Illinois Bass caught fishing with Bink's Guide service yesterday. That is a big one.
The lake level is now 557.15 and has dropped a little over one inch in the last 24-hours with one generator running continuously. They have got the White River ar Newport down to 14-feet now and are not letting much out. Let the hold and hope begin. We are to get more rain tomorrow afternoon and significantly more on Friday night before the next front leaves. We can expect a lake rise but it is pretty dry and we can take some but not a lot and they will surely quit generating when the rain begins like they always do. They like to magnify the effects. The lake surface water temperature has dropped below 60 again with the cold nights but we can expect it to start rising again early next week with ambient temperatures to get into the mid and high 70's with lows in the 50's. A lot of fish are wanting to spawn bad and many male crappie and bass are on the banks making nests. I have not seen any schools of fry that have been hatched. The best bait right now is a creature bait, either a crawdad or 3-inch worm on a jig head thrown into the buckbrush. Some are using paddle tail grubs. I am using a twister tail tipped with a live minnow. It is a beautiful day today with a high in the early 60's and sunny. It is to cloud up this afternoon. The lake in general is in good condition and the clarity is just right for fishing. Things are on hold just a bit now with the fishing needing a little warmer water for the top water bite and spawn to get in full swing. It got down to 33 degrees in town last night and several degrees colder down here in the valley near water level but it was not quite a record. The normal high is 72 and low 47 and it will be good to get back to that. People are catching fish everyday though.
