04/29/2008

Jim Reports:
Crappie fishing should have been perfect this weekend, and I missed them. Not that fish weren't caught, but I never found them like I expected. About 3 dozen total, biggest 15", next biggest 13" then 10"s through 12"'s. Almost all taken under a float some relating to brush in the weeds, but I couldn't find them close to shore as many have reported. Mine were still off shore in about 8' to 10' of water.Sunday we were at Art's and Chris, a friend of his, came to fish off his dock. I watched him for a bit and said he isn't going to find them there so I took him out from about 1 pm to 3 pm. Got him off minnows to tubes and he ended up with a nice bunch of fish to take home and was delighted. He had tried tubes before and lost all confidence in them, I think he now is a believer.Both am's were on the cold side, and Sunday I was smart enough to put a heavy jacket on. Saturday I had a light jacket and froze.

4/23/2008

Water Temperature North End = 68 Rising
Middle South End = 65 Rising
Water Level = 6 Inches over normal pool
Water Clarity = Clearing still murky but much clearer in the north end
Last Rain = 4/22/2008

Hooooooo, hooo! Crappies are finally on the rise with many reports of fish being caught within 10 feet of the shoreline. A couple of fishermen staying at the Egyptian Hills Marina reported catching 50 to 60 crappies. All over 10 inches and a few at 15 inches. They caught'em casting the shoreline. They would not share any information on what kind of tackle they were using. My neighbor started catching crappie as well. He is casting and dragging 1/16th ounce black and chartreuse or red and chartreuse tube jigs within 10 feet of the shoreline. The crappies are being caught from the coves in the north end and all the way to the shallows found in the south end. Some fishermen are reporting crappie are spawning in the north coves.

Bass fishing continues to be hot. White and chartreuse skirted spinner baits with copper blades are doing the best followed by jerk baits. Sinko jerk baits appear to be the favorite. Everyone I talked to reported catching many bass. All of the bass are being caught within the first 10 feet of the shoreline. Many 5 pounders have been caught and released.

Hmmmm! The crappie and bass are both locating near the shoreline. Maybe if you downsize your spinner bait a little you can catch both!

Happy spring and…

Fish On!

Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors

4/21/2008

Water Temperature North End = 66 Rising
Middle South End = 63 Rising
Water Level = 6 Inches over normal pool
Water Clarity = Muddy but much clearer in the north end
Last Rain = 4/19/2008

The picture on the front page is Dave's 22 inch bass caught on 4/12/2008. None of his friends would believe he caught a bass that big so his brother-in-law Jim requested I post it. I can only hope this fortifies his integrity.

Last week I failed to mention our annual crappie fish-off is in honor of my father-in-law Mel who passed on a few years ago. Mel found LOE back in 1973 shortly after I met his daughter and is the reason why I'm here today.

In writing this I'm brought to thought about the recent earthquake. I've had many questions asked if there was any damage in the area. As far as I know the area was only shaken and little or no damage occurred.

However my mother-in-law commented the last time she felt the bed shake that much ... Mel, is that you, Mel?!

Fish On!
Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors

4/14/2008

Water Temperature North End - 53 Falling
Middle South Main Channel - 55 Falling
Water Level = 3 inches over normal pool and flowing
Water Clarity = Muddddy

Last Rain = 04/14/07

This past Saturday we celebrated 28 years of family and friends gathering to crappie fish LOE. My son Adam and daughter Jessica were there as well as my friends Jim, Dave and Tim. The night before we stopped at the head quarters of the Sugar Creek Possum Club and that made for a very fuzzy Saturday morning! Thanks, Steve for all your hospitality!

The crappie fishing was slow, in fact as slow as I've seen it in 28 years! But we made the most of it and caught a few fish. As we've been reporting the bass fishing was hot. The night before Jessica nailed 5 bass in 20 minutes!

I believe all of us caught bass on Saturday even though we were really trying to catch crappie.

Tim caught the biggest crappie by weight. It measured 14 3/4 inches and weighed 1 lb 9 ounces. See the front page of the UBetcha Outdoors website.

Adam came in second with a 15 inch crappie. It weighed 1 pound 6 ounces. A two fish weigh-off won the entire shoot'in match!

Well, the weather was bad, but the company was good. Good company always cancels out bad weather so we had a great time and upheld the tradition.

