April 23, 2007

Spring is finally here and all of the “cold stuff” is behind us.  We had temperatures in the upper 70’s all week with the lows staying in the 50’s.  Lake temperature jumped up to 61.5 degrees with some 62 to 65 degrees in the back of some creeks and in stained water areas such as the upper Theodosia arm and the upper lake from Horseshoe Bend to the upper dam.  Lake level is at 653.91 this week and the forecast  for the next seven days is for some rain so maybe we will have a pool rise for spawning bass and crappie.

Crappie have moved to the back of the brush piles and docks staging for their spawn.  They will move to the banks and migrate to the back of the coves and pockets throughout the week.  Artificial baits are the best to fish with at this time.  Fish Bobby Garland’s Swimming Minnow and crappie grubs or tubes from the bank back to the boat with a slow retrieve.  White Bass continue to spawn in the back of the creeks, this will probably be the last week for the Whites.  Small spoons, roadrunners and Rebel or Rapala small jerk baits will create some fast  action.

Largemouth bass should start their spawning runs this week and will be in full spawn by next weekend.  Sinko’s and Flukes will trigger a lot of strikes from largemouth that are cruising the backs of the pockets and creeks but on windy days throw spinnerbaits or shallow crankbaits for action strikes.  Smallmouth bass are now spawning on northern banks with some sort of step-ledges.  They are spawning in 18 to 24 feet of water and with the water clarity the beds are very easy to see.  The best bite is on lizards, tubes and finesse worms on a shaky head.  Other plastic baits that you can try are centipedes, Fish Doctors and Hula grubs.  Kentuckys will spawn almost anywhere they have large rocks along with some pea gravel.  Tubes, Spider Jigs, Sinko’s and trick worms will trigger most spawners.  Reaction baits such as spinnerbaits, jerk baits and crankbaits work well on windy days.  Remember, this time of year is the future of our lake.  If you are going to play with the bass on beds they will return to the bed, but if you take them home the fry will not hatch and we lose hundreds of future bass.

Walleye are on their postspawn feed, running the banks in the creeks, on the main lake, and in the pockets.  Some trollers are pulling planar boards along the banks with crawler harnesses and Suspending Rogues during the day and doing well.  Casting Glass Shad, Shad Raps and spinnerbaits are great with wind around points and down pea rock banks.  Most of the walleye are in 12 to 20 feet of water during the daylight hours.  At night they ar repositioning themselves up on the points and a number of nice walleye are being caught on X-Raps and Suspending Rogues from 7 o’clock until midnight.          

Fishing the White River has been good on Berkley Power Eggs in yellow and Sunrise along with Belgian Red Worms.  With generation the Little Cleo’s, Rooster Tails and Original Floating Rapalas are the baits of choice.  The fly fishermen have done well with little generation on Olive Woolly Buggers, San Juan worms in bright colors, and sow bugs   The Browns are being caught on Countdowns, Flat Fish, Rogues and nightcrawlers.   

Remember to keep only what you can eat and release the rest for another day.  Rick Culver of Wilderness Trail does the research for this report and the writing of this report.  For more information call Rick or Sue Culver at Wilderness Trail at 870-445-2703, e-mail us at wtrail@bullshoals.net or check out our web site at www.wildernesstrail.com