It took two tries to get there. The first ended in this.

I noticed the boat had a lean to it and started to slow down but then heard the roar when the tire disintegrated. Had a jack and blocks so no problem changing but did not like the looks of my spare. Was half way there so a U turn and back home and then to the tire store for two new tires. Better be safe than sorry. The next day, Thursday, all went well. Got a nip on the second cast and several more but after getting optimistic when reality set in I figured they were bream because I caught one. I did chase the skunk off relatively early but no more until just after noon. I had become dejected thinking I had overcome all the problems the day before just to get there and have a water haul, so took a ride. Wolf Lake is long and I rode almost to the other end, turned around and was coming back when I passed some trees where I used to catch some fish. There were 5 trees and one yielded a small bass. Enthused, I figured that would give me about 300 yards to catch another or I would be homeward bound. Caught another in about 150 yards with a 1/4 ounce Booyah. Another 300 yards and another small bass. That continued until I caught 7 missing only one bite. They were all small and shallow, some in just a foot of water. Even though the fish were small I felt like I had pulled the fat out of the fire. When looking for the tire picture I ran across the following picture taken September 15, 2006 at Enid. Hal and I caught those bass on the “old fart” point at the same time.

Hal caught this 4 1/2 by the first visible stump that we fished using a Berkley Slobbernocker. The water around the stump was probably 4 feet deep. It was one of the few stumps visible. We had already caught a couple of small ones around some brush in shallow water and blind casting where there were a limb sticking up here and there. After this we went to the ” Longbranch stump” that Hal had marked on his GPS map. It was under the water but it was found exactly with a DT-6 and then probed with plastic where a 5 came out and later a 5 inch bass came out on a DT-6. Two 5’s, the largest and the smallest of the day in the same spot. From there we fished a couple of great looking spots, one being a large bush and the other a large top with plenty of limbs but nothing at either. From there we went to where some rocks cut down into the water and continued out to about 7 feet deep. There were some underwater brush piles also. We were using plastic as well as DT-6’s and the Slobbernocker. We caught a couple on DT-6’s and I started using a worm. When I had gotten through the good spot, I quickly reeled it in and just as it came out of the water a 4 pounder just blasted it right at my feet almost. It must have stunned me a little, because I didn’t snatch the bait out of the fish’s mouth. Due to the delay, when I did set the hook I had a live 4 pounder on with about 4 feet of line out. It was a rodeo going on at the back of the boat for a couple of minutes. A little later I thought my DT-6 was on the rocks and when it became apparent that it was actually a fish, I set the hook. The biggest fish of the day then came up and the hook came out. We guessed 5 +. We tried several other spots to no avail and only caught one more small one. We quit around 3:00 with 11 fish. The water is falling about .18 foot per day . The lake needs to fall a little more so more of the stumps will be visible. The visibility was about a foot and a half and the water temp is in the low 80’s.

In the middle of having the worst fishing year in some time, I decided to try something new to maybe shake me out of the slump. This new bait arrangement might help perhaps.

I saw these in the store and they caught my eye so why not catch the fish’s eye also. The Eagle Claw’s weedless hook was an important addition as it turned out. The Garhole was low and had not been visited recently as seen by the lack of tracks on the landing. There was a reason for that as I would find out later. The water was beautiful with about 2 foot visibility and 83 degree temperature. On the third cast at the first treetop there was a bite but it was a gar and on the next one a gar follow up. Finally a bass grabbed it and was caught, small however. The weedless hook allowed a throw into the middle of a top without getting hung. It worked a lot better than I thought it would. The bait worked well when fish were present but the only ones I could find were deep in the tops and were small. I fished deep too with it and extensively around the 5 pound log where the depth is around 16 feet. Deepest water I could find was 23.5 feet. I even fished in the middle with a jerk bait but no bass only a magnum gar about 5 feet long. When it got close enough to the boat it got the paddle treatment and gave my bait back. Only 3 fish for the day not including a 3 pound catfish with the bubblegum worm. The Garhole seems to have gone bad just like Lake Ferguson but no tournaments on the Garhole.