Rathbun Lake

Does anyone know how much ice is on the lake? Any information would be great. Thanks

95% ice covered yet. The level is 3.7ft above normal and the outflow is 1500cfs.

Way to go Herb....I haven't been able to go yet...and may not based on the high water report. We need to figure out if there is a reason to head that way! Did you get my Macbride pics?
David

Yes I did David, thanks for the report. I think a person may have a bit of trouble getting onto any fishable ice over there now. I'd wait till it opens up and take the boat.

I will give it one more check...maybe next week and then if still no hope I will give it up till open water.

Anyone know current lake conditions on Rathbun now? thanks!

<,"}/>{ Rippa

Tim, how ya doing?
Stage-908.37
Outflow-800cfs
Temp-42

Does anyone have the skinny on Rathbun? We got a cabin reserved and are planning on fishing there this Thurs, Fri & Sat. The DNR website says,
" Lake Rathbun (Appanoose): Crappies have started biting on small jigs fished around the flooded timber around the South Fork area of the lake. Channel catfish have been biting on night crawlers. Water temperature is 56 degrees."
For the last 4 years I have been fishing Rathbun, there isn't hardly any shore structure/timber in the South Fork, if not the whole lake! Does anybody know where they are talking about, or would they be referring to submerged brush piles that people place? We typically put in at the South Fork Marina and I know the lake fairly well so any advice would be helpful.

Maybe they were talking about the Corps Fish Attractors;

GPS Locations of Fish Attractors

Cedar trees, South Fork N 40° 50.700 W 93° 01.184
Cedar trees, South Fork N 40° 50.990 W 93° 01.459
Berkley fish habitat, Honey Creek N 40° 51.723 W 92° 55.120
Berkley fish habitat, Prairie Ridge N 40° 51.557 W 92° 53.640
Pallet structures, Buck Creek N 40° 50.217 W 92° 52.405
Berkley fish habitat, Buck Creek N 40° 50.294 W 92° 52.217

On a side note could you report on the cabins after you stay in them? We rented a camper last month and it was very nice. Would like to try a cabin but there are many to choose from.

crappie cove has flooded timber in it.
might try west of Bridgeport in the timber there. there is several spots to go to with timber at rathbun. water is up 7' over normal pool.

Let us know how you did.
The wife and I will be over there Memorial weekend for 3+ days.

Finns thanks for the Fish Attractors GPS Locations.

Crappiekiller2, I guess your right about the abundance of flooded timber. We typically fish crappie cove, but have never had much luck west of Bridgeport.
I don't think I'll have internet access while down there, but will post reports when I get back on Sunday.

Here is a 3 day report from Rathbun:
Thursday, 5-15 kept 19 crappie and 2 gills. These fish were caught around Buck Creek and Crappie Cove in 4 - 6 feet of water. Water temp 56 to 62 degrees. All crappies were 11+" with 3 @13".
Friday, 5-16 kept 19 crappie and 4 gills. These fish were caught around Buck Creek and Crappie Cove in 2 - 4 feet of water. Water temp 59 to 64 degrees. All crappies were 10.5+" with 1 @13.5" and 2 @13". The water level dropped about 6".
Saturday, 5-17 kept 6 crappie at Rathbun and 28 crappie at Lake Miami. Rathbun crappies were caught in the South Fork down past the bridge in 2 feet of water up on the banks. Water temperature was 64 to 70 degrees. All crappies at Rathbun were 10+" with 1 @14" (largest of the trip). Water level dropped about another 9". It started getting real windy so we headed over to Lake Miami for the rest of the afternoon. The water temp there was 62 to 64 degrees and the crappie were shallow a foot off the bank. These crappies were not large, but were plentiful and fun to catch.
In the three days we were at Rathbun you sure could notice a pattern. Every day the water seemed to warm and drop. The warmer the water, the closer we kept moving into the banks and the shallower the fish were. I hope that the Corps don't keep dropping the lake or it may leave many spawning crappie eggs in the next week high and dry out of the water.

Finns, we stayed at the RoVelDo Cabins in front of the Buck Creek park entrance. They were nice for only $79 a night. We like them because they are close to larg ramps, bait shop and Centerville.

Sounds like you had a good time and thanks for the cabin info. Hope to get back up soon.

thanks for the info, sounds like you had a good trip.
The wife and I are going over Friday for the weekend, if we do well enough we will stay into next week.
I'll post on here when we get back.
Come on Friday....

Get ready to catch some nice crappies!!!! We couldn't find large quantities of fish, but their size made up for it. If the weather hold and the water temp keeps rising, you should have a good weekend. Enjoy your trip!

its going to rain tomorrow, we will be on the road to rathbun. the weekend is supposed to be good, hope the fishing is too. I'll post a report when we get back.

Hey crappiekiller2 how was the fishing? Hope everything is well...... haven't seen your post.

we have been here since friday. friday started out stormy but ended nicely. (weather wise) crappie were scarce for most on the lake but i heard a few got lucky. friday was jigs and saturday we tried minnows in every possible way! still no luck. weather was great. south fork was muddy with mid 50's water and north by the dam was clear and low 60's water. we tried in the brush, on the rip rap and some structure but no luck. i am sure somebody probably slabbed them but not us. maybe next time. sunday sounds like the last good day as stormes are supposed to come in monday. good luck!

Sorry I didn't post earlier.
Memorial weekend was not the best fishing. We caught 3 on Sunday and 3 on Monday.
The first one we caught went 1 1/4, the rest were about 3/4 lb.
Went back 5-30 and fished Saturday and Sunday and caught 3 on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. Fished from Honey creek to bridgeview, got into the stripers by the bridge, the wife and I had fun catching doubles of stripers even if the crappies weren't biting.
Will be back on Wed thru Sunday, come on crappie start biting..
FYI
water temp was in the 70s on sunday...

Crappiekiller2 thanks for the report. I was planning on another trip to Rathbun myself, but after seeing the last few posts I'm not sure if its worth the gas to drive down. It's been tough fishing this year with all the rain, floods and wind!!!!

Hi,
Heading to Rathbun next week. Ay tips on where to find the brush piles in 15-20 ft for crappies. Also, any suggestions for fishing Rangers Point? Mostly targeting crappies, but hopefully find a few walleyes. Any help would be great. Thank you