the water and gave me the bait back. Then the 3 3/4 FOD was caught on a worm. All this time I was counting on the place where I “every casted” them the day before yesterday. It is a pretty good stretch of bank . I visited it 3 or 4 times today but no school was to be found. I picked up a couple more fish on the 70 bank but that was it for the bass. I caught more gars today than anything else . Probably 5 or 6. Luckily none of them got a bait. They were not large ones like the one the other day. A five footer came up with the new deep diving expensive crankbait in its mouth. I knew it was gone but luckily the gar was hung with only one hook. It stayed on for a long time and I tried to hold the gars mouth out of the water to keep it from getting fouled of the line. Finally that big joker did one of those dances they do and threw the hook. The lake was covered today with boats preparing for a tournament. Lake Ferguson has had a tournament of some sort every weekend. Way too much pressure but that was not my problem today.

I was at the wharf this morning at a little after 6:00, and a good thing too because the fish were active when I arrived at the lower 70 bank. Caught some right away on a Red Eye shad 3/8 oz and also a DT-6. The fish were scattered and not concentrated. The fishermen were concentrated. For some reason two perch jerkers pulled in one right after the other just in the spot Mickey and I caught a bunch of fish at this same water level last year. Pulling in wasn’t enough. They had to drop the paddle on the floor of the boat and make all kind of noise in the shallow water. After catching a few things slowed down so out came the DT-10 for a trip down the bank. Caught a 3 1/2 quickly but only one. Things slowed and I moved to the upper lake where it was take a ticket and wait for a spot. I was spying too. Saw one guy fishing in a place that I have never seen anyone fishing. On the way out, I ran the Humminbird over it and figured out what the deal was. I bet there was a school there early and they had stopped biting because he left. The tables said major periods early and late with a minor in the middle of the day. After the upper lake fiasco, I returned to the 70 bank with 9 fish and caught another. Today I had a time constraint and planned to leave the lake at 12:00. At 11:45 I left to look at one more place. I casted around for a while an caught a small one on a DT-6. Then I moved out to the dropoff in 10 feet of water and caught a nice one on a DT-10. Another and another, almost every cast. Must have been the minor period. There was one time that I saw one on the depthfinder and said out loud ” I’m right on top of them”. The words were not out of my mouth good and I caught one right at the boat. Two weighed 4 even and most of the rest were between 3 3/4 and 2-13. They quit so I headed in. Caught 21 in all. Good day with good size.