Striper fishing is very good. As predicted, the weather started to turn this week and the fishing has picked up. We did have a minor Threadfin shad die off due to the temperatures dropping into the low 40's in the main lake and high 30's in the back of the creeks. However, there is plenty of bait in the creeks and the lake is healthy. This could be one of the best spring time fishing seasons we have ever experienced based on what we have seen to date. Live bait continues to be your best bet. There is a shallow water early morning bite using Herring, Threadfin and Gizzard shad on free lines and planner boards. Once the sun gets up, weight your lines with several split shots, deploy your down rods in addition to your free lines and move to deeper water. This pattern should hold as long as the water temperature continues to warm. We have not used Umbrella rigs this week. Live bait fishing has been working to well to pull out the rigs.
However, there is no reason the Umbrella rigs should not work especially in the afternoons. I have heard of some nice Stripers being caught at night casting Long A Bombers shallow to reef markers and long sloping points. If you are a night fisherman you may want to give it a try. There are fish in every creek with high concentrations of bait. Flat, Balus, Lathen, and Johnson creeks are good places to start
The lake temperature mid 40's and the water is lightly stained on the main lake with heavy stain in the backs of the creeks. The lake is less than one foot below full pool.
