Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass:
Bass fishing was hit and miss this week, depending on what day you were there. Some anglers reported thirty fish days while others scratched all day for a few bites. Water fluctuations which make no sense to anyone, have been the culprit. After rising ten feet over last weekend, the water gods decided to drop it two feet a few days later. My best guess is that they wanted to leave the floating debris from the rise, high and dry on the shoreline. Bass continue to hit Flukes, drop shot rigs and small swimbaits fished in three to fifteen feet of water in most areas. The shoreline weed beds that were holding Shad have been submerged and the good shoreline bite has gone away, replaced by thrashing Carp in most of the weedy areas. There is a small window of topwater action but it tends to come and go with the bait fish. The lake is still down fifteen feet and will eventually be full. Until then it’s best to fish hard and change spots often. There are a lot of fish waiting to be caught!
Striped Bass:
The fish are chasing Shad back in Utopia, Elizabeth Canyon and the North end of the SkiArm. Trolling has yet to take off with any consistency as the Shad are still spread out, keeping the Stripers on the move. Weightless white Flukes and small Keitech swimbaits are accounting for most of the bites.
Bluegill:
Decent sized ‘gills are abundant in the shallower, weedy coves and can be best caught on a bobber and small baitholder hook with either a red worm or meal worm.
Lake Conditions:
Surface Temp a.m. 68-70
Water Clarity – 5 to 20′
Lake Level: Rising. Down about 15′
Lake Hours – as of May 27th:
Open @ 6:00 am
Off Water @ 7:30 pm
Park Closes @ 8:00 pm
Jim – www.661Fishing.com
