Date: 4/15/2012
Water temp: mid to upper 60’s
Bass: May is one of the few months you can catch fish in 2ft or 22ft of water.
TVA almost has the lake to summer pool level of 414.0. There will be a few fish still spawning but the majority of the spawn will be over with. Look for the bass to move out towards deeper water sooner than normal. We have been pulling up some grass here and there so I would suspect some to be nearly topped out by the end of May. The grass will hold some of the bass all through the summer once it gets going. The soft plastic bite has been on fire and it should continue. Texas and Carolina rigged Rage Tail plastics from Strike King have been my bait of choice Lizards, Game Hawgs and Craws. Look for the topwater, and spinnerbait bite to pick up especially once the grass tops out. For the deep fish try the XD series of crankbaits and Touchdown jigs by Strike King Lures tipped with a Rage Craw. We are still catching a few Largemouth that are what I call “White ones”. These are fish that haven’t been shallow as yet, and are very pale in color. Have not fished on the ledges yet so no report there...Sorry
4/19/12: caught a few fish on spinnerbait 3/4oz double willow Sexy Shad color and on the new Sexy Dawg walking bait....

Crappie: There will still be a few Crappies in the 7-12’ range but most will have move towards the creek channels and deep stump fields.
Bream: There arealready a few big ones headed towards the bank, we have already had a few guide trips for bream and done really well for mid April.
Catfish: The catfish are already moving towards the steep banks to spawn. We have caught a good many bass and crappie fishing. Night crawlers or Catalpa worms are the best bait to use