The weather warmed up a little and the fish responded by biting a little bit better. With colder than normal water temperatures, moving your bait slow is the secret. The water has murked-up a bit and is running half a foot over the spillway. Most of your fish are still on or just off the shallow north end points. Find some weeds and you're in the right spot. Bright lures and ones that displace a lot of water should work best just move them slow!!

See my front page at www.ubetchaoutdoors.com for the current lake water temperature and a picture of a dock that almost went down the lake. The owner called me, I accessed the damage and the next day I had it back on all it's anchors. I then tied it to the shoreline just in case and the final repairs will be completed next week after I complete Al's repairs.

Need your dock repaired or replaced?? Call me for a free quote. I'm local even if my cell phone is not or just email me.
mikeo@ubetchaoutdoors.com

Fish On!!
Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors
314-614-9290

2/12/2009

The ice is off the lake and the temperatures are on the rise. The mid-section of the lake completely opened up this past Monday evening and now the bays are open all the way back. This will bring the fishermen back as air temperatures are to be in the high 40's and low 50's for the next 5 days. The lake level is above normal pool at about one and a half feet.

With the recent cold, windy and icy conditions fishing pretty much went on hold except for last weeks bass tournament. I got a report that on Saturday the leader had 14 pounds. I'm not sure how it ended on Sunday.

Prior to the really bad weather or about 2 weeks ago some fishermen were having a hay day catching crappie. I received a report of boating 25 to 35 crappie in a day! They were caught at the north end of the lake on the windy points fishing jigs in 2 to 6 feet or just above the weeds. I was told you had to bump the weeds with your jig or you weren't fishing right. This is the southern version of ticking the weeds. Ticking the weeds was developed by my good friend Dick who is a northerner and one of Jim's two Dick buddies. The difference between bumping and ticking is...I don't know but the idea is to always be just above the weeds or in them just a little bit. The depth of the weeds varies so you have to slow down your retrieve to let the jig drop into weeds as the bottom drops off. If you find them consistently at a certain depth you can set a float and fish it real slow.

The front page of my website has the water temperatures and a picture of 2 docks. The dock in the front is one I roofed using 4x4 post and a flat roof. It is standing with no damage. The dock in the back was built using 2 inch galvanized steel tubing and a flat roof. The roof pancaked to the decking. There are a lot of docks with collapsed roofs out there. I can fix'em. Call me at 314-614-9290 or email me for a free and timely quote and service.

Thanks and hooo, hoooooooo!!
Fish On!

Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors
mikeo@ubetchaoutdoors.com