Fished the last 2 days

[Quillback]

First off, let me say that there have been some animal encounter on the way to the lake.  I think they're after me.

Yesterday morning as I was going through the old part of Pea Ridge, came around a curve and there was a skunk in the middle of the road, but it wasn't dead.  Thought for sure I'd hit it, but was able to slow down enough that it had time to run off the road, but it was close.

Then, as I was on road "E" a few miles from Big M, rounded a curve and there was a buck standing in the other lane, maybe an 8 point but I didn't get a good look because as soon as I saw him, he saw me and jumped right in front of the truck.  He turned and started running down the road in front of me, but I was so close all I could see was his head and I was going faster than he was.  I was braking, but as you all know, you can't stop on a dime when you're towing a boat.  Well he realized he wasn't getting away from me, so he turned sideways and BAM, I hit him.   Fortunately, it didn't knock him down, and last I saw of him he was jumping the fence on the roadside and disappeared into the darkness.

And to top it all off, this was my first day with the truck as I had just got it back from the body shop.  Once I got to the launch, took a look at the front end and there was no damage.  

And then this morning I'm almost at the Big M park entrance and what I think was an owl (all I saw was something large with brown feathers) does a kamikaze dive into my windshield.  WHACK, came out of nowhere and surprised the heck out of me.  

Kind of glad the next few days will be too cold for me to go fishing, I'm getting paranoid.

Fished with Dutch today, we worked hard for some fish, maybe got close to 20 between the two of us, Dutch's worms out fished my jigs, I had 5 out of the 20.  The fish were scattered and on the bank.  Nothing of any size, Dutch might have had a keeper on the first fish he caught, but after that, they were 12-14 inch fish.  Mix of spots, smallmouth and a couple of dink largemouth.

I fished Wednesday by myself, expected to find some deep fish, but it was a barren wasteland in the places I usually find them, so ended up banging the bank with jigs and caught 9 with 2 keeper sized smalls.

The deer are getting stupid, we watched a small buck chase a doe around on the bank,  and saw another one that looked to be a 6 point walking the bank in another spot.  

Weather is going to change, sure will miss these 70-80 degree temps.

 

[Dutch]

I fully enjoyed the day with you.  It was good company and I rarely get to that part of the lake.  I haven’t been there for several years and didn’t remember it being as wide as it is.  Thanks again for a good day on the water.  Had I been by myself instead of with a great guy full of local knowledge I probably wouldn’t have been able to catch anything.

[bferg]

Nice report- as always. I am off work next week and headed over for a few days- first time in a while.  Hopefully I can get there without injuring my truck or any wildlife and the water temperature will be down to get some fished grouped up a bit!

[bfishn]

I've had a few critter days like that, the last one was a drunk deer, a suicidal sparrow hawk, and a kamikaze cat. The fish were just as crazy as the critters that day. I've always associated the two. Deer herds grazing in the military park are a good sign.

[Johnsfolly]

3 hours ago, Quillback said:

The deer are getting stupid, we watched a small buck chase a doe around on the bank,  and saw another one that looked to be a 6 point walking the bank in another spot. 

Glad you and your truck were able to survive the beginning of the gauntlet when love is in the air and deer are on the roads😉

[m&m]

Jeff, sounds like a few typical November days. Once the bird hit my windshield, I’d have connected the dots and went to breakfast because a higher power was showing me signs. 
Mike