Current conditions
At 2:00 PM CST, the Corps Pensacola gage showed the pool at 742.02 feet, right at winter normal, with storage of about 1.31 million acre-feet. The latest posted release, as of 1:00 PM CST, was 326 cfs, and the flood pool is empty. Water temperature is 61°F on the latest ODWC reading (Nov 8). In Grove this afternoon it was sunny and 73°, with a northwest wind around 10 mph gusting to 17 and the barometer at 29.99 inches. The NWS forecast for the Grove area calls for a sunny Veterans Day, with the high near 70 and temperatures falling into the mid-60s this afternoon, then a clear night around 40. Thursday is sunny near 60, with a clear night around 31 and widespread frost after midnight. Friday starts with frost, then sunny and cooler, near 52.
Grand Lake Today
Jeff has spent a lot of the last month building grandlaketoday.com and asks listeners to visit the site and bookmark it. There is a place to sign up if you would like fishing reports, news or other lake information emailed to you. He still has about 270 older archived fishing reports to summarize and add to the fishing report section, plus retro reports from Ivan Martin's Grand Fishing Report archives going back to around 2002, with pictures and stories of fish caught around Grand Lake years ago. There is a fun facts area and a history section in the menu, and more will be added. He says the lake conditions page is the most up-to-date on the lake, with barometric pressure, lake level, outflow, water temperature and the forecast, and the plan is to update those conditions every six hours, at 6, 12, 6 and 12.
Lake-wide
Water is cooling off, but it is clear, with early fall-like fishing conditions. There are a lot of birds out on the water now, sitting in areas with baitfish and a lot of activity. The same kind of weather patterns have been hanging around.
White Bass
Hit the banks where the wind is blowing in. Throw a Dinner Spinner or a swimming minnow, something with flash. The red-and-white Dinner Spinner is a favorite: the heavy blade puts out a tremendous amount of vibration.
Catfish
Catfishing should be great. Drift fishing, they will be all over in these conditions. Some days they are feeding in 8, 10 or 12 feet of water, and some days you can catch them drifting in 45 to 50 feet. Don't get stuck in a rut. Keep moving until you find them. If you see big arches on the bottom on 2D color sonar with baitfish above them, White Bass, Crappie and Bass are often feeding in those schools, and injured shad falling to the bottom get picked up by the cats.
Paddlefish
There are some good Paddlefish reports. This is the time of year they start moving toward the upper end of the lake. From Shangri-La north is where most of the snagging is happening.
Crappie
Crappie are in the docks. Don't be afraid to fish shallow. If you can't catch them deep, try right underneath the foam. Jeff has been saying that every week for the last month or so.