Our first holiday has passed and I think this was the first Memorial Day I can remember that we didn't have some kind of weather event. It was a perfect weekend with lots of folks around. My feelings are that things went well with social distancing and all the other regulations we have going now. A big thank you to everyone for that.
Even with all the rain we have been having the lake is in good shape and the fish have been cooperating fairly well. The water temp is running a little cool for this time of the year but that just prolonged the spawn a little longer. The water clarity clears up a little more every day and is really looking good. I fished a couple areas this week that it was clear, not used to that this year. The COE has been dumping water about every day and at this rate we should be close to normal by mid June with no more big rain storms. The good thing is that with the current flow going through the dam it should keep the fish active for a while.
LAKE LEVEL: 709.01
WATER TEMP: 71 deg.
WATER CLARITY: Clear to stained.
CRAPPIE: Believe it or not there are still a few fish on the banks. Now granted not all fish spawn at the same time but it just seems this year they are going longer than normal and with the lake holding like it is it looks like a good one. There were lots of crappie brought in last week from about every pattern you can think of. The brush piles seemed to be the best in 15' to 20' of water with minnows. Piles closer to the points were the best. The bluff banks in 25' of water fished with minnows down 15' were also good. I even heard of some fish coming off the bridge pillars out of 25' of water on minnows.
BASS: The bass fishing is as good as I've seen it in a good while. Both large mouth and Kentucky's are hitting now. Lots of fish are up on the banks spawning. Beavers, baby brush hogs and lizards are working in 2' to 4' of water on 45 deg transition banks. Square billed crank baits are also working. Pockets in the creeks seem the best. The top water bite is also good using buzz baits and Zara spooks. Lay downs in the backs of the creeks have been producing some good fish.
WHITES & HYBRIDS: There are lots of white bass coming in along with a few good hybrids. Jigging spoons on the humps in 15' to 20' of water was the best for whites and trolling deep diving crank baits for the hybrids was a good producer. These were the first good hybrids I have heard of on the lake this season. The KK Island and the Fairfield area were a couple of the hot spots.
CATFISH: The cat fishing is very good now. Jugs, rod and reel and trot lines are all good. There were several fish over the slot brought in this last weekend. Cut bait on the flats in 15' of water seemed to be one of the better bets. I ran some lines on the flats on the insides of the main lake points with small perch and did well on blues.I set the lines in 15' to 17' with the best producing bats at about 10'. The wind was as such that I couldn't get a flat head line in this week.
WALLEYE: Good news we did see a good number of walleye come in this week. It seems the road bed on KK started. Trolling flicker shad was the ticket foe catching nice walleye. The early morning bit and the evening bite were the best. With the water temp at 71 deg the humps on the south end of the island should also get going.
After last weekend we are starting to book up on stalls for the 4th of July weekend so if you need one you can contact us at Osage Bluff Marina 660-438-2939 or for rooms at Osage Bluff Motel 660-438- 2891. That's it for this week.
Till next week
Tommy
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