The water situation for us is getting to be really bad. None coming down the rivers and none falling from the sky is putting us in as bad a shape as we have ever been.

I did drive down to the dam today and the island above the bridge in Chattahoochee is even bigger than it was the last time I had enough gas to get that far from home.

On down to Blountstown it didn’t get any better. Some guy in the sporting goods store was saying that the depth of the river measured there was 0.07 feet. It would take an unlucky individual to even drown in water of that depth. Farther down the Gulf acts as sort of a dam and holds the water back and makes it less dangerous to boaters and fishermen. But as it is holding it back the saltwater encroaches and makes the freshwater less fresh and more salty. Then you will catch saltwater fish farther up the river than you would most times. This happens not only in the Gulf but also in the rivers on the east coast of Georgia. When we start catching speckled trout below the dam it might be past getting bad.

The afternoon and evening thunderstorms have not been prevalent in southwest Georgia. The only good thing about this situation is that the rains will come one day and the longer it goes without rain, the closer we get to the time that the rains will come. As hot as it has been we could get some bad weather with the rains. This really hot weather can lead to high winds, heavy rains and hail. When the hail goes to bouncing around you had best get under some cover because pieces of ice can soften your noggin, which won’t be good for future brain power analysis.

Afternoon temperatures getting over 100 degrees can suck the juice from most anything and water will be evaporating at a high rate regardless of the size of the body of water. It will also suck the juice out of you and could cause you to dehydrate and as hot as it is right now it wouldn’t take long for something like that to happen. A lot could happen and the end result of some of the things would be the end. So be careful as we don’t want the end to come like that and surely not anytime soon.

It might be a good idea to stay in the air-conditioning on up during the day for a while, at least until this heat breaks. We have been in the 100-degree area for most of this week and the days when the temperature was not over 100 it was just under 100 and may stay that way for a while. We have not been fishing during the last few days as it has been just too hot to take. When you have your ticker worked on the heat can get to you fairly easily. At my age the heat may be able to get to me even if the ticker had not been worked on.

One of the ways I used to like to fish was with a frog or rat over the top of the matted grassbeds. July and August have been excellent months for this fishing. The hotter the better folks would say. Carry that towel to dip in the water and hang around your neck to help keep you cool. Fish will stay under the grass mats because it can be up to about 15 degrees cooler under the grass than the areas in the open out from the grass bed. Just cast that plastic frog or rat onto the grass mat. Twitch it along and if there is a bass under the mat chances are he or she will come through the mat of grass and attack your frog or rat. You can snatch it away from him very easily as it will take a second or two for the fish to get the bait. Give it about a count of three before you really set the hook so that the fish will have the bait in its mouth.

If you can set the hook while he is on the top of the grass mat and keep him on or near the surface you can get him on into the boat. If you let him go back down, most likely you will have to go to him through the grass and then dig around the grass looking for him. Use a stiff rod and some big line. You will need both along with a strong reel.