A report with history
Tell your friends and family that the fishing report Lee Jeffery started many years ago is still going on KGVE 99.3. Jeff can still hear the old intro music. He remembers Lee, retired (he believes) from teaching or being a principal, running around the lake with a black cassette recorder with chrome buttons and a corded, chrome-tipped microphone. Lee would hold it up for you to talk, then talk into it himself, at Twin Bridges, below the dam or wherever the fish were. "What a class act." Jeff wishes more of the old reports had been archived to listen back through the seasons.
Crappie
Haydn with Williams Guide Service says Crappie fishing was a little tougher this week. He's still getting fish on small soft-plastic jigs, but he had to switch to minnows to catch a lot. Every day was different: warm wind, then cold wind, then a little rain. It's a fall transition, like February and March, when the seasons battle for dominance and bring more wind and volatility. The lake is still down, clear and normal.
White Bass / John Lewis
John Lewis caught a lot of Sand Bass on small swimbaits in front of Shangri-La. Years ago Jeff and John made a video wade fishing for White Bass running up on the banks this time of year. Lots of fish go really shallow now, with Shad up on the banks and more schooling action. inline spinners and small swimbaits are great choices, and sometimes schooling Kentucky Bass and Black Bass are mixed in.
Jim Wagner's popper rig
On shallow points, try the rig old Jim Wagner taught Jeff for fall White Bass: a white topwater popper with about 18 inches of line tied from the back hook to a white jig. Sometimes you catch two at a time, and when one hits the jig it pulls the popper under like a bobber. "If you don't like to watch a bobber go under, I don't think you got a pulse."
Paddlefish
Snagging is active on the upper end, as always. Jeff brags on the guides who get clients from all over the country on Paddlefish almost year-round.
Catfish
Friend Larry Barnett and his grandson were pictured on the dock with some really nice Catfish that looked over 30 pounds, probably caught on rod and reel.
Fall on the lake
There's very little traffic. Pelicans, Cormorants and Gulls are showing up as the lake moves into a fall and early-winter pattern. Locals, don't think spring and summer are the only times to fish. Fall and winter fish fries of Crappie and Blue Cats are hard to beat.
Muzzleloader
Muzzleloader season is coming up, and Jeff is excited about chasing big bucks and deer camp. Thanks to all the sponsors and local dealers who support the report.