Double tagged bass worth $100 was caught fishing with Bink's Guide Service yesterday.
The lake level is 554.87 and has risen 3-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours. They shut down generation all night during the rain and just started back up again a couple of hours ago. That way the lake can raise as much as possible. The White River at Newport is 16-1/2 feet and could have been at that level all winter causing the lake level to drop into the 540's but they refused to do so again. There were severe storm warnings and tornado watches out but we were fortunate to miss them. It did happen west and east of us though. We received 2.2 inches of rain last night and when I dumped my rain gauge at 6:30 this morning the creek was running pretty fast but not too bad. There is some brown water in the very back of the creek where it goes into the lake. It has slowed down a lot already and this round is over with the winter storm coming tomorrow and continuing through thursday with more rain and some significant ice and freezing rain likely. This is the one that I have been concerned about for a week. With so many trees around any ice over 1/2 inch causes us a lot of problems. The power company is much more prepared now than back in 2009 which was devastating. This one looks like we are right in the bullseye. The surface water temperature was 47 degrees yesterday afternoon and the wind went down in the evening. Fishing got better as the weekend progressed and needed to. The crappie finally started biting again as did a few nice walleye although not in high numbers but some nice fish. Bass were the only species that remained biting during the high pressure. The cold front is here now and the temperature has dropped about 25-degrees since the high in the 60's early this morning. It is not going to be decent out until about sunday when it warms back up a bit. We just need to get through the next two and 1/2 days. It is a good time for indoor projects. I am going out now to check things out before it gets too cold. A week from today it is march and it is hard to believe already. We will be ready here at Blackburns and will not raise the price on you for as long as we can hold off. Boat oil goes up $2 a gallon everytime I buy some and tires and batteries are worse. When will it end?
