Lake Ferguson was at 17.7 feet this morning when I launched at 6:30. There were already a good many boats in the lake and more were coming each minute. There is going to be a big crappie tournament Saturday I found out. I had top water fishing on my mind again.  When I stopped at a, new to me, sunken barge that was just sticking out of the water, I felt pretty good but the boats started coming two by two. About the time the waves subsided two more came. Although I did catch one on a cripple killer, it was obvious that top water was not going to work.  Where we have been catching most of the fish seemed the obvious place to go.  I only caught two there.

 More roseate spoonbills today. It’s funny how they like to line up down a log

For some reason today the gar were horrendous. There were two or three that I had to put the gar priest on and two more of gargantuan size. One of the big ones finally came up and did the crazy gar dance next to the boat and slung the DT 10 back at me. When I say big I am talking 5 feet long. The next big one did not spit it out and was firmly hooked in the corner of his mouth. There was no way I could get this one close enough for a gar priest lick. I got out my boat hook, AKA “gitter”, and when the gar came cruising by, I deftly took the hook part of the boat hook and snatched the DT 10’s hooks out of the gar’s mouth. It was time to move so I went to a spot nearby that I have caught a few fish in but never loaded the boat. There were small fish chasing minnows in some shallow water and I thought there may be some big ones close by. Sure enough a DT 6 rooted a couple out as did a Yozuri. The fish were chasing shad and were not getting the whole bait in their mouths. I lost 8 on the jump. The hooks were not dull, I checked. The hookups with a worm were better than the DT 6. When the fish left the shallows, I turned and cast to the deep water in the 15 foot range. Three straight fish on three casts and then nothing. I had to hunt up and down the bank and in and out to find them. When they were found you could catch 3 or 4 before they would disappear again. Even with all the waves, I ended up at 2:30 with 35 and a 4 -14 FOD.