The cream of the crop of the Central College, Pella, Iowa Alumni is here and are leaving today. Nice guys. They caught some nice fish.
The lake level is 554.67 and has dropped 1-3/4 inches in the last 24-hours with both generators running continuously. They shut the spillway gates yesterday afternoon and it slowed the drop but the White River at Newport is still 22.86 so they are still letting a lot of water out of the area lakes trying to get back to the power pools. We are at a good level now and are fortunate to be there. Bink reports the back of Big Creek is brownish and that the top-water bite has began on warm mornings and gone on cold ones. It is smart to keep a top water lure handy now at all times because fish of several species are coming up sporatically. Many are small bass but there are some big ones too. Crappie stripers and walleye are with them. I had a 58 degree water temperature on the main lake yesterday and we are getting there. A lot of bass and some crappie are still pre-spawn feeding. There is another cold front coming and then warmer weather for the weekend. The cold fronts are not as cold and the warm weather after is warmer but it is to get back down to freezing for a low later this week. This is normal and that is why I say the top-water bite is normally in full swing by april15th and the best place to start is in Panther Creek on sunny mornings at sunrise. I see the guy who dresses like Johnny Cash from Kansas is back on Blackburns Brush piles again. He camps on them. He loves to have his picture taken and we have to go through that again day after day. Need some new material. I thought he went away but no luck. There is a possession limit. The water is still stained a little off-colored mix between light brown and green due to the heavy generation and middle of the river channel current but it is not hurting anything and is clearing as it goes south. There is some brown water in Pigeon Creek and north of Cranfield Island. That is about as far as I go. The creeks are clearing faster than the main lake and some of them are very clear. Blackburns still has two cabins open so come on down and join the fun. We will not charge you too much and your first boat stall is free. One bedroom cabins are $59/day. Why pay more unless you just have too much money. If so give the difference to the disabled Vets.