Labor Day weekend
Great weather is coming for a really busy weekend. Labor Day is the third big holiday weekend and the wind-down weekend for a lot of folks. Lake activity drops noticeably once the kids go back to school, but the diehards who put in all three holiday weekends will be out running boats, WaveRunners and cruisers, swimming, tubing, fishing, barbecuing and visiting the resorts.
Crappie
Fishing is exceptional overall, though some people are having trouble catching Crappie, which is typical this time of year. Keep looking for brush piles. Some hold a lot of little fish and some a mix, but every now and then you'll stop on one with a bunch of big keepers and catch a limit or two. Some days it's minnows, some days artificial lures.
Catfish
Drift fishing is always really good for Blue Cats this time of year.
Black Bass
Fish topwater on main-lake points at night, in the evening and early in the morning. A lot of guys are fishing big plastic worms in brush, not very deep. Most active fish are above 20 feet, so they're usually not too hard to target.
White Bass
They're tearing things up and surfacing all over the place, with lots of reports of trolling success. Whether you're on a WaveRunner, Bass boat, pontoon or runabout, great Labor Day trolling spots are Governor's Island, Sweetwater, Goat Island, the humps around Bernice, the islands around Sailboat and Patricia Island. Governor's Island was the first place Jeff's parents and grandparents let him and his brother take the old 14-foot Richline out to troll for White Bass. Catching them in the evenings around Governor's and Snake Island goes back as long as he can remember. Grab some inline spinners or small swimbaits and head out around 6 or 6:30 in the evening.
Night safety
Wear life jackets, because the GRDA wants to see them. Remember there's a nighttime speed limit on the lake (Jeff thinks it's 35 mph, but check). Turn your lights on, and watch for broken-down boats without lights or with dead electrical systems. That's when accidents happen.
Thanks
Thanks to the area sporting goods dealers around Grove, the GRDA and L&L Outdoors for being industry partners.