The lake Level is 599.62 or .29 under summer pool. Water temps shot all the way up to 86 now have settled in around 82. It has been very hot which has moved the crappie to cubes and deep down trees. The whites are roaming channel banks busting on shad early in the morning. "CRAPPIE" I am fishing some flats early in the morning looking for the last of the shallow crappie mixed in with channel catfish. I am marking off several stumps then moving from one to the other casting a slip bobber and minnow at the area next [...]

Lake level is 600.7 feet above sea level. Normal summer pool is 599.7 so roughly a foot high. Water temps are running 75-77. The north end has a little stain but mid-lake down to the south end clear as can be. "Crappie" The crappie are slowly getting back to their normal summer patterns and the summer bite will get even better once the water temp. hits the 80 mark. This along with gin clear water will have the fish hiding in the nearly 3000 Shelbyville Cubes. For now I am seeing fish up on the north end using them but [...]

The lake level is 600.00. Summer pool is 599.7 so very close. The water temps are running 67-71. The lake is very clear about everywhere. "Crappie" We are concentrating on stumps off flats or Shelbyville Cubes mid-lake to south end. All with a slip bobber and a minnow. Better grab a bunch as we are going through about ten dozen a day. Depth on my slip bobber rig runs from 9-14ft. depending on the cover. I fish this way all summer simply because I have three in the boat most days and we all can fish off the side of [...]

Water levels are coming back up to 600.5 or roughly 1 1/2ft. Water temps have been everywhere from 62-74 the last few days. We need these 46 degree nights to stop. This makes the baitfish inactive and the rest follow. The white bass and walleye won't even bite until noon or better. If you have a few crappie spots left better guard them until the overnight temps stay above 60. "CRAPPIE" Believe it or not there are female crappie just bursting with eggs and males still coal black. For the most part the spawn is done and some crappie just [...]

The lake level is 600.47 and dropping. The normal summer pool is 599.7. The projected forecast is they will slow down the gates this Friday May 16th. This will stop the hard current we have in the lake just totally messing up my Livescope. That and we have a bunch of pollen on the surface. I am taking my transducer out of the water several times a day and cleaning it with a vinegar solution (Hot Sauce). Seams to help. CRAPPIE!!! Water temps are bouncing around from 64-70 and hopefully the 46 degree nights are behind us. With the warm [...]

The lake level is 600.5 just about a half foot over summer pool. The Corp seams to be content leaving it there hopefully no huge rains. These last two weeks I have seen the water temps go from 54 to 72 then back down to about 59-61. Between the fluctuating water and the big cold fronts this has dropped the crappie back to deeper water. Those still clinging onto three-feet spawners are left puzzled. I am and have been through this whole ordeal been fishing ledges 8-18ft. on stumps, cubes and brush. Close access to shallow water from Eagle boat [...]

The lake has come up to 600.54 and currently that is 4ft. over pool so they will be dropping it when they can. Water temps. are 56-60 as of April 27th. The crappie spawn is full on and the males are all darkened up. I am fishing rocks, stumps, anything in the 4-8ft. range on the north end with a 1/8oz. Deep Ledge Jig and a Brushpile plastic in anything with chartreuse and pearl or white. They don't care. The last four days we have boated three limits in less than four hours the fishing is on fire. Haven't been [...]

I went out Friday so I now have a report from my observations. Thought I should revise my fishing report as this lake is changing daily. The lake is currently at 601.17. Summer pool is 599.77 but at this time they want the lake much lower so the rule curve is 594ft. above sea level. So we are 7ft. high. Water temps yesterday was 49 on the north end and 51 on the south. Should be vice versa but the water coming in is cold. The north end is very stained and will warm quickly sometimes 10 degrees in a [...]

With heavy rainfall the lake has risen close to five feet or at one foot above summer pool. Since I have been guiding for over 30 years on this lake this is nothing new to me. When St. Louis the flood control center for the Corp says hold your water then no current gets in the lake and the mud settles up on the extreme north end of both rivers. Just find suitable water color and it exists from just south of the RR bridge or just west of the Coalshaft bridge all the way south so 90% of the [...]