Current Conditions

March 13th - Was in a club tournament today while the BFL was going on. Stayed mostly east of the bridge and the bite was really tough. Fished all of the major creeks because the water in the creeks was in the low to mid 50s while the main lake was in the upper 40s. The water is still so muddy that no worm presentations seemed to be working. Only caught a few fish all day and only one keeper. Those all came on a chatterbait. Other people fishing around me seemed to be fishing spinnerbaits and rattle traps. With the water temperatures in the creeks in the mid 50s, the bass should be moving up looking to feed and spawn very soon. As soon as the creeks reach 60, there should be a mass movement of male and female bass into the creeks and those fish should be much easier to catch as long as the water is not as stained as it is right now.

March 16th - Went out today from about 2:00pm to 6:00pm. Did not do that much fishing but was riding around looking for the warmest water. Water in the backs of creeks has cooled down since the weekend. Back of Pretty Creek was 51.5, Poe 51, Lizard 50, Little Stonehouse 50, and Big Stonehouse at 52. Lost one on a spinnerbait in the back of Poe about half way to the boat. The sun over the next few days should warm the waters enough that the bass should be moving up in the next week. However, right now the are only a few bass shallow and most are still deeper and really hard to catch because the water is so stained.

March 19th - Fished almost all day (9am - 3pm) and only caught one keeper. While the water temps have moved into the mid to upper 50s in most of the creeks, the bass have not seemed to move up yet. Usually when the major creeks hit 55, the bass really start to move but I think the muddy water has delayed that from happening. With the warm weather this weekend and over the next week, they should start moving soon. From the many things that I have tried as well as the various places I have fished over the past week, the fish that are biting seem to be in less than 8 feet of water. I have not caught any fish deeper than that simply because they cannot see what I'm throwing. Other than that, I do not really have a good grasp on what the bass are doing right now.

April 11th - Fished in a club tournament today from 6:30 - 2:30. Went to a spot where I had been catching them on a shaky head really good in March and they were not there. Ran back down the lake to Lizard Creek and caught one keeper. The fish are just now coming up in there. This week a lot of fish will be hitting the beds with the water in the mid 60s and the weather being very nice. After leaving lizard I went to a spot where the current was very strong from the dam releasing water and caught a 4lb fish and 3 2lb fish in 4 consecutive cast. After that I started fishing points in Poplar without a bite as well as some mainlake points. The fishing is still tough due to the stained water but hopefully the water will clear up over the next week and fishing should get back to normal. Weighed in 11.08lbs and had big fish in the club tournament and got 2nd Place. Others had limits but all said it was a tough bite and most fish caught were fairly small.

April 17th - Fished in a club tournament today from 6:00 - 3:00. I ran blind to spot where I caught a bunch last year around this time and put 11lbs in the boat by 7:15 including a 3.81lb big fish. Most of them came on a 5-8 foot diving crankbait or a finesse worm. I caught about 30 bass on this one spot then ran to an area that sets up similarly in Stone House Creek and caught a 3lb fish that culled out one of the smaller fish that I had. The bass have still not moved up everywhere but are definitely on their way. I would throw crankbaits, shaky heads, or carolina rigs to catch fish. Various topwater baits may work in the morning. Ended up winning the club tournament and had big fish.

June 28th - The fish have definitely moved out as the water temps have been breaking the 90 degree mark even on mainlake. The fishing has gotten tougher but there are still plenty of fish biting. I caught 4 today that would have gone about 9lbs. One of the fish was caught on a deep diving crankbait and the other 3 were caught up in the shallows around the shore grass. The fish are biting much better in the morning and once the sun gets up high, you need to slow down and throw a worm and work it very slowly and in or near deep water.