Water temps are running 67-71 and the lake is currently 601.99. Summer pool is 599.7. So roughly two-feet high and falling.
This has made crappie fishing extremely tough. Everyone is complaining on how early the spawn was and now they can’t find any fish. Water temps have been past 70 a couple of times and the crappie will spawn at 62 so 90% of the spawn is done. This along with high water spread the fish out everywhere. Now just leave them alone to re-coop from the spawn and in a few weeks they will be on main lake brush just like every summer.

I am pulling spinners like I do every year during post-spawn. They just catch everything that swims. I am trying to catch walleye/sauger but a bunch of white bass just get in the way as do crappie. We have been averaging about 75 white bass a day and several crappie. I have been getting about 6-10 sauger a day no walleye thus far.

I use a 1 1/2oz. Bottom bouncer on a line counter reel. We are running about 24ft. of line out to target edges in about 14ft. Coming out of 27ft. or more. Go up and down the ledge. I tie my own spinner rigs about 15-18in. long with 20lb. Fluorocarbon line. I use number 2 and 3 Colorado blades made by Northland in chrome and blue, firetiger, pink and white, chartreuse and gold and a few other colors. They are single hook and we tip them with a minnow.

Everyone loves this style of fishing, the whites about break your arm they hit so hard and the sauger do as well. I have seen sauger this year pushing four pounds and plenty of 18-22in. fish.

I take plenty of kids now that school is out and it is a circus watching them fight these fish in. Crappie fishermen forget just how fun it is to catch a fish with a ton of fight in it. Every day we are tying into huge Drum Perch in the 5-10lb and big Channel Cats pushing ten or more. Like I said everything that swims loves a spinner rig.

So until the crappie return to their summer homes this is me trolling spinner rigs!!!!!

Steve Welch
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