Mike Eakle caught and released some nice ones yesterday.
The lake level is 557.09 and has risen 1.3 inches in the last 24-hours and continues it's steady rise. They shut down the spillway gates and are now not letting anything out. The White River at Newport is 12.37 feet and they are regulating to 12-feet. There is no effort to drop anything anywhere. The surface water temperature remains at 76-degrees and has been fairly steady. The creeks try to clear and then stain back up again with the wind direction but are clear near the shore. The main lake has been about the same for a couple of weeks and you can see your lure down 6-7 feet. The carp are spawning hard back in Blackburns Creek and they are everywhere. Bluegill have moved to the beds. Walleye have slowed their bite but will move to main lake brush when the thermocline forms and hit spoons. The top-water bite is diminishing but still pretty good on cloudy mornings. Bass are coming up back in the wind-blown creeks in the evening. The stripers are going deeper and the spoon will soon replace the top-water lure as the best bait especially as the water warms. It is to stay fairly cool for the next few days so things will transition slowly. Meat hunters are sure killing a lot of stripers in the 5-8 pound range. You have to release stripers after each catch. People holding up multiple stripers and saying they are released may not be telling the truth. They will not stay alive in a live well especially in warm weather. A 5-lb. striper dresses out at less than 2-pounds after the red meat is cut out. Yes, Blackburns has two fish cleaning stations on the dock and they are needed with so many fish being caught. No waiting in line for a slow fish cleaner here. We also have several different sized boat stalls to fit most any boat. No one size fits all here. Tell Debbie what sized boat you have when making a reservation. A free boat stall comes with your cabin but we do charge for special needs, size or heights. We rent a lot of boats and do not actively promote bringing your own pontoon. We have 11 of them to rent. If they are at a marina we suggest you leave them there. Also tell her if you have a tower boat that requires very tall stalls. If the tower goes down and you can lower the top of a pontoon no problem. We keep about 7-8 pontoons with the tops up ready to rent and have to make special arrangements. Yes we do have the best prices on both cabins and boat rentals in the Ozarks. Come on down. We will not charge you too much.
