All caught yesterday with many being released under the dock and in Tom Kelly's trophy pond. 
The lake level is 556.20 and has dropped 3-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours with 1-1/2 generators running continuously. The White River at Newport is now back to the stupid level of 12-feet so the level should continue to drop quickly until it approaches 553.75 where the C.O.E. are reluctant to turn over some control to the power company. It will then just drop very slowly. We have had no rain for a week. On this date in 2019 it was 555.21, in 2018 552.33, 2017 552.68 which shows why the lake gets high in the summer. They just will not drop it and nobody can figure out why. If they would drop it to the high 540's this winter and not stop generating every time it rains, it would surely go a long ways towards keeping the level below 560. That is where the trouble with access starts. This could be easily accompilshed while not having the White River go above 22-feet which is below minor flood stage. Nobody is avocating flooding out anybody down stream. People say the dam was only put in for flood control and the lakes have to take what is given to them but that was debunked when the minimum flow for the put and take trout in the river was implemented and took away 1.75 feet of flood capacity. I am pretty sure this law was to help the economy for the rivers. When water is let out of the dams, there is flow. When no water is let out of the dams they dry up. They are plastic rivers anyway except for the Buffalo which is free flowing. That is what happens when dams are built. They enacted a law which provided for flow to the rivers all year no matter how low the lakes get so why can they not do the same for the area lakes and do everything possible to not flood them out without flooding down stream. This could be done but not with the current rules of operation. Hold and hope is not the answer. We need to move into the 21st century. It was a beautiful day yesterday. Sunny and warm but clouded up a little in the late afternoon. The wind was light and variable and the surface water temperature was about 56 degrees and the lake is clearing nicely. There was a little color on the wind blown banks but you could see your lure down several feet on the rocky banks. The small amount of twigs and bark that was floating has stuck to the banks now with the latest level drop and fishing conditions could not be better. Everyone caught fish around here yesterday and several of them too. Some were very large. It was a perfect day for fishing. Crappie, bass, walleye and bluegill continue to be the best bite with very few temperate bass being caught and most of the ones caught are small. I was using a small jig and a spoon yesterday and caught fish all afternoon until I came in at sunset and was fishing Blackburns Brush piles. Blackburns still had cabins for $59/day with your first boat stall free. Can't beat that anywhere. Why pay more unless you just have too much money or do not have to work for it?
