Thread: On Your Mark... Get Set...

Originally Posted by DaveBuckeye01

Hey wiskers, with such a cold and brutal winter, can you give us your best Nostradamus and predict what the lake might be looking like that first week of April? You think the bays and river areas will be the spot or is still too early to tell?

Thanks for all the great info

Dave... As far as the Lake elevation, that's flip of the coin. I can guarantee you it will be above winter pool. Weather it's falling or rising is a toss up. Lots of folks think you can't catch fish on a falling lake. I used to be the same way. Be on'um 1 day, they start pull'n the lake down and BOOM, big goose egg! I have since learned to use a falling lake to my advantage.

Say you're catching fish in early April 5' deep in 8' of water close to spawning areas. First off those fish have found and acclimated to a 5' depth but... The lake is starting to fall. They go into survival mode. Don't wanna get caught high and dry so they'll back out closer to, or right on a creek channel or ditch for the security of that deeper water. They just wanna keep a little water under their belly. Remember they are relating to that 5' depth though. They may still wanna be 5' deep but instead of 5' deep in 8' of water it may be 5' deep in 12' of water. What I'm saying is find deeper water close to where they were before and search it at about the same depth you caught them in before. You may have to set back and cast to'um to keep from spookn'um. They'll be close to where they were though.

It really don't matter what the lake is do'n. Just adapt to the conditions.

Now with that said... With the hard freeze and precipitation that we've had this winter the ground is gonna be spongy and loose when it thaws. That's probably gonna mean any rain is probably gonna stain or dirty the water a little more than usual. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Those White Crappie like dirty water.

Just come on and deal with what the ol'girl gives ya.

NOTE: I reserve the right to be ABSOULTLY WRONG!