Caught fishing with Bink's Guide service yesterday.
The lake level is 553.08 and has risen just a bit since yesterday at this time with about 8-hours of generation. The White River at Newport is now at 17-feet and still dropping. They are cutting generation on all area lakes and they are all rising for no reason. It looks like a good chance of rain for the next three days but nothing severe and it should not rain out the whole day. It could make for some good fishing but the march wind will blow as the fronts move in and out. Blackburns has several good fishermen in so you do not have to see the same fishermen's picture day after day after day. The first day of spring is today but expect another cold front with very cool weather after these rains. Highs will go from the 70's back to the 50's. Our normal high is 61. The lake surface water temperature is 52 on the main lake. March is not nearly over yet. Some caught good fish yesterday and some did not but it was better than the day before. The moon is waning now and expect the night striper bit to get smaller with it and be over in a few more days. Our guests caught several the last couple of nights and caught a few walleye in the evenings before dark. Umbrella trollers are also catching some on the same banks during the day but deeper in about 30-feet replacing some of the artificial plastics with live bait and trolling through shad. Not much skill to it but effective. If you drag enough umbrellas or Alabama rigs through enough shad you will catch fish. That is one reason why most of the big stripers are gone. Some days it looks like opening of walleye season in Minnesota with all of the boats chugging around. We will pay for it in the future but those fish must be killed at all costs but it is the only way that some people know how to catch fish. Bass are pre-spawn feeding now and several are being caught back in the creeks on the bank. I am not seeing very many crawdads yet but the creek minnows are plentiful and some bass are moving off the shad and feeding on them. Crankbaits are working pretty good especially on windy days which we have not had any shortages of lately. Some crappie are still on main lake brush but not many. Several males are back in the creeks staging and ready to make nests and some of the larger females are ready. It will be in full swing by early april and continue through mid may which is about the same for the top-water bite for bass and temperate bass. May is the best overall month for a combination of weather and fishing with about all species biting. Many crappie and walleye will be back on mainlake brush in 15-20 feet of water in May and catfish will be back in the creeks. Blackburns does not go on it's summer rates until Labor Day and they are still lower than some places' winter rates so come on down. The cabins are now all open and are ready for your visit and your first boat stall is free unless you bring the Queen Mary and I have to move out one of my pontoon boats of which we have 12 to rent. Our dock has different size boat stalls to fit most boats and not one size fits all and they have walkways on both sides with electrical outlets. There is an infra-red security system so the meth-heads looking for free gas better go someplace else. We especially welcome Veterans and Police also. That does not hurt anything. I did not vote to defund them.