Bartletts Ferry Fishing Report – July 2007

Bartletts Ferry: Level: Full pool. Temp: 80 to 85 degrees. Clarity: A little color.

Bass: Fair, said Dennis Hudson whose Tuesday night tournament from Long Bridge in Halawakee Creek has been averaging 30 boats. The grass bite was on about the middle of June, and Dennis won the June 12 tournament pitching a Texas-rigged junebug Senko with a 1/8-oz. weight into shallow grass in 2 feet of water. “They’re not big fish, but there are plenty of them,” he said. He caught eight keepers that evening. The best five weighed 8.9 pounds. Fishermen have also been doing well throwing unweighted Trick Worms into the grass. However, because of high winds that matted and disbursed the grass prior to the Tuesday, June 19 tournament, the grass bite was not on that evening. Dennis said he doesn’t know, but the bite may be over. Though he couldn’t say for certain, Dennis was pretty sure the winners of the June 19 tournament were upriver in the shoals throwing buzzbaits for the evening topwater bite. They brought in a three-fish bag that weighed 8.12 pounds. Typically fishermen who brave the shoals win about half the summer tournaments, but June 19 was the first time the pattern has produced a winning bag this year. When the grass bite ends, Dennis will turn to pitching treetops along the banks upriver where the lake becomes river run. The treetops are typically in 8 to 12 feet of water, and the fish hold from the surface down to the bottom. A Texas-rigged worm or a jig ’n pig are good bets. Dennis likes to throw a black/blue or green-pumpkin, 7/16-oz. Stan Sloan Rattlin Booza Bug with a Zoom Big Salty Chunk.

Crappie: Good. The night bite is steady according to Robert “Smitty” Smith. He has been filling a cooler anchoring on points in about 30 feet of water and dropping lights. He said to look for points that drop off into deeper water, down to the 50-foot depths. The fish are also holding on channel ledges and deep brush in 15 to 30 feet of water.