The lake is six-feet low so be very careful. Up on the north end swing very wide of all flats. 100ft. from shore is still not far enough. There are stumps right under the surface as well. Do Not put in at Eagle then head south. Go out to the buoys get in the channel then go north or south. We pull boats off the flat in front of the golf course every year.

Water temps are running 45-50 and on sunny days the bait has moved up on wood in the 6-10ft. range on banks with full sun and little wind. The sun really warms the water. Sometimes ten degrees in a single day.

Two very different patterns exist on the lake right now.

1. Up on the north end above the RR bridge in the Okaw arm and east and west of the Bo-Woods boat ramp area. Large bays that warm quickly due to the stained water have tons of fish suspended and not necessarily on wood but very close. The fish on the wood are glued to it and hard to get to bite. Forward Facing Sonar is used to sneak up on these suspended fish and then use a long 14-16ft. rod and put a jig right on their nose. Since the water is very stained use a bright jig such as chartreuse or pink.

2. Mid-lake from the Eagle boat ramp all the way down to the Ninth St. ramp use banks and mouths of coves that have a river channel sweeping by it. Either standing timber or down trees right now might have a hundred fish on each one. We are swimming a 1/4oz. sinker above a 1/32oz. hair jig right above the fish and catching an absolute ton of fish. These trees are in 20-30 plus feet of water. Problem is numbers means sorting through a lot of small fish. We move often and you will find areas that have a better size. Still a bunch of fun getting a hundred plus a day.

I am leaving for Kentucky Lake March 20th so my fishing report will resume when I get back April 17th.

Steve Welch
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