The water elevation is 1,005.9-feet, which is 1.4-feet lower than it was last week. The water level is expected to fall 1.2 inches over the next two days.  Surface temperature readings range from a morning low of 59 degrees to afternoon readings as high as 63 degrees. The water feeding both river arms is cooler; the drawdown will continue to pull this cooler water into the main body of the lake as the days and weeks progress. The lake water is clear in most locations, except for the upper reaches of the river arms where yesterday’s rains have stained them.

SUMMARY:

Unsettled weather has temporarily slowed fishing, but prior to the heavy rain fishing had been improving, and was pretty good for spotted bass, bluegill and striped bass.  SMALLMOUTH BASS have been hitting small crankbaits, 1/2 oz. pig’n jigs and topwater plugs in the early morning hours. The drawdown currents have them on the points, just inside the current break, and in the center of the channel where they’re hitting small baitfish.  CRAPPIE and BLUEGILL are still hitting well at the 15 to 20 foot depth. LARGEMOUTH and SPOTTED BASS are hitting small plastic worms, small spinners and crankbaits on the broken rock banks, with spotted bass doing better than the largemouth. STRIPED BASS are moving up the lake with the progression of the season. Catches have come from Point 24 to the channel near Lakeview dock. WALLEYE catches were slow. CATFISH were slow.

STRIPED BASS
Moderate.
Surface early a.m. to 40 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. At almost any location in the main channels, during the hours of discharge at Norris Dam, one can observe lone surface breaks from feeding striped bass.  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.

LARGEMOUTH & SPOTTED BASS
Good, especially spotted bass.

Shallow at the shoreline and to 20-feet. Some hitting surface plugs. Otherwise, smaller lures worked best, whether crawfish-pattern crankbaits or soft plastic worms/lizards.  Crankbaits did better than spinners, with surface jerkbaits catching almost as many as the crankbaits. Many bass were taken by a handful of anglers over the past few days.  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. Small crawfish colored crankbaits are working close to shoreline cover, along banks with large rocks. On the windy days, Devils Horse-type surface baits worked well when fished with a steady retrieve parallel to the bank where the mudline changed to clear water.

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.

SMALLMOUTH BASS    
Moderate.

The pattern holds, but with fish being caught shallower than in previous weeks: Mid-lake humps at 15 to 25-feet in late afternoon. 10 to 15-feet on points, on the bottom. 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 15 to 20 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.  Crankbaits worked to 15-feet down the points and along the rocky shorelines.  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.

BLUEGILL
Good.
5 to 25-feet deep.

Larger ones are hitting tightlined crickets 15 to 20-feet deep on the bottom near deep brush. An occasional SHELLCRACKER will be caught with this method, in the same location, if the bait is nightcrawlers or small minnows.  Crickets, waxworms, BeetleSpins, Rooster Tail spinners, popping bugs, along steep, shady, rocky banks, or in deep brush, near the bottom.

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