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 that means they have pulled up and dumped a lot of their eggs. The crappie fishing is still red hot and we have been limiting out every day as have many others.

Everything works when it is like this but we have been fishing a slip bobber and minnow for a couple weeks now. These fish are starving. The Gizzard Shad have not spawned and last years hatch is far too big for a crappie to eat. They feed on microscopic bugs which isn’t that filling. Every year once we get that consistent water temps to stay above 58 I always switch to minnows.

We start at the leading edge of a spawning area and let the slip bobber drift across it. Fun to watch four corks go down at once. We have also been using a lot of the Shelbyville Cubes. They are finally in that right depth. I sidescan them and if I see fish on the bottom making it look like a pyramid rather than a square box it is on. That means there are fish all over it. Really has helped that they now bunch up several tightly to attract more fish.

I am tossing a 1/8oz. weight tied above a Brushpile Jigs 1/32oz. jig and a Brushpile plastic in White and Chartreuse, Monkeymilk and Chartreuse, Wyatt’s Blue Magic or Peppercorn. Swimming it across beds very deadly if you just want to feel that thump.

Once we start to get shad spawns at about 68-70 the walleye fishing will really pick up. We also need some more water to get the stumps up on the flats more active. We have been using my spotlock and throwing 1/4oz. Big Dude blade baits in absolutely no water. Big wind is a plus and a walleye boat with a longer trolling motor shaft. Once I start I will totally switch over to pulling bouncers and spinners as well as casting the balde baits. The plan is to start the 15th.

Steve Welch
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