The lake level is 553.48 and has not changed very much in a couple of weeks with little generation and they are holding the White River at 7+ feet and it is almost dried up and the area lakes are being held as high as they can for as long as they can so there will be high water again this spring and summer. The surface temperature was 54 again when I went out with Bink's yesterday. You could see your lure down about 5-feet. The lake clarity is about the same whether you are near Blackburns or in Big Creek. We were checking out different places and different methods of fishing. We went to a steep bank part way back in a creek near deep water used the grub for bass and caught a few and then tried spooning brush anywhere from 17-40 feet of water and caught more bass. It slowed and we went to open water fishing in about 35-40 feet of water and found some scattered fish but no big schools. Sometimes they were near the bottom and sometimes 25-feet down. We did not want to fish deep water and kill any caught fish. We caught two stripers, two white bass and a hybrid in about one hour. One fish was a striper on one side and a hybrid on the other. I have not seen very many of those. We released all fish all day immediately after catching and did not get any picture fish. It was a beautiful day with a high near 60 and variable winds from about 5-10. Pretty good for near the end of December. The shortest day of the year is now over and we are headed in the right direction. After January 1st. spring is on the way. We talked to some people trolling for stripers and they said they had been fishing for three days and had caught one fish over 20-inches and one hybrid. I still have not caught a walleye for over two weeks. That was really what we were looking for except for when bass fishing. I will try for some crappie today. It is to cool Christmas day and then warm again. I am not catching a lot of fish in brush like I was earlier and the fish sometimes bite on a spoon and sometimes not but that is not new news. It happens this time every year. The water temperature needs to drop about 3-4 degrees to really get the winter bass going well. They are only fair now but bass are the best bite on the lake presently.
