SUMMARY: The cooling from snow melt runoff and cold weather has, once again, slowed catches and kept some of the anglers off the lake. Mid-week fishing pressure was extremely low. CRAPPIE and WHITE BASS action on Sycamore continued for those few who were out; crappie catches are sometimes best in the coldest of water. SMALLMOUTH action came on float ‘n fly rigs, and jigs/twisters retrieved very slowly on rocky banks and on the points. LARGEMOUTH BASS and SPOTTED BASS action slowed, with anglers searching the head of the creeks and shallows for warmer water. STRIPED BASS catches were low. These fish are on the move, headed upstream. BLUEGILL are slow. WALLEYE are struggling to get their river run going; water temperatures are slowing progress for anglers fishing the Powell above Point 17 and Clinch above Point 32. A small number of smaller WALLEYE were caught last week on the river headwaters, but cooler temperatures slowed catches, and reduced angler numbers in those areas.TWRA Reservoir Data Collection sampling showed walleye in good numbers on the points in the Loyston to Lost Creek section.

CRAPPIE Fair. 5 to 15-feet deep in brush, or very close to the bottom on clear days. Trolling with small doll flies, tube jigs and jigs tipped with minnows worked well in Sycamore Creek, on the bottom at about 15 feet. Crappie fishermen are catching as many, or more white bass in Sycamore than crappie. Brush on steep banks has produced nice crappie on the main channels between Points 29 and 32, and from Point 15 to 16. Lost Creek catches were up in the headwaters of that creek. Trout Magnets and 1-inch tube jigs fished on light spinning tackle are working well. 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, Trout Magnets, 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. While water color is improving in the best crappie fishing areas upstream and in the large creeks, the water temperature is in the high-30’s and the water fluctuation is slowing these catches considerably.

SMALLMOUTH BASS Fair. 2-feet to 20-feet.

No change in the pattern: Because of the very cold water, a slow presentation is required to get any hits. The most productive method continues to be a float-and-fly rig at depths of 10 to 15-feet off steeper, rocky banks. Leadhead jigs tipped with 3-inch smoke (or equivalent) colored plastic grubs worked with a steady retrieve just off the bottom near drop-offs on clay and rocky banks are working well on some days. Otherwise: Pig’n jigs (1/4 to 1/2 oz. with hair or live rubber skirts), salty craws, and doll flies tipped with small tuffy minnows. Brown, orange, and chartreuse were productive colors. In stained areas, try medium running crankbaits retrieved parallel to the rocky shoreline, as this technique has worked well in the past under similar water conditions. Slow, steady retrieves are working.

LARGEMOUTH & SPOTTED BASS Slow.

Shallow, very close to the shoreline and to 10-feet deep in the back of the creeks where the water is warmer than on the main channel. On sunny afternoons, cast jerk baits or Spooks into the shallows where there is cover and where baitfish are present. Smaller lures – crankbaits or 6-inch plastic worms in shad or crawfish-pattern/colors. Crankbaits had worked well before the cold spell; the pattern may return with warm days and some sun on the water. Jig pole fishing with large jigs draped with nightcrawlers at about the 5-foot depth worked well in mud-stained hollows and on the channels on steeply sloped banks and near wood structure. In cold, mud stained sections of the main channel, on the upper half of the lake, fish slowly and tight to the shoreline cover with plastic worms, slow-rolled spinners, or 1/2 to 1-ounce pig’n jigs. Small shad or crawfish-colored crankbaits with a slow retrieve, worked close to shoreline cover, along banks with large rocks.

STRIPED BASS Slow.

Surface or 30 to 40-feet, depending upon the day, sunlight and barometric pressure. No change in the pattern: Some very shallow in the breaks, on Assassins, Flukes, mainly, with some hitting Zara Pups or Spooks if you can cast into breaking fish. Surface breaks are intermittent and widely scattered. For tightline fishing with shad or alewife, fish the middle to lower half of the lake, to 60-feet on high air pressure days, but more often 20 to 30 feet deep. Striped bass are moving from the mouths of the hollows into the channels. Live shad, alewife or shiners, umbrella rigs (read the regulations on these to stay legal), trolled or tightlined to as deep as 30-feet. Where there are baitfish struggling in the cold water, some striped bass have been feeding close to the surface. Gulls and terns were starting to arrive in the Loyston Sea area, and near Springs Dock on the Powell side, and are often good indicators of baitfish being pushed to the surface by actively feeding fish. There are many birds in the Loyston area now. Finding feeding birds has been difficult, despite the high number of birds present on the lake. They’ve been feeding, diving into schools of baitfish at dusk, but no striper activity has been seen with them in the Loyston area. Feeding stripers were seen in the vicinity of Point 30, on the Clinch. Some stripers have been located at 30 to 40 feet in some of the larger creeks, such as Lost Creek, Mill Creek and Davis Creek. Upriver striped bass have been located above Point 16, at Point 32 and at the mouth of Bridgeport Hollow.

WALLEYE Slow. 10 to 20-feet deep, suspended on the points on the lower half of the reservoir.

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