03/29/2007

Water Temperature North End - 65
Middle South Main Channel - 65
Water Level = 3 inches over normal pool and flowing
Water Clarity = Stained
Last Rain = 03/28/07


Here’s a short crappie report. My brother-in-law Chuck and I fished this morning from 6:15 to 8:30. We stopped only because I have work to do (working on Jim’s plumbing). The bite was very good. We caught a half a dozen fish. The crappie ranged from 9 inches to Chuck’s 15 incher and I caught a 3-pound bass. All the fish were caught in shallow water. We used a bobber set at 18 inches and jigs (chartreuse/red, chartreuse/white, chartreuse). And used a medium retrieve. The fish are chasing and rising in the shallows. I will change over to Road Runners this evening. Hooo, hooooooo!

Oh, and you bass fishermen may want to fish shallow with spinners as well.


Fish On!

Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors

03/28/2007

Water Temperature North End - 64
Middle South Main Channel - 63
Water Level = 3 inches over normal pool and flowing
Water Clarity = Stained
Last Rain = 03/28/07


I've been focused on crappie for guiding purposes but here goes with what I've been seeing on bass.

Finesse baits and spinner baits seem to be the favorite with jigs winning over all the other finesse baits. Secondary points and flats are where the big ones are hitting. Stay on the main channel or the mouths of bays. Fish in 8 to 10 feet of water. Slow rolling spinner baits should work here as well. The water is murky so the fish need sound or flash to find your lure.

What’s happened over the past week is the water continues to warm. It is now 63 degrees at the lakes mid section. Fish have to be coming into the shallow flats. I’ve been catching a mixture of crappie and bass on the shallow flats since Sunday. The flats you want to fish are 6 foot deep and in bays just off the main channel. The flats should have weeds and some wood makes it better. Silver and white seems to work best on shallow baits. If you see the shad rising or swimming in the area that is even better! When jigging dark colors are working as long as they rattle

We are expecting cooler temperatures this weekend with daytime highs in the 60’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Hitting the shallow spots will work early and late. Because of all the fishing pressure on Saturday and Sunday the bite is always better in the early early morning. After that go deep.

Fish On!
Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors

03/27/2007

Water Temperature North End - 62
Middle South Main Channel - 61
Water Level = 3 inches over normal pool and flowing
Water Clarity = Stained
Last Rain = 03/22/07

My brother Charlie and I went fishing this past weekend. We fished Friday early evening, Saturday morning and afternoon and Sunday morning and afternoon. The weather was absolutely perfect. In fact too perfect. With air temperatures hitting 80 degrees the water is warming up fast. I believe this has the fish confused making the catching confusing. We started off jigging for crappie and caught the first one within seconds of dropping the jig into a 15 footbrushpile. We fished there for 30 more minutes and didn’t catch another. Tried a 7 foot brush pile and couldn’t get a bite. Saturday we basically did the same thing finding brush piles in various depths and my brother managed to catch 3 crappie. As evening came on we tried the shallows and Charlie caught 1 more crappie. Once again on Sunday morning we repeated the unsuccessful pattern and were unsuccessful. Go figure!

Sunday afternoon was different. We fished a 6-foot flat that had some weeds and a few woodpiles. Charlie put on a bobber and a white and silver jig. The bobber was set at 3 to 4 feet and almost immediately caught a 15 inch crappie. When evening set we had netted a dozen fish. Charlie caught 2 at 15 inches and I landed a 16 ¼ incher. The rest were 10 to 11 inches and a few bass were landed as well. Charlie out fished me and deserved to because he put the pattern together. Now we didn’t exactly kill them but the size and weight was fantastic. The 15 inchers weighed just under 2 pounds and the 16 incher weighed just over 2 pounds!

What happened is with the warming water the fish are following the shad, transitioning into the shallows. Don’t mix this up with the spawn. The spawn is still 3 to 4 weeks away but the pre-spawn is starting. I am sure there is a deep-water jigging pattern we just didn’t find it. Let air temperatures go below normal for a couple of days or more and you’ll need to drop deep again. Until then…

Fish On!








Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors
www.ubetchaoutdoors.com

03/22/2007

Water Temperature North End - 56
Middle South Main Channel - 54
Water Level = 6 inches over normal pool and flowing
Water Clarity = Stained
Last Rain = 03/22/07

Fishing is hot and then it is cold on LOE. I guess it’s a lot like the weather, only in reverse. Over the past weekend my good friend Jim and his buddies Dick and Dave were on the lake fishing for crappie. They fished Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and afternoon, and Sunday morning. They boated over 60 fish and 3 of the fish measured 16 inches! They kept over 20 that were 10 to 12 inchers, returned many above 12 inches and returned some smaller than 10. Now that’s some good fishin!

Friday and Saturday were both cold weather days with dropping temperatures and the eventual arrival of a cold front on Sunday. Friday and Saturday were the best fish catching days. Sunday fishing was slow. I guided a couple of young gentlemen Sunday and gave up the after 4 hours of fishing and catching only 1 crappie and 3 blue gill. Jim’s boat caught 4 crappie Sunday and each one was 14 inches. Sunday evening I caught 4 crappie and one measured 15 1/2 inches. Through the weekend everyone in Jim’s boat caught a 16 inch crappie.

All of our fish were caught on 1/16-ounce tube jigs. The colors used were chartreuse, chartreuse/black, chartreuse/red, white/red, and white/blue. All the colors worked and on Saturday the crappie were biting on any and all of them! Overall chartreuse/black seemed to work the best.

Almost all the fish were caught by jigging with most of the fish caught over brush in 20 feet of water and jigging at 15 feet. The rest were caught over brush in 12 feet of water and jigging 7 feet deep.

Bass fishing continues to be great! With warming waters some bass are being caught in the shallows on spinner baits. But big bas continue to be caught on the drop-offs. Main channel and secondary points continue to be the best. Finesse lures are catching fish but Shad Raps fished at a medium pace are doing well.

The top qualifier in the Lake Of Egypt Open weighed a 20-pound stringer on Saturday.

Enjoy the pictures and…

Fish On!

















Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors
www.ubetchaoutdoors.com