The lake level is 560.65 and has dropped 6-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours with one generator running continuously and spillway gates open to an equivalent of 2-1/3 more generators. The bowl is getting smaller and the water is dropping faster with the same amount of discharge. The White River at Newport is 24.19 ft. and has been very stable for quite some time. The surface water temperature was 58-degrees yesterday afternoon and the water is trying to clear and is a lighter brown color in Blackburns Area. We missed the storm again yesterday and got no rain or severe weather. It mostly went north of us into Missouri with mostly hail and wind. There is another very concerning cold front moving in on Thursday and we will see what that brings.The cold fronts and rapidly dropping water are not helping fishing any but at least the moon is small. The flathead fishing has slowed for a bit but the walleye bite is getting good. The lake has dropped 5-feet since it's high of 565.5 earlier this month. Bass are on the beds and crappie are in the middle of their spawn. The Black Crappie spawn first and then the White Ones. The Black nosed ones are a hybrid. The quickly dropping water will not affect the crappie spawn as much as the black bass. Once the eggs are fertilized it only lakes from 2-5 days to hatch and the males guards them for several more until they take off on their own. After hatch they can move with the dropping water. It is always best to have a stable water level during spawn for all varieties of fish. I keep very few if any fish during the spring spawn. Some of us have to release them or the meat hunters would clean all of the fish out. It does not make me very happy to see huge amounts of dead fish any time of year whether it is legal or not. When people say they released all of the fish I find it hard to believe or why would they keep large numbers of them for a picture and not release then as they are being caught. A striper with it's mouth open is usually dead. Come on down to Blackburns and We will not charge you too much. One bedroom cabins are still $59/day.
