The dock was busy yesterday. They assured me that there were not any wanted posters out on them but I am not so sure. Fun at Blackburns. 
The lake level is 554.31 and has dropped 3/4 inch in the last 24-hours with both generators running about 1/2 the time. The White River at Newport is 13-1/2 feet. After the crowd left the dock yesterday and the presents were opened I went out fishing. It was warm with an ambient temperature in the low 70's and the wind was gusty from the southeast and hard to stay in one place with the swirling wind. The surface water was 56 degrees and the lake is clearing a little everyday. The wind is to hang around for a couple more days with a cold front coming in and then getting windy again. Wind lovers are very happy but are not out there in it. I did not see any other boats but the fish were biting especially the big crappie. I used both the slip float with a live minnow and a twister tail grub tipped with a minnow. I could not keep the spoon straight up and down. Bass and bluegill were also biting. Again it was steady for about an hour and then the big crappie started biting at about 4:PM fast and then quit at 5:PM just when it started to get dark. I kept my limit of five very large crappie and came in. The wind did slow a little then but is back at it now. Bink reports catching several white bass and hybrids right on the bottom in 60-ft. of water on his spoon with some of the white bass being good sized. Several fishermen are coming in tomorrow and we will se how they do. I am getting reports of several small stripers in the 5-8 pound range being caught but have not talked to any of them personally. It seems to be a war of the guides to see who can erradicate the stripers first. They are getting smaller and smaller. I have not caught a walleye in almost a week but am not targeting them as the big crappie are my favorite when the walleye are scarce. A couple of good walleye fishermen are coming in and we will see. Every warm day that goes by is one day closer to spring. The days are getting longer but not so much as you can notice it but at least we are headed in the right direction. The moon is getting smaller.
