I had a slow afternoon fishing BlackJack Ranch on the 7th.  The bite was very slow and it took me 90 minutes to get my first bite, an exception to my usual experience at BlackJack.  I ended up with 8 with the largest being 4 1/2 lbs. and the average being 2 lbs..  When the "light and variable" winds died, so did the already slow bite.  All but one of the bass were taken from the pier area on lipless crankbaits.   The lake was full from the recent rains with no gap between the bottom of the pier and the water.  Within the last month, the spillway has been redone.  The spillway at the end of the dam has been partially filled and was not active.  A new drainage pipe has been installed in the middle of the dam and the bottom of this pipe now controls the maximum water level for the lake.  The low-lights of the day were cow encounters.  On the way in, I was slowly traversing a muddy section of the road when the herd decided that I had food and 30 cows surrounded my SUV.  There was a 10 minute standoff before I could get #14 to quit leaning against the hood and let me SLOWLY inch forward through the rest of the herd.  I was rescued by the arrival of an oil field service truck that drew their attention. When I started the vehicle to move locations near the end of the day, the cows started galloping toward me.  I stopped on the other side of the lake and managed 4 casts before deciding to leave before another cow love-fest. Oh well, just part of fishing ranch ponds.