Rob and Brad Grevengoed with some of today's catch. They are good fishermen. 
The lake level is 566.98 and has risen 5-inches in the last 24-hours. We did get a little rain this afternoon but not very much. It is pretty much cool and miserable. They started generating a little more and the level has been the same for a couple of hours. The lake overall is in pretty good condition but the people here are tired of the cold temperatures and cloudy and dreary skies. Fishing is hanging in there and several fish are being caught. There is no brown water and not very much debris but some is blowing with the wind direction changes which is from the northeast now. It is to warm up nicely by the weekend but bringing more rain with it. May 15th is when the most severe rules go into effect for the dam management and they try to keep the White River at Newport at 12-feet unless the area lakes are at 70% full and they only increase to 14-feet and we have not seen that since last fall so do not expect any level drop anytime soon and probably just a steady increase. What you see is what you get and probably more unless we go into a drought. Blackburns can handle high water pretty well and better than most and have dock access no matter how high it gets. The people most affected are day users and weekenders where launching and parking are reduced and campgrounds and swim beaches are nearly gone. We are fine here now and nobody knows what tomorrow will bring but we will handle it here with very few diminished services, if any, and just some inconvenience. Hold and hope. That is what the government plan is that has only worked about one year in the last several and there are several people that still think there are not any alternatives. There are and they need to be explored. We have just become used to how government runs things and do not expect much and do not get much. We have a beautiful lake here and are better off than many places. I sure hope they do not hold and hope too long and have to open flood gates and flood out the farmers downstream again when this could have all been avoided. We are not there yet and can only hope for the best. Blackburns big pool is open.
