Tom Kelly caught and released some nice ones yesterday with a plastic worm. He is one good fisherman. 
The lake level is 572.23 and has risen 1.2 inches in the last 24-hours with about 10-hours of running one generator. All area lakes are now rising with the White River at Newport at 19.03 feet. They changed the crest dates for both Norfork and Bull Shoals to 29May. The 4-lake sustem is 65% full or so they say. After today there is not much chance of rain for several days and it is to warm back up to the high 80's later this weekend and the weather looks to be perfect for the holiday. It is raining now but not much. The surface water temperature was 72-degrees yesterday afternoon when I went out and the water remains clear on the main lake and stained in the creeks. Fishing has slowed some overall but some nice fish of most species are being caught everyday. The north wind has moved the plankton and shad around from the south facing creeks and has made the morning top-water bite a little harder. It is back to the south now and a couple of days of southerly winds will put them back to where they were. The bite usually slows going into june anyway as the thermocline deepens and the water warms. This will get spooning season going full speed but the cold fronts just keep coming and the water has been slow to warm and stay there. Catfishing and bluegill fishing are the best now followed by largemouth bass and crappie. Crappie numbers have gone down a bit as they are scattered with all of the cover and the water in the trees and man-made brush piles mostly too deep. The level is perfect for limb lines and the catfish are biting and big bluegill are also. I am catching a few walleye but not a lot. The first day of the holiday they will be dragging everyting they can hook up to and the second day they will fill up with gas and you will see boats tied together with music blaring back in the creeks and around BIg E. I have never seen gas prices this high. I cannot afford to run my weedeater let alone my lawnmower. It is a good thing Blackburns Creek has a lot of fish and I do not have to go far.
