John Bornhop is still catching some nice ones on Blackburns Brush Piles. We will show you where they are when you get here. 
The lake level is 553.35 and has risen 1/2 inch in the last 24-hours with one generator running for three hours. The White River at Newport is 6.6 feet and dropping indicating not much water is being let out anywhere. When Southwestern Power takes over the generation schedule at 553.75 they basically just shut everything down until it gets back up again and then the Corps Of Engineers gets it back down again. There certainly is no appetite for a winter lake drawdown. I fished with Bink around the dam yesterday morning and we caught White bass and a few stripers near the bottom in 53-feet of water and all were caught on the 3/8th ounce white Bink's Jigging Spoon. He knows where the fish are. All of the fish die when brought up from these depths so you should just fish for what you want to keep and quit. The problem is you do not know what will bite and it is not like you can just release them with out wasting them. Venting does not work. They will go back down but die later. The White Bass that I caught were full of eggs with bloodlines indicating they are about ready to spawn. It is best to just not fish for them this time of year. Going with someone else is the only time I fish for temperate bass anyway and that is only a couple of times a year. I am a walleye, crappie, bass and walleye guy but they are fun to catch. The surface water temperature was 50+ at the dam and 49 in Blackburns Creek. I caught walleye and crappie here and that is more to my liking. They were on brush at 25-ft. The lake clarity is still about the same and you can see your lure down about 5-feet. Blackburns is not on vacation spending your money but spending it on making resort improvements. We are putting in new big picture windows and ceilings in cabins 12 and 14 and making more improvements on the dock. They cost a lot but you will like what you see when you get here. All of this comes with no price increases again next year. I have no need to go elsewhere for vacation as everything I want is right here at Blackburns. We are open all year. Give Debbie a call at 870-492-5115 to make a spring or summer reservation. Blackburns is the first resort to fill up and we do not want you to have to pay much more elsewhere unless you just have too much money. We especially welcome Police and Veterans.
