Jim and I fished Lake Oconee this past Thursday. It was our first trip for 2018. We have not been on the water due to the cold and unsettled weather and some personal issues. Thursday the water temperature was 50 degrees when we started fishing and 53-54 in places when we finished. We combo trolled as usual and caught two keeper crappie. We did not catch a crappie until 1:05 p.m. We marked a lot of fish in some of our favorite spots. The fish were suspended from 8 feet to the bottom. It was a long liners dream except for the fact that the fish didn't get the memo. However, the good news (I think) is that the fish are on the move.

Last year at this time we had already caught 173 good fish. Last February 6 at the Smokehouse we caught 42 fish and the air temperature that day got up to 70 degrees. Last February 8 we caught 47 good fish at the Hill. Two days later we caught 29 at Lake Oconee.

Like I have always said, "every year is different". I suppose it can only get better because you can't catch much less than 2 fish. We plan on going to Oconee in the morning and I will post the results no matter how meager they may be.