The lake level is 547.33 and has come up about 4-inches in the last 24-hours. They have slowed generation way down. The White River at Newport is 23.49 so I do not expect much generation until it recedes. This raise of 1.5 feet+ in the last several days has not hurt anything. It is 10:AM and it has not started raining yet. We have been able to get in several hours of fishing everyday and the rain has come slow with most of it sinking in. The creek behind my house has not run yet but others coming into the lake are just a bit. It depends on where on the lake you are. Some guests trolling live bait and unbrellas caught a few white bass and some small hybrids but it was hit or miss. Mostly miss. They go out for two days and catch nothing and then finally go across a school of shad where the fish are feeding and catch a few. They trolled a long ways to find those. There is no change in pattern and the stripers are still scarce. They are not lost but are next to the main river channel in deep water and are not feeding. The only way you can catch them is to drop a spoon right on their head and get a reaction strike. Reports of a top water bite are very permature. You cannot go out one day and write a report worth anything. This will start happening on a regular basis April 15th but will happen sporatically next month with Panther Creek being one of the first places this will happen. March can be good or bad fishing depending on the cold fronts and high pressure. It does not matter to me as I kill very few fish and just like to be out there. Spoon those brush piles as deep as you can find on the main lake for bass and shallower ones for crappie until the spawn. You can go to the large creeks like Diamond Bay and Big creek and find some fish in 45-50 feet of water. Spoon or grub on the bottom with a few bass hitting on the drop. It is different in my area than further south, but both places are producing fish but require different techniques. Get out there and get off the sofa.
