Tom Kelly with some of yesterday's catch. He will be wearing more than a T-shirt tomorrow. 
The lake level is 553.51 and has risen over one inch in the last 24-hours with no generation since last evening and one generator running before then. The White River at Newport is 9.9 feet and dropping and there is no effort to lower the lake for the winter and we are in the New Year. So much for letting the government run anything. We have received over 2-inches of rain in the last 24-hours and it is still raining and the creeks are starting to run. It was in the low 70's yesterday and there was no wind until about 4:30 when it picked up. Everyone here was out fishing until dark and caught several fish including bass, crappie, white bass, bluegill, catfish and walleye. There is a cold front coming after the rain and then clearing off and turning very cold with lows in the high teens. After that the highs will be about normal, which is 44, for a couple of days and then warm up a little. Tomorrow will be the coldest day and barely get above freezing. Just keep the snow, ice and wind away and we will be fine. The lake overall is in excellent condition, at a good level, and fishing is fair with several fish being caught everyday except not high numbers. I do not care about high numbers anyway. Those are for meat hunters. Catch a few, keep a few and release a few for the future. Bass fishing is improving especially in the evening on shadowy banks just before dark on drop-offs in about 10-ft. of water on the grub on the bottom. There are also some big crappie there. The surface water temperature was over 57-degrees and the lake had cleared a bit from the day before but I do not know what to expect today after the rain but will find out. I can fish in Blackburns creek and dodge the showers. It is a good fishing creek anyway but gets fished heavily. We will see what this cold front does to the fishing tomorrow and I will get my electric gear out and be ready. After the new year we are heading in the right direction and the days are getting longer. The new moon is tomorrow and most fish except stripers and bluegill like that. I am advising my customers to wait until the middle of next week to come fish depending on how long this coming high pressure lasts. I will be out there until my eyelets freeze and ice gets in to the reel drag. Eyelets meaning on both the front of my head and on my fishing rod. And rod meaning what my reel hooks on to.
