SUMMARY

CRAPPIE and BLUEGILL are still hitting well at the 20 foot depth. In stained sections upriver, they can be caught at half that depth, in main channel brush. LARGEMOUTH and SPOTTED BASS continue to hit at 15 to 20-feet, especially for those using minnows. SMALLMOUTH BASS catches are improving. They hit well on the submerged humps and points, near the bottom at 20 to 25-feet deep. Most caught have been below the 18-inch minimum size limit. STRIPED BASS: The Norris Dam to Point 5 vicinity continues to produce fish, but some upstream movement has been seen, with catches increasing near Stardust, Pilot Island and as far upstream as 33 Bridge. Night fishing was best, from the surface to 40-feet for suspended fish. WALLEYE catches were slow. CATFISH were slow.

STRIPED BASS

Good. Surface early a.m. to 50 feet at mid-day. Live shad, alewife or shiners. Six-inch rubber jerkbaits, 1-ounce doll flies with rubber trailers, trolled or tightlined to as deep as 40-feet. Very shallow at dawn; some seen in scattered surface breaks at dawn, on calm mornings. During the daylight, 35 to 50-feet in the channels except in surface concentrations of baitfish where surface breaks are occasionally seen in the mid to late afternoon hours. Live shad/alewife tight lined to 35 or 50-feet in schools of baitfish, or slowly trolled with downriggers. In the early morning breaks, use small jerkbaits, swim baits, or shiners. The vicinity of Points 1 and 2 were good last week, especially at night. Some stripers have moved up the lake, with activity or catches between Points 9 and 19, Pilot Island, Bear Hole Bend, and from the upper end of Island F to 33 Bridge.

LARGEMOUTH & SPOTTED BASS

Moderate, improving. Shallow at the shoreline and to 20-feet. Spinner catches are improving on rocky banks. Otherwise, smaller lures worked best, whether crawfish-pattern crankbaits or soft plastic worms/lizards. Very shallow next to the bank, and as deep as 20-feet, tight to brush in the hollows and near wood structure on the main channel rocky banks and in the creek hollows on shallower sloping rocks. ½-oz spinners, Colorado blades mainly, and small crawfish colored crankbaits are working close to shoreline cover, along banks with large rocks. 6-inch plastic worms and lizards, Baby Brush Hogs, Otters, 3/8-ounce rubber skirted jigs, and Tiny Beavers are doing best when fished with a slow presentation. Green pumpkin, watermelon, red bug, and June bug colors continue to work well. 6-inch green-pumpkin and redbug plastic worms are taking some nice fish on Carolina rigs, or fished with small splitshot, from “right on the bank” and down to 15 to 20 feet, or on Texas rigs on steeper, main channel banks. Concentrate on the rear of the hollows near wood, and off rocky points.

SMALLMOUTH BASS

Moderate, improving. The pattern holds: Mid-lake humps at 15 to 25-feet in late afternoon. 10 to 15-feet on points when the water is being drawn and there’s a cloudy sky, otherwise as deep as 25-feet on the points. Target main channel, clay-bank drop-offs near points at those depths, and where the current can be felt when the lake is being drawn. Mid-lake humps at 20 to 25 feet where baitfish can be seen, bottom-jigged with Pixie spoons or small Hopkins-type spoons, as well as ¼ ounce black-on-black hair jigs are producing some smallmouth. 3/8-1/2-ounce rubber skirted jigs with small rubber trailers, in watermelon or pumpkin shades. June bug, Red bug, green pumpkin or equivalent color slider worms (or equivalent in 4-inch size) on Shaky Head jigs, on the long points as deep as 25 feet. For live bait fishermen: Large shiners fished with a split shot, but no float, allowing the bait to drift deep along main channel rocks. Some days have seen smallmouth actively feeding on the surface, especially when it’s calm and tiny baitfish are schooling near the surface. Many smallmouth from 15 to 1 inches were caught over the past week, at 15 to 25 feet, near the bottom.

CRAPPIE

Moderate and improving in the main channel brush and submerged timber. 20-feet deep in brush, close to the bottom on clear days. Shallower in early morning or in stained water Tightline or drift lures into deep, main channel brush on the bottom and into shoreline brush on steep banks. On high barometer days, slowly troll or drift tube jigs or hair jigs tipped with minnows along the bottom, near brush. Drop popeye flies or small tube jigs into the submerged tree tops or deep brush. Use medium tuffy minnows or 1-inch tube jigs or 1/32 oz or 1/64 oz popeye flies tightlined into the brush.

WALLEYE

Slow. 35 to 40-feet deep, on the bottom. They’ve been slow to hit, but the quality has been excellent, with fish exceeding 20-inches being caught. Best bet: Night fishing with shad or Mann O’Lures jigged on the bottom at 35 to 39-feet. Trolling with spinner/nightcrawler rigs or plugs such as Thundersticks and 911 RedFins has produced some fish, but it has been slow. Trolling with nightcrawlers and spinners in bright orange or copper, #6 Hildebrandt blades with a line of orange beads are working in the clear water sections for those trolling during the daytime. The Loyston Sea section has seen the most walleye caught, but Poor Land, Rabbit Island and Cove Creek are about as good.

BLUEGILL

Good. 5 to 25-feet deep. But larger ones are hitting tightlined crickets as deep as 30-feet on main channel banks. Crickets, waxworms, BeetleSpins, Rooster Tail spinners, popping bugs, along steep, shady, rocky banks, or in deep brush, near the bottom. Many good sized bluegills have been caught by those tightlining crickets into deep brush and fishing a foot or two off the bottom, in or very near the brush at 20-feet deep.

• Bluegill
• Crappie
• Striped Bass
• Largemouth Bass
• Smallmouth Bass
• Walleye