Thread: Ross Barnett this week..........

Hit The Rez for a few days this week. I fished shiners, hand tied jigs, and a long Baby Shad with a paddle tail. Not sure the name. The water was fairly still till Thursday morning, it was moving a bit then. I did my best fishing dark colors but caught a few on Blue Ice. Shiners didn't do much, shorts and Catfish mostly so after the first day I didn't buy anymore. Caught a few on hand tied jigs too but the Baby Shad bait did the best by far. I figured the vegetation would have come back but not much. The continued spraying of herbicides is really hurting the areas I fish. Maybe destroying. The Horseshoe was barren. Worst than last year. Each year for the last 3 years I've observed a decline in vegetation and fish. All the Tullies that used to grow on the shallow flats is gone. We used to vertical jig thru it catching tons of Slabs, I assume by how it concentrated the fish it was a preferred spawning area. Now mud bottoms everywhere. I caught very good Slabs Thursday in the moving waters at choke points but can't say it is a pattern. I fish the same waters for 3 consecutive days to catching the majority of big fish on the last day. Still a great getaway, looking forward on the future trips. A couple of guys in their mid 70's were pre-fishing for a bass tournament tomorrow and were not having much luck. They stopped and we chewed the fat a bit about Ross Barnett's decline and one offered that back in the 70's it was nicknamed the Dead Sea. If anyone remembers why it was named that I would sure like to know.



A buddy I share fillets with likes to Almondine big Slab fillets so I took the cooler picture very early. Thursday's Slab bite was good enough I had to go buy Ice by lunch time. Also by 11am the wind was blowing so bad you could not make a controlled presentation anymore, a huge storm was approaching too so I toss in the towel for some BBQ and a nap.

The geographic acreage I fish is between Hwy 43 Bridge and the VFW. In that area for the last 3 years Airboats have been very aggressively spraying herbicides. That is the only reason there are no crappie fish concentrations. 4 or more years ago you would see Spider rigging boats 3-4 around the S-Curves, 12-15 in Welfare Hole over thru to the 43 Bridge, another 12-15 boat following the channel to the mouth of the Pearl River and across the several lakes in the open water too. Also at each and every point up to the VFW. Last week 6-7 boats total. Rez Management should be proud of the revenue loss they have caused since collateral damage has caused issues like Tommy's Trading Post selling out.