Mickey and I went to the Garhole early Friday morning so there would be a chance of some topwater fishing. We started fishing somewhere close to 7:00, one side or the other. Mickey started off with his famous crazy shad and I started off with a DT-6. He commenced to put on a topwater demonstration. I caught a few on the DT-6 and all the fish were relatively small but willing to bite. The 5 pound log came up and I believe Mickey was unhooking a fish so I gave it a couple of casts with the DT-6 but nothing. When he finished with the unhooking job the shad went to the log next and look what came out.

A six pound head but a 4 -11 on the scales. A lot of the fish we caught were skinny, not all, but some. That makes me believe that something is wrong with the Garhole. There seems to be plenty of bream for them to eat, saw them everywhere. I didn’t see many shad “flicking” on the surface, there may be some around but they were not evident. The bites continued until about noon and we gave it another hour before we quit. 20 bass was the final tally.

Mickey and I started fishing on Lake X at 7:15 this morning and at first it looked like I was wrong for wanting to go early because we fished a good way before the first bite. I missed a fish on a worm because I had forgotten to set my drag. I usually loosen them when I put them up and this is not the first time I have forgotten. It was foggy and still so of course the crazy shad came out and it was not too long until the master came out with a fish, a 6 3/4 pound bass. Soon there after a 4-15 came on the shad. The fish were right up on the bank. The fog moved in more until you could not see across the lake but the fish seemed to love the darkness. The worm caught some between the tops and the bank. We then went to a secret spot and fished with a Carolina rig where Mickey caught this 8-2, his all time best.

As the sun began to win the battle with the fog the bite slowed down somewhat but we still found a fish here and there. We ended up with 11 fish four 2 pounders which we took home and are awaiting the skillet. The fish from Lake X seem to be especially tasty. Along with the aforementioned fish we also caught a 7-1, 6-4, 5-0, and 4-0.

Jackson and I went to Bussey break early Monday morning. He assured me that he knew where the fish were. When we pull up and some bushes and some lily pads sure enough the bass were hitting a shed. They were up in the bushes. Almost impossible to get to. It appeared to be a shed spawn going on because the shed were nipping around the edges of a lily pads and nipping in the bushes. The bass were only hitting in the middle of the bushes. Jackson taught one on a spinnerbait right by the boat and we had no other bites there. We left there and went to a shallow spot that had some small cypress trees among other bushes but nothing will shallow. We left the very shallow water and eased out into the lake where Jackson caught one out in the open and had another bite. After a while we left there and went over to the spot where Jackson caught the 11 lb and fish there for a long time with no luck. About 1:00. We called it a day and Jackson had caught two fish, probably two and a half to three pounds.

Mickey and I started fishing about 8:00. A minor period was to be between 8:30 and 930 that we hoped to get in on but it looked like we just caught the end of it. We caught 3 fish in the first few minutes and just knew we were going to load the boat but just when you get that feeling that’s when things tend to drop off and today was no exception. The fish were out in the middle and would bite a Carolina rig but it didn’t last too long. We had to resort to fishing in the middle of the tops with a worm which brings on hangups and missed fish. The wind was moderate which is great because the lake is in the wide open and there is nothing to break the wind. There was also a major period starting around 3, but I always say they actually start 2 hours ahead of time. As morning turned to noon the wind subsided even more and we found the fish were just out from the tops that are along the bank and would bite. About 1:00 this one bit a worm out from one of the tops.

9-0 . We caught more when we almost went around the bank again. Things were trailing off so we decided to head in around 3:00. We ended up with 14 fish, 7 under 16 inches and 7 over. The overs went back and the unders came home for supper tomorrow night.

My intention this morning was to go to Lake Jackson and fish the north end with a ribbit frog. I had been to Lake Jackson a little over a week ago to check it out. This morning the vegetation had grown since I looked and it was too thick for me to fish effectively. I left, came back home and dropped the boat off. I gathered up a different set of rods and the battery for the garhole boat and set sail for the garhole. I stopped at the house to pick up the boat with the Jeep and headed down to the gar hole. It took a good while to put the rack on the bank and get the winch situated. Fishing started around 11:00. Fishing was nothing to write home about as I caught a grinner, a big carp, a crappie and a gar along with three bass. I stopped fishing at 3:00 because nothing was really going on . The water was very clear with a 2 and 1/2 ft visibility. It was up a little bit because the river came up enough to run in just a bit. On to another lake.