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.

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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.

Awesome job and report and pics. Thanks for sharing

Very nice! Thanks for sharing

So in my research this morning I found a picture taken on Ross Barnett of the Tullies that are now gone due to herbicide spraying.

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I bet they did hold the fish. They can take over and choke out a body of water which is prolly why the eradication. Still great places to fish but not with light tackle.

I have researched this most of the morning and here are a few links concerning the spray program. Seems it started in 2011, active complaints by 2013, the main concentration is right where I fish. Larger boats can safely fish the open Rez but smaller vessels can be caught by the speed the Rez blows up with a cloud. I found very few anglers happy with the spraying except Bass anglers who fished previous accessible premium flooded areas. Anglers who have fond memories of the good fishing in the areas many, many, years ago. I am not finding many who say the fishing has returned, only access to the areas.

Herbicide spraying at the reservoir

Why Ross Barnett Reservoir’s old bass-fishing holes are producing again

Ross Barnett Spraying Program

I coached / lived in Florence 1990- 1995 . To me Barnett was the easiest lake to fish except for Okatibbee (sp ? )S-curve , Oil well woods , Iron lake, Welfare hole were all you needed to know for eaters . Pelahatchie Bay up by the golf coarse was good as well .

Just in the last 3 years a dramatic change to the fishing has happened. Welfare Hole for example is improperly named today. You can't buy a Crappie in it right now. I side scanned it last week and it is barren. No bait either.

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Originally Posted by rojoguio

Just in the last 3 years a dramatic change to the fishing has happened. Welfare Hole for example is improperly named today. You can't buy a Crappie in it right now. I side scanned it last week and it is barren. No bait either.

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Wonder why? Nobody wants to admit it but Grenada isn’t what it used to be either


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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.

I've also noticed some oddities this year--some of it weather; some of it could be management. Because of work and project delays, I managed to get out of office early several times in March and April and caught the wind just right to have at leas a few decent afternoons. It was weird having quite a few bites Friday evening and then get nothing Saturday morning.