Bartletts Ferry Fishing Report October 2012

Bartletts Ferry: Level: 1.7 feet below full pool. Temp: 82 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Pretty good. Dennis Hudson said it’s taking 10 to 12 pounds to win his three-hour Tuesday night tournaments out of Idlehour. He plans to switch over to Saturday tournaments this month with the shorter days. “You can pretty much catch a few fish doing anything you want to,” said Dennis. Some of the better sacks are coming from anglers fishing jigs around boat docks, but talk on the lake is of the massive grass mats that have emerged mid-lake. Dennis said he was hoping for a drawdown this year to kill off some of the grass, but he said that has been canceled. “I guess it’s going to change the way we have to fish this lake,” he said. Anglers are catching some fish with hollow-body frogs in the grass mats, and a swim-jig fished around the edges of the mats will also produce. If grass is not your thing, Dennis said fish are starting to chase shad. He’s been catching his fish, a mix of spots and largemouths, with a Red Eye Shad or a finesse worm on a shaky head on rocky main-lake points. Other anglers have been using deeper-diving crankbaits and catching fish as well. Another bite that’s going on is in the backs of the creeks and pockets. Look for a little wood cover, and hit it with a Texas-rigged worm or a creature bait like a Sweet Beaver. Green pumpkin is the color of choice on Bartletts. If you still want to fish at night, there are some fish being caught off dock lights. Start off with a crankbait. If they don’t hit that, go to a Texas rig or a jig. If they don’t hit that, go on to the next dock light.