The lake level is 555.50 and has dropped 3/4 inch in the last 24-hours with generation about 2/3rds the time. They quit generating all night and then started again today and have quit again now. The White River level at Newport is 23.52 so they are letting out as much water as they can without causing any problems downstream. Cold, windy and miserable is the weather and it struggled to get to 40 today. There is still a mud line in the middle of the river channel due to the generation but it is not bad and dropping out as it goes south. That last slug of water after the 4-inch+ rain has mostly gone but if they quit generating the level still rises. There is still some run-off from saturated hillsides. The surface water temperature is not going anywhere today and tonight with a heavy freeze. The creeks have cooled down more than the main lake again and both are just past the mid 50's These cold fronts have been coming through for a couple of months at least once a week and are still coming. It looks like we will get some storms next week with warm weather. This north wind will push the bait fish back into the north facing creeks and I do not expect much of a top-water bite tomorrow morning. People dragging live bait are catching some stripers but they are small. They just keep killing those fish in the 5-8 pond range and cutting their own throats. It is hard to convince anybody but pilgrims that those fish are big so they just keep using longer poles with lighter tackle. People bragging about many big bass and catching 20+ pounds a day are going to have to prove themselves tomorrow for the Cystic tournament and there will be a lot of good fishermen out there but excuses abound. That is why I do not make predictions and wish everybody well. It is for a good cause. Maybe the wind will lay down for them. I will go out in the later afternoon after the boats are gone and it warms up.
