James Soltysiak with a flathead off the dock.
The children went fishing off the dock after the Easter Egg hunt. 
The lake level is 558.07 and has risen 1-inch in the last 24-hours with both generators running about 7-hours. The White River at Newport is 20.44 feet and is still dropping. We are to get more rain tomorrow night and thursday. The surface water temperature is 57 degrees in Blackburns Creek and the color has not changed much. It is clearing near the shore. People catching crappie report that Pigeon Creek is clearing and is about the same color as the water around here which is not bad. Catfish are in Blackburns Creek and that means crappie are spawning somewhere. This weekend the ambient temperature is to get near 80 for a few days and that should get the top-water bite in high gear finally. They just do not want to come up on these cold mornings. There was frost this morning and the cold fronts just keep coming every week. This might do it but do not count on it. I never plant my garden until after May1st and check things out before I do it then. It gets colder here in this valley near the lake than in higher areas. We have a long growing season anyway. It will warm up and then people will be complaining about the heat. Fishing overall is just fair but I expect it to get better in a few warm days. Trollers are catching crappie in the creeks just outside of the buckbrush but there is not much skill to it. Just drag a few small crankbaits that go down a few feet around the creek shores until you catch one. Some are doing the same thing with Alabama Rigs but they snag if you get too shallow or go too slow. Others are dragging umbrella rigs or multi live bait rigs through schools of shad in open water and catching some small stripers. Bass fishermen are beating the banks with several different things. Worms, gitzits, grubs, stick biats, jigs and crankbaits are all catching some fish and Spitin Image and Zara Spooks when they see surfacing fish. At least the wind went down a bit today and the sun is shining. That will change tomorrow. Catfishing is getting better. Blackburns Prices are the best.
