Knowing it was going to get extremely hot Friday and hoping to get through fishing before noon, Mickey and I went to Lake X and started fishing at 5:35, first cast. A whopper Plopper was the bait last time we fished there so that is what we started with. Lake was slick, just perfect, but there was no interest. We graduated down the bait chain, Crazy shads, worms, Carolinas, red eye shads and finally Mickey had one on with a red eye shad but the bait had ticked a brush pile , which probably prompted the strike. The fish dove back into the brush, got hung up and pulled off. Then we fished for hours without even a bite mostly with worms and Carolinas. Those fish usually will at least bite, they may be up in a tree top and hang you up, but they will bite. Finally, around 10 we caught a 3 3/4 that bit a worm with the electrifying tap, just like they are supposed to. There was hope that things were going to change but the did not. The best thing about the day was the nice breeze that kept us from heatstroke. We know that lake is full of fish. Sometimes they just don’t bite.

EDIT: It turns out it was a bad day all over. Hal went to a beaver pond where he usually catches 25+ and caught 2 or 3. A man told me about how he was feeding his catfish and they wouldn’t even eat. All on Friday.

Since it was forecast to be 102 for a high today, Jackson and I decided to go fishing early and quit before the heat became unbearable. Also factored into the equation was there was a major period that was supposed to start at 6:53. At 5:45 we were in the lake at the place where the fish were chasing shad the last time we were there. Again they were chasing shad and hitting on top in the lily pads. There were missed bites but Jackson caught 2 right off the bat on a hollow body frog. The pads there were not conducive to fishing a Ribbit and it was not working so I hurriedly put on a Booyah Pad Crasher Jr. Soon one hit it and upon hookset the fight was on, but not for long because the line broke. It was a relatively small fish but the line had not been retied, my bad. Jackson gave me a frog but the best I could do was to get one to hit at it and knock it up on to a pad. Next I tried a swim jig and was able to catch some relatively small fish. The bites shut down fairly quickly so we tried some other places but with no luck. In that lake there are acres and acres of lily pads, an many were blooming. In one place where we had the wind blowing toward us and from the blooming pads we could smell their fragrance. It is in general a lovely spot. At about 10 we returned to the starting point because we knew the bass were still there and we were determined to make them bite. They did not comply except for one that came up and kissed the bait and might as well have kissed us goodbye because we promptly left. Ended up with 5 bass at 11:00 before the heat.

Mickey and I went to the waterfront at around 2:30 yesterday afternoon. There were no double axle trailers to be seen which was a bad omen. As we launched, we talked to a guy that had caught “6 or 8” that morning on a spinnerbait just walking the waterfront. Probably some of the 234 fish from the tournament on the weekend that were released there. We went North where the smooth water was and there was also a wake boat there seeking the smooth water. We fished our spots but caught only 1 bass. Probably didn’t fish deep enough. First time on Ferguson in a while but poor results.

Mickey and I started fishing at 6:30, he with the crazy shad and me with a whopper plopper. One immediately hit the plopper and took it into a top. The next one came to the boat but when it got there, I knew better, I reached down and grabbed its jaw and when I did it shook and stuck the plopper hook through the skin and almost back out of my left index finger. Mickey came and unhooked the fish but I had to deal with unhooking me. I grabbed the hook with the pliers, took my left thumb and gently pushed the hook out . The barb was doing its job but the hook could be gently pushed out without too much pain. It bled a good bit but with a paper towel and a band aide it soon stopped both bleeding and hurting and did not get in the way of the rest of the trip. After that, I threw parallel to the bank and saw a wake rise up behind the plopper. I stopped it and a 6 1/2 loaded on. The top water bite subsided and it was worm time but it was not like usual with the bass deep in the tops. Most were along the bank. Out in the middle the Carolina rigs came out and we had it going on for a while. A 6 1/4 came from that along with some others. A little after noon the Carolina bite went away so we packed it in. 14 total bass and two catfish caught on a Carolina rig.