Things have changed somewhat so I thought a revised fishing report was due. My readers really appreciate the reports. The lake level is back to summer pool and the water temps fell somewhat from 82 down to 77 on the north end. We were going through a bad algae bloom making it impossible to use your forward facing sonar and the fishing slowed way down for the bigger fish at least.

With the rains and wind this has broken up the algae bloom. The bait is everywhere on the surface. I was out yesterday and couldn’t believe how much I saw. There are a lot shallow and this has brought the crappie and white bass with them. For now I am fishing in about 6-8ft. and using my Livescope to pinpoint loads of fish on the base of stumps and standing timber. Still going through about 12-15 dozen minnows a day but I am also using a 1/16oz. grey and pearl hair jig with a little bit of red strands and of course the two strands of tensile for flash. This mimics bait as much as anything I have seen. Andy Roberts makes them for me and his products are in at Chip’s Marine. Tuesday we got three limits in only about two hours. You find the bait shallow then look for cover.

This should hold up for a few weeks then the thermocline bite will be your best bet at catching summer crappie. The algae bloom will sink and settle to the thermocline and the bait will follow. I am not seeing many fish on the deeper trees on the south end yet. But soon will…. The slip bobber drift over deep brush is deadly all summer long.

As for the white bass they are chasing bait balls and only coming up for a few seconds. With the wind it has been hard to see the busts. They don’t seam interested in blade baits, in-line spinners. My spoons will come into play in just two or three weeks. The ledge bite all summer long is a blast. We tie a hair jig above the spoon to catch two at a time. Clients love this and right now the lake is full of big whites and the numbers are really back.

I still have quite a few openings in July for crappie/white bass trips. Go to my Book a Trip section and look at the calendar.

Steve Welch
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