Crappie good using minnows  

Stripers are deep using umbrella rigs and deep cranks and live shad

Largemouth Bass good using topwater baits 

White Bass good at night under a light 

August 9, 2004

We are back - we apologize for the scheduling problems and no report last week. It certainly has been a strange summer with cold fronts pushing down from Canada in July and again this last week. Night time temperatures have been in the 60's with 70's and low 80's during the day, pretty nice for this time of year. Lake temperature has dropped a few degrees and is around 83 this week throughout most of the lake.

Water clarity is also strange this year. Normally we have 18 to 24 feet of visibility during the summer but this year we only have 12 feet of visibility with a greenish stain. Lake level is at 656.49, two feet above normal pool. Generation has dropped off some so maybe we will hold pool level throughout the summer. 

Crappie remain slow during the day- light hours. They are located around brush piles close to a drop off. Best baits continue to be the crappie minnows and crappie tubes. The bluff walls are holding crappie around the standing trees. Floating lights and fishing crappie minnows are working well at night.

Largemouth bass are moving out of deep water overnight and feeding in the back of the creeks, coves and pockets in the mornings. Buzzbaits, Pop R's and Zara Spooks are triggering the feeders. After the sun is up on the water move out to the secondary points with Spider Jigs and Carolina rigs for the later bite. 

Smallmouth bass are out in the thermocline, which is around 35 feet deep this week. Suspended bass are very difficult to catch so your best bet is to key in on smallies that have moved up onto points or flats to feed. Fish a Spider Jig or tube bait very slowly across the bottom and keep your boat in 38+ feet of water.

Kentucky bass are also down in the thermocline swimming with the shad. Finding these Kentuckys takes a little graphing time checking points and the middle of the pockets in the creeks and off the main lake. 50 feet of water seems to be the depth for the football Kentuckys at this time. Best baits are vertically fishing a spoon or finesse bait on a drop shot rig. The shad are on the move and so are the Kentuckys so when you find them in one spot they probably won't be there tomorrow.

Walleye are scattered above and below the thermocline off points and over some of the flooded forests. The range is from about 30 feet of deep to 55 feet deep all over the lake. A number of techniques are working well. Vertically spooning is starting to turn on, trolling with lead core line is working well with Glass Shad Raps, Reef Runners and Bill Norman's DD14's and pulling bottom bouncers with crawler harnesses (red or copper blades) in 30+ feet of water. The best bite is early in the morning and one hour before dark.

NIGHT TIME UPDATE: The bass bite is so-so up until midnight, then the feed is on. Points, brush piles and channel swing ends are holding most of the bass. Best baits are pig and jigs, brush hogs and black neon worms. Baits with rattles in them are catching most of the fish.

Trout fishing on the White River has been good on Power Bait in yellow and orange, Power Wigglers, Gulp Earthworms, and Belgian red worms. Buoyant Spoons, Mepps and Rooster Tails have been working when the generation is on. The fly fishermen have done well on olive Woolly Buggers, peach egg pattern, scuds, sow bugs and San Juan worms. Browns are being caught on Floating Original Rapalas, Countdowns, Rebel Floating Minnows and nightcrawlers.

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Visibility and clarity continues improving and is approximately 10-15 inches on the main lake or the Little River. Little River's clarity continues
improving daily. The upriver oxbows such as McGuire, Horseshoe, Mud Lake, Clear Lake etc, still have much better water clarity estimated approximately 4-7 feet
visibility in places. Current in Little River is non-existent this week, with the discharge at the dam currently at only 170 CFS. Most of the floating
debris in Little River has settled out, and continues improving daily. Use extreme caution while running the river in low light conditions!

Largemouth bass, 3 to 8 pounds, are good on 5 inch Bass Assassin Shads in alewife and gizzard shad colors or Rat-L-Traps in smokey joe, watermelon-red and
grasshopper colors. Bagley crankbaits in river craw or bream colors are catching keeper bass along points of feeding creeks and grass lines in Little
River. Soft plastic Rats, Scum Frogs, and Zoom horney toads in green pumpkin/pearl or black colors, are taking decent bass in the lily pads, coontail moss and
hydrilla. Another 7.75 pound Largemouth was caught Saturday in the edge of Little River on the horney toad. A 10 pound bass was caught and released the 2
weeks before on the Bass Assassin in the edge of grass and pads along Little River.

Hogg Assassins and baby Brush Hogs in tequila sunrise/green fleck, or redbug are catching decent size bass on stumps and scattered grass cover in the edges
of the river. Fatbutt Gitzits in black/blue tail or pumpkinseed/chartreuse tail, and 10-12 inch power worms in blue fleck, red shad or black are still
catching good 3-4 pound bass up river.

Carolina rig lizards in watermelon/red/chart tail are catching solid bass in Little River on points of feeder creeks and white jigs are catching keeper
size fish.

Channel Cats are good on cut baits, chicken livers, and cheese baits in the river channel, on trot lines. 3-7 pound Blues continue biting well on cheese
baits, shiners, and liver on yoyos underneath cypress trees set at 9-10 feet depths, in the last week.

White bass are still trying to school up, hitting small rooster tails in chrome/red, small Rat-L-Traps in chrome/black or Cordell Crazy Shads topwater, in
chrome/black back, in Horseshoe Lake or Mud Lake oxbows. The schooling activities are random and most occurring after 3-4pm.

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