John, Mike and Steve

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 45* and Clear.

Anthony and I got out before daylight, caught bait and picked the guys up at 7 on the dock. I had mixed emotions about the day this morning, I have been on fish in numerous areas of the lake and was concerned about the extremely cold weather we had a few days ago lowering the water temperature and turning off the fish. I knew today was going to be nice and the water would warm hopefully turning the fish on. We made a short run to an area where I knew no boats would be and set out our spread of baits. Where we were fishing the water temp had dropped 8 degrees since the last time I was out. Our first fish came from out nearby the channel which confirmed my fears that the fish were indeed hurt by the cold water temps. After working the area for a couple hours only to boat 3 Stripers I knew we had to make a move. We relocated to a different area and worked about a mile stretch of water only to boat 2 Stripers and take a couple short hits. By now the air temperature had warmed up about 20 degrees and so I told the guys the banks had to be warming up so we topped off the tank with bait and put out a spread of a dozen boards covering from the bank out about a hundred yards. We had gotten only 3 boards out on the bank side when the action started. For the next 300 yards it was all Anthony and myself could do to keep baits in the water. The water had warmed up 2 degrees near the bank and that's where the Stripers were. We proceeded to work on the fish and soon we limited out. Today was a special day for Anthony and myself, we took out 3 biologists from a local agency eager to learn more about this fishery from them. At the end of the trip they were thanking us for taking them fishing but it was Anthony and myself who benefited most learning from them about what makes this lake work. We kept 12 Stripers to take home and released the other Stripers unharmed to fight again.