The lake level is 565.08 and has dropped 3-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours with generation about 2/3rds the time. The same amount of generation is dropping the lake faster now as the level gets lower. It needs to drop about 5-1/2 feet to get most places back to a near normal as far as facilities are concerned. It will take a lot of work to get the campgrounds and swim beaches back into shape even when they are out of the water. They have just been submerged for too long. Cranfield, Bidwell and Panther Bay are the best beaches in the area with the best facilities when the water level is normal but just dropping the level does not make that happen. It takes a lot of work for the clean up and restoring the electricity and they are not in a hurry to do that especially after the summer season is over and school has started. Most of the time in the last several years they just let the level go back up in the spring anyway. Walleye, bass and bluegill fishing remains the best with a few catfish, hybrid stripers and small stripers being caught. There is a lot of competition for your lure with bait fish being everywhere. Creek minnows, bass and bluegill fry and shad are in high numbers. Nothing is going hungry. I started putting some brush piles in at lower depths the last few years with the new policy of holding the water level up so high and they are paying off now with some of them at about 30-ft which is perfect and at or near the thermocline where a lot of fish are located. Spoons, Bobbly Garland jigs and live minnows on a slip float are all working. Dragging diving crank baits and live bait around is catching some fish but you have to go a long ways to catch much and some days nothing. Overall fishing is fair and the lake is in good condition with a surface water temperature of 85 degrees. Some big bass are part way back in the creeks near the shore on baitfish in the evening. Morning bite at about 6:AM is the best.
