I fished Friday afternoon with Matt at Black Hat.  It was a little breezy and cloudy early, but wind settled later, and the sun warmed it up some, to about 70 degrees.  I didn't check water temp, but the fish were cold, so I'm guessing in the upper 50's. The water was up 1-2 feet, and spilling over the over-flow pipe.  Murky from the rain, but not much worse than my previous two trips here.

I hit the key bank points and brush piles with straight-tailed worms and crankbaits for bass or crappie. In two hours, I had three bass to 2-lbs, and finally one decent crappie.  Matt made it, and we circled the lake, catching a few small bass, and missing a few larger ones.  The bass were biting short, and good hook sets didn't mean they go to the boat.

The crappie finally turned on near one of the brush piles across the lake from the dock, and we brought home 8, up to 15-inches.  One I cleaned had a large shad in it's gut, which accounts for the success with a small crankbait.

Otherwise, there was a fair amount of rifle shooting going on around the lake, close enought to make us uncomfortable, but no shots zinged overhead.  Also, we saw what we thought at first was a nutria, but it was an otter!  First one I've ever seen in the wild.  It checked us out, and went about it's otter business.

Tight lines, and Happy Holidays to All!  I have three boxes from Tackle Warehouse under the tree that I ordered myself, so I'm getting exactly what I hoped for!  Whoo hoo!

Jim