WATER CONDITIONS The water elevation is fluctuating between 793.5 and 794-feet. Surface temperatures in the channel may vary through the day according to the discharges from Norris Dam and the discharge through Melton Hill Dam. The outflow from Norris Dam continues to be low. The Melton Hill channel is 77 degrees (surface temperature) and some hollows saw temperatures as high as 78 degrees. The Bull Run Fossil Plant was not running today.


SPECIES DETAILS
CRAPPIE
Fair.
Crappie are spawning in many of the coves at 3- to 10-feet deep.
Crappie catches continue to be slow, lake-wide. The better locations were in the heads of the larger creeks, near flooded brush and near timber. Some of the large coves produced a few crappie from flooded brush and downed trees. Tuffy minnows, 1-inch tube jigs, popeye flies tipped with minnows, trout magnets.

LARGEMOUTH BASS Moderate.
Surface to 10-feet deep. Rear of hollows and at 10-feet on the channel’s gently sloping banks, near wood structure, red clay, and rocks. Late afternoons produced a flurry of top water action which lasted about a half-hour.
A few anglers have done very well catching largemouth bass, but the bulk of fishermen were having a harder time of it. Soft plastic, worked slowly along the bottom from the shoreline down to about 10-feet, took many bass. Crankbaits and spinners were second to slider worms or lizards, small rubber skirted jigs, rubber grubs (Twisters), and Brush Hog-type lures. Watermelon and pumpkin colors continue to work. The largemouth which have been caught are post-spawn fish.

SMALLMOUTH
Slow.
Surface to 20-feet on points leading into the main channel, near wood structure. Surface hits came very close to the shoreline, but most were smaller fish. Those fish have been in deeper water along the channels, on broken rock banks or occasionally on rock bluffs.
Brush Hogs, ¼ oz rubber skirted pumpkin colored jigs, and shad or pearl colored Flukes, shaky head jigs rigged with 4- or 6-inch Slider-type worms in pumpkin colors.

STRIPED BASS
Fair.
Surface to 20-feet. Some surface action is being seen in the mornings and late afternoons where baitfish schools were located.
The Bull Run discharge has stopped, eliminating the baitfish concentrations which had been attracting striped bass. Live shad/skipjack, umbrella rigs (see hook rule). Some surface action has been seen in mid-channel near the mouth of Bull Run Creek.

WHITE BASS
Moderate.
Surface to 10-feet.
In the main channel near sand bars and at the mouth of the larger creeks.
Tuffy minnows or shiners were working best, either cast to the breaks or fished deep. Small chrome/white spinners, minnows, white hair jigs, 2 to 4-inch plastic swimbaits or grubs on leadheads.

BLUEGILL and SHELLCRACKER
Good.
On the bottom in the coves, 5 to 10-feet deep.
Crickets or red worms are catching bluegill and shellcracker on the bottom, in the rear of coves, especially where creeks enter the lake and cover is present. Shellcracker are hitting redworms or small minnows fished under floats, in the shallows at less than 10-feet deep. Good bluegill catches are being taken on crickets fished with no float, along the bottom in coves and flats. Deeper water is producing some in shady, rocky areas on crickets tightlined to about 10-feet.