Water temps are bouncing around with the weather. High as 64 low as 56. The lake level is 596.3 and still dropping. They won't change the rule curve for a few more weeks. So the lake is about four-foot low. Be extremely careful south of the RR bridge, The buoyed off island east of the Coalshaft bridge, Point six and Point five. Give all flats a wide berth. Crappie are pulling up and backing off but a lot of the spawn is done or in the works. Females with bulged up bellies I have not seen as of late so [...]

The lake level is 596.81 and they are still allowing fall for a few more weeks. They like to stay at 596 until mid May then allow it to come up to summer pool at 599.97. Water temps have been all over the place. as of today April 20th they were 59 on the north end. They have been as high as 65 and the crappie spawn was in full bore but just like every April the temps bounce all over the place. At about 58 the males will get up on nests and around 62 the females will show [...]

The current lake levels are 598.5 or roughly 2 1/2ft. above winter pool so expect them to pull water as soon as they can. Currently the Mississippi is high so they will hold it for a spell. Water temps are bouncing from 48-51. The first week of April the weather is about like last week but just a bit warmer. 40's at night 60's during the day. The crappie are suspended all over the lake so we are jumping around a lot looking for any in brush and more importantly looking for the correct water color. The best thing about [...]

The lake is about a foot and a half low and water color very clear. Water temps are bouncing around from 51-53. Not much has changed since last report the fish are not bunched up and you need to move often picking up a few here and there and going through a lot of smaller crappie. They are shallow 6-10ft. which makes it fun and we are catching at least 75 a day to get a nice three man limit of 45. I am fishing all over the north end from Bo-Woods over to Wilborn on mostly wood. Cubes have [...]

The lake is about a foot and a half under normal summer pool and very clear due to little rain. Water temps have fallen to 55 in the morning on the north end. Warming as the day goes on. All signs of turnover appear to be done. Expect the crappie to continue to move shallow over these next few weeks. I am currently fishing anything in ten-foot of water from Bo-Woods over to Wilborn. Some places even shallower. We are fishing jigs both tight lining them and under a slip bobber. My 3/32oz. Deep Ledge Jigs and a Brushpile Hammer [...]

My white bass rods are soon leaving the boat since the falling water temps. will have my deep whites moving so for me that means concentrate on the crappie for the rest of the year. As of this writing water temps have fallen from 81 down to below 70 and this will trigger some of the best crappie fishing of the year. We need it to get below 60 then the crappie will move back shallow and the big white crappie on the north end will be vulnerable. Mid October on through all of November is my favorite time to [...]

Not much has changed since my last report. I am still splitting my trips half crappie, half white bass but not for long. Fall has to come before long and that will cool the water temps. Once they get to about 60 the lake will turn-over and my deep white bass will be gone. For now I am vertically fishing on points that drop off from 20ft.to nearly 40ft. so mid lake to south end. The trick is to identify what whites look like on your electronics. Several have reached out to me and not doing well. I tell them [...]

September is a month of transition for many species. The crappie are moving back into shallower areas as are a lot of game fish. Coves with feeder creeks are your first option. The cooler water coming in the back is the attraction for baitfish, gamefish will follow. This happens when the water temps get into that mid 60 range as of now it is 78 but it won't be for long. The bait for the most part has already left the main lake and finding the larger crappie is a full time job. Small crappie are so plentiful it is [...]

The lake is right at summer pool and very clear. Water temps have fallen somewhat to 77 after seeing them as high as 84 during all that heat. The bait has started to move from out on the main lake to back into the coves. Those with small creeks in the back will be the first to get shallow crappie, large mouth and white bass. These next three to four weeks will have fish moving. No longer see me setting out on a river channel bank on a big down tree. Just small fish are all that is left. Right [...]