I was planning to fish some with a Whopper Plopper this morning so an early start was a must. When I arrived at the ramp at 6 a.m., the wind was blowing 9 MPH from the SSW which would not be good for the place I had planned. A rematch with the airballers was what I wanted but the wind saved them. Another place looked really good and was shielded from the wind. The water was 3 feet deep over a wide area and the bass should have been cruising . The gar were cruising instead and one quickly pounced on the WP. It was one of those that just goes berserk when they are hooked, often getting the line in their teeth and ending up swimming off with your bait.  When in Scotland, I saw some short 8 inch pieces of antler with a string lanyard for sale that were labeled “fly priest”. Not knowing what they were used for, I Googled them when I came home. They are used to knock a fish in the head when you are going to keep one. Little did I know that I had been using one for years in the form of a cut off hoe handle. In my boat it might be known as a gar priest. The gar with my WP in his mouth got blessed good fashioned. I got out of there quickly and went out into the deeper water as the 70 spot was close by. On about the fourth cast this happened on a 5XD.

A twofer. The next cast brought another one in the boat. I was sure that I was about to rack them up. The next cast hit something solid and I set the hook but it was a stump. I tried all my “gitter” wizardry but had to leave the 5XD on the stump. Need less to say that spot was messed up for a short while so I moved on catching nothing. Shortly I returned and caught  a couple more with a worm. Further down the bank I caught a few more scattered  fish. The number had increased to 13 and I went prospecting with no luck other than hanging 2 on a crankbait on successive casts only to have them get off after a couple of seconds. A little one finally volunteered but that was all in that spot so I returned to the starting point throwing a DT-10.  One scarfed the 10 and was hooked in a difficult spot for me to remove the hook. The grabber that I have would not fit in its mouth because the bait was in the way. I gingerly slipped my finger in its mouth to lift it into the boat. Some bass have more teeth than others and I believe this one was first cousin to a barracuda. Of course when I latched down the fish shook and  roughed up my finger enough to draw blood.

I ended up with a Mickey and Harley Lake Ferguson limit, as of late, of 15 bass. Probably caught that many stripes too. The FOD was 3-15 and there were two other 3 pounders.