Jim reports -

Weather was miserable if we want to give it lots of credit. Friday evening we didn't get a hit at all. 25 mph winds and biting miserable. We had had plenty more rain during the week to insure that the lake would still be high and muddy.Saturday am we were supposed to pick up Adam, who overslept so we fished, or that is what we tried to do. After breakfast we picked Adam up. He had shore fished while we ate and picked up 3 bass. Should have taken that as a clue right then.Mike, Jessica and Tim fished in Tim's boat and Tim got a very nice crappie in Beaver on a Beetle Spin. Eventually I picked up a small 11" crappie and we kept fishing. Lunch and nap then back into Beaver where Dave

had decided to bass fish, he got a slot sized fish in Beaver, and Adam got a very nice 15" crappie on a Road Runner. We went to the cover at Doc's Dock and worked our way to Ed's. I called Mike and said Uncle! Just as we were talking about where to meet, Dave hooked a big bass. We put it in the boat and raced over the Mike, Jessie and Tim. At least 22" and probably right at 6#!Tim's crappie edged Adam's. I can't believe that on the crappie tourney day 3 crappie were boated and a couple lost. I got the net tangled when Adam had one on and he had another come unbuttoned as well. But for 6 people fishing it was terrible.Sunday am, again cold, not quite as windy, so the weather god's gave us rain and drizzle instead. Dave got 3 more bass and even called the spot on one of them.

Steve Reports -

Hey Mike, me and my buddy Muprh decided to hit up LOE before the big storm system we had moving in. After the truck ran outa gas on the ramp that killed 30 minutes, we didnt really have that much time to fish before the lightning started up. But before we did.... Damn!!!! it was once again a bass anglers dream. I caught back to back BIG bass. One weighed 5.3lbs and the other weighed in at 4.6 lbs. Although Murph only caught one little guy, he still had a good time. I ended up banging out about 7 fish in 45 minutes. aside from the big ones, the other fish weighed from 2.5 lbs, all the way down to murph's little bank runner that was about a pound. All were caught on topwater baits. Both of the big ones I caught, were on a Pink colored buzzbait, about 15 feet off of the weed beds. I think with that big front movin through, they were outa the weeds, and lookin for food. The smaller ones were all caught right over the weeds with the buzzbaits. We had to leave early when we saw a big bolt of lightning hit pretty close to us. I'll send you the pic of the 2 big ones... Topwater is where it's at right now. Juice and I are heading out as soon as i get done taking a physics test at 2! I'd say with the front that passed through, you'll find up fishing jigs and little senko's out off the points, and around structure. Good luck!Steve

Fish On!

Mike O.

UBetcha Outdoors

4/10/08

Water Temperature = 58 Rising
Water Level = 3 inches over normal pool
Water Clarity = Muddy
Last Rain = 04/10/08

For you guys and gals that might be thinking about passing this weekend up and putting in a garden for your special someone else. Welllll, you better read this!
Steve reports -
Hey Mike, Juice and I crushed em again tonight. After we caught some on the buzzbaits last night, we figured we should try it again tonight... and we were right on. Caught a 3 pounder on the first cast, and i figured it would throw a hex on us for the rest of the night but that wasnt the case. I was throwing a white Boo-ya buzzbait with the little clacker on it and I had colored in some red with a permanent marker. It actually turned the lure pink and the bass were drillin it all day. We started fishing around 3 and didnt get off the lake till dark. We ended up having 23 in the boat, and had about 10 of em, that were around 3 to 3.5 lbs. Most of the rest were about 2lbs. 90% were caught with buzzbaits, and the rest were caught with zara spooks. Those fish were super aggressive, some of em were hittin that buzzer so hard that they would fly outa the water. Good luck-Steve and Juice

And check-out this crappie report logged into the comment section of my fishing report! It pays to read the comments!!!

Erine Reports -
Well we came down wednesday night and fished all weekend. It was a little wet on thurs :) and pretty chilly on friday but we got into some crappie friday night. We got about 7 decent slabs about 10-11 inches. Caught some decent bass on saturday and sunday we caught a 12.5 inch crappie. We were using char jigs tipped with a minnow. They seemed to like the red ones a lot. We were down about 20 inches in 7-10 feet of water over weeds. Wish I was still down there. Vacations don't last long enough.

The comment section is live reporting of what's going on! The more you'all use it the better it will be and the more successful you fishing trips will be.

Fish On!

Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors

4/8/2008

Water Temperature = 55 and rising!
Water Clarity = You can cut it with a knife muddy.
Water Level = 6 inches over normal pool.
Last Rain = 4/4/2008

HOOOOeeeeeeee! The fishing is picking up. I’m getting reports of monster crappie and the bass fishing continues to be hotter than the blazing fires of hell or the power plant appropriately located on the dam road! Read on my good friend, read on!

