We will rejoice and be glad in it are the words from from a hymn that were most appropriate for Saturday at the private hole. Mickey and I started fishing around 7.  It was cool for this time of year and the humidity was much lower than normal. A wonderful day to be fishing even though you could hear the shotguns popping at the doves on the first day of the season. Three species of doves have been coming to our bird feeder, Eurasian Collared Doves, Whitewing Doves and our regular Mourning Doves. After feeding them and enjoying having them around, I’m not so mad at them anymore.

We started with topwater baits. When casting to a downed tree, Mickey went an inch or two too far and the rear hook of his crazy shad became stuck on a small limb. He tried to shake it off even as we trolled over to  free it. At the last minute the bait became free and popped two feet into the air and immediately as it hit the water a two pounder blasted it right next to the boat. It was better than coffee for waking you up. It was quickly evident that the topwaters were not going to get the job done so we had to change. First to a DT-6 and then to a worm. In one spot we caught a few small bass on a worm and then a 3 to 4 foot alligator appeared from out of the middle of a large ironwood bush. He was interested in the splashing that the fish made when they fought. After a while, Mickey caught a Goo on a worm and had it hooked deep. It did not survive the ordeal and floated. When we saw that, Mickey picked it up and threw it over to the gator. The fish still had a bit of life in it and the first time it twitched, the gator scarfed it up and headed back under the bush to dine. As the morning progressed the bite picked up and things became a bit more heated. By now the bait was a DT-6 or 10 or even a 5XD. The wind had positioned the fish in one spot, where although scattered in all depths, they were relatively concentrated. They were cooperative and willing to bite pretty much all day. The fish that would have been the FOD (between 4 and 5) made a big clean acrobatic jump and threw the worm, so we had to settle for a 3-5 for the FOD. We caught 68 and ended up with 34 fish each. Truly a wonderful day fishing.