I hit the lake for a couple hours this morning and had zip luck finding any crappies to hit hard enough to land. No sunfish watsoever. Smallies seemed to like my crappie stuff though and 5 hit the dock with one other getting off.
Junebug Culprit Paddletails did the trick on the smallies. The closest I could come to a crappie was one that hit on a Gulp minnow but fell off before hitting the wood. Again, the crappie hits were tremendously light….just a slight tip to a float that was very hard to distinguish from the wind.
The smallies hit the paddletails with a fever and would not so much as tap another plastic, or color, or the Gulp toys.
The water isn’t too bad right now. The upper lake is ice free, but a local who has been out in a boat mentioned that there is some large debris at mid-lake and that won’t move on until the ice at the lower end is gone. That shouldn’t be long.
SandyPoint access is still locked up so there is no entry there. The Pondy might be open but then there is the debris thing. Fishermans is open but be mindful of the $5.00 fee that one is required to pay BEFORE launching and fishing or towing will be done.
Given another week and things will start to take off on the lake. The water is still pretty cold, but will heat up with the sun we’re seeing. Afternoons might be the best for fishing right now.
For those who have not been on the lake since after the flooding in September, you need to be very cautious on the upper end of the lake, especially in and around the Fisherman’s Inn area. While the water level is up to summer pool now, sandbars exist in places now where on Labor Day there was 8 feet of water. One might be surprised where they can run aground now so take it easy.