Jim writes…
Had many senior moments before getting to the lake. Forgot batteries for the boat lights, and the camera. Forgot that the tire on the trailer was soft and forgot the gas can for gas for the boat. Yikes.Mike saved us on gas for the boat. Thanks Mike! Dick stopped on the way down and got a new tire and rim for the one I wrecked. Thanks Dick! And we lived without the lights and the camera.Maybe I will do something about my list before this weekend and things will be smoother.Dick broke the crappie ice with a nice one Saturday am, and Saturday evening his 14" fish was captured by Mike with his cell phone camera. I sure wish we had a photo of the small one. Dick had to hand it to me as I was convinced one that small was a little gill.Two bonus bass were caught and both were in the slot and Dick got a very nice LOE gill and a 15" male crappie! Not a single fish from weed cover and not a single fish from deep brush. All were on tubes, various colors, but all bright colors about 7" down over 11 to 13' of water in brush/timber.At least the weather was wonderful, warm and sunny. Dick brought some really excellent cheese down and all in all a better weekend that we have been having. In fact the trolling motor battery was still running fine when we pulled out. A clear sign the winds were down from past weekends. Water still up and muddy, it went down about a foot while we were there. Glad I had an ice fisherman along. He showed me how to shovel a hole in the mud so we could get our lures down. Visibility was about .0003"

Jim is the water that clear?! Hey and you failed to report you caught 10 crappie total with one crappie only 3 inches in length and the rest from 11 inches to 15 inches. All black crappie. There’s something to be said about that and I will write about it later. Thanks Jim for the report and Dick’s picture is on the front page of the UBetcha website.

Steve of the Saluki Bass Club writes…
Hey Mike, went out to LOE tonight didn’t really do that great. Caught one 3 pounder on the third cast then didnt do worth a damn till about 6:30 PM. I caught 4 or 5 in about 30 minutes throwing a silver buzzbait over the weed beds. None of the ones caught on buzzbaits were over 3 lbs, but it was still pretty fun.--Steve

Steve, that’s a whole bunch better than a kick-in-the –ss! Steve you’ve been spoiled by the great LOE fishing and that’s a statement in it’s self! Good job and thanks!

Now we have a new fisherman reporting! Everyone welcome Billy and he writes …
Hey there man! I always read your report before I head down. My name is Billy from Bluford Illinois, 10 m east of Mount Vernon. I fish down there real regular. Let me tell you Saturday April 5 evening was hot!!! The bass were on the banks and bangin! I caught one 6 pounder, one 7 pounder and about eight, 2.5 - 3lb all on a spring craw one minus. The air temps were 65 and water 56.5. I caught all my fish on the south end of the lake any place you could find water trickeling in off the hills from creeks or draws. Tails tattered and all. Sent a pic of one of the good boys! Good fishin to ya and keep the reports comin!

Great job Billy and you get the hooo, hooooooo award for the weekend! And thanks!

Fish On!

Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors

4/2/2008

Water Temperature = 55 Steady
Water Clarity = Baby Diaper Yellow
Water Level = 6 Inches Over Normal Pool
Last Rain = 4/1/2008

Steve hit the lake again! And read what they did just this Monday! The bass are crazy and you have to be crazy not to go! Now tomorrow we are suppose to get 4 to 6 inches of rain but read on my friend!

Steve writes -

Monday night was by far the best day of fishing at LOE that I've ever been a part of. Me and Juice were fishing right ahead of that big thunderstorm system that was moving in, and the fish were going CRAZY! We caught bass about every way you could think of, jigs, buzzbaits, spinners, rattle traps... we caught em literally every way you possibly could. All were caught within 10 feet of the banks, and every fish had extremely aggressive bites. All together me and Juice caught around 25, we lost count after the first hour. I had 2 that were right at 5lbs, and Juice had one that was 4 and a half. We boated probably 10 3lbers and tons of 1.5 lbers. I'm not sure if it was just the big weather front moving in or what but it was insane! (In the picture i'm sending, this was the second big fish that i caught in about 15 casts, i look crazy in it but i was pretty pumped up. haha)

Anyway, good luck out there
Steve

Steve that picture is awesome! And you are crazy.

Fish On!
Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors

4/1/2008

If your reading this be sure to review the reports under this and the comments as well. Updates are ocurring more than once a week and in sort of real time through the comments section. You don't have to join anything to leave a comment and comments are reviewed for a response. So check it out!!