Bartletts Ferry Fishing Report November 2007

Bartletts Ferry: Level: Full pool. Temp: 80 degrees. Clarity: Clear.
Bass: Good. Dennis Hudson said people are catching a lot of fish during his Tuesday night tournaments, but the majority of them have been small. “They’ve been catching 20 or 40 fish around boat docks in the Halawaka Creek area,” Dennis said. Shaky-head worms and small jigs have been the bait of choice for these boat-dock fish. Green pumpkin is always a good go-to color on Bartletts. Another pattern that has been working recently for Dennis is up the river around the Langdale boat ramp, just south of the shoals. He won one of his recent tournaments fishing a green-pumpkin, Texas-rigged Zoom Ultra Vibe worm on the river banks. There is a ton of wood structure up the river, and the water can get moving pretty quickly, creating eddies behind blowdowns in 3 to 10 feet of water. November is typically a good month on Bartletts Ferry, and the fishing should pick up as water temperatures drop. “Hopefully, as it cools off, the fish will move back in the pockets and get on those boat docks,” he said. Also try crankbaits on the river points. Dennis prefers a Norman Deep Little N for fishing the points. The best colors are white with a green back or pearl with a blue back.
Crappie: Slow. “Transition is the word right now,” said Robert “Smitty” Smith. “The lake is turning over and the bite is slow but as the water temps get down in the low 70s and 60s the bite will get better. Look for those shad to run upstream and the crappie and hybrids will be behind them. I have been wearing them out trolling blue/silver and green/orange jigs in Ossnippa creek. I start about a mile upstream of the bridge and work my way out. When I catch a few in a spot I double back,” Smitty said.