The lake level is 552.94 and dropping a bit with more generation. The lake is starting to clear after getting very green last week. The fish were not in a frenzy or jumping in the boat for me yesterday.( Seldom are except for spring top water) I caught a few but it was tough and I stayed out until dark. It was cloudy and the full moon was covered but it was still slow. I did get some bass on the south facing steep river channels on the main lake but the crappie were very slow on brush. I tried channel swings on the shallow side with no luck at all. The surface temperature is still in the mid 60's. There are lots of shad in the creeks and many of them do not have fish on them and if they do they are small. It is a south wind today and I will try brush out of the wind. Crappie fishing may be slowing but I will keep trying. It may just be me. I do not fish the same places day after day but try new places as a challenge. I consider it a good day to catch 8-10 keeper fish of all varieties for the pond and I stay out 2-4 hours everyday. You cannot go out every week and write an accurate fishing report. It is hard even if you are out there every day. If you put out a half dozen poles with live bait, have a good locator and troll long enough over shad you will catch some fish. That is just not for me. I do use live minnows for crappie (sometimes) but never use more than one pole. I can barely handle that. The fall fishing could start any day as the shad move to the banks at dark and hit stick baits but it is not happening yet. Keep trying north of Cranfield Island and across from Quarry marina. When it starts(if it does) there will be boats on all the good places before dark to hold them until the fish feed later. The old timers know the good spots and there are not a lot of them but you have to beat them there. Go out in the evening with a soft plastic and fish for walleye on shadowy banks before dark and switch to a stick bait at dark. 5-inch suspending. Make sure they track straight. I love being out by myself with no boats in sight and catch fish. Just makes me feel good and there is no drama. I like that. No drama here and the prices are low. Very low. I like that too.
