All the fish I cleaned Thursday and from today were males. I'd be willing to bet the females are staging somewhere further downstream. Probably around Newman's.

The females are in the big hole up by the bridge. Or that's where I�ve seen them come from any how. The males can be caught from hole to hole during this time, but the females will hold tight in deeper pockets until feeding time arrives, and then they venture out of their comfort zone to feed. That�s my take on this any way. During the day light hours when spawning is on hold due to water temps being to low to successfully spawn in, females will hold in deep pockets. I don�t know why this is, but it�s been like this for as long as I can remember. Now when the time comes to spawn, they become very active in the shallower waters and you can catch them just about anywhere, but if you take note, they will still be in like a main channel on the edge of a sand bar or in a deep depression. Early morning light is a good time to catch females returning to deeper waters. Late afternoon and I mean right before dark is another good time to get a few females going out in search for prey to forage on.

Great info, Doug. I've experienced that a few times, where the bite just goes crazy about a half hour before dark.

The lake is on the rise again after the rain we got yesterday and Saturday. I imagine the Yegua is out of it's banks or close to it, and flowing fast & muddy.

Lake Level is 243 ft. 5 feet above normal. COE cut the flow to 1000 cfs on Sunday and shut the gates today. Lake came up another 1/2 foot during the day today.

I can not remember the lake being this full during a spawn in the past, so this is going to be some new stuff to take into consideration and ponder on as the months go by. Will it affect the spawn in a positive way, or a negative way? I think it should lean a little more towards a positive factor myself, but we will see how this all unfolds in the months to come. I mean, that�s all we can do, right?

Did you have your best luck up in the WMA area when the lake was high in the past?

I was talking with the guy who manages the trail way a couple weeks ago and he felt they will just push further upstream and spawn. We may end up sitting on the culvert at the far end of the WMA, LOL!!

I'm just going to catch them where Hwy 21 crosses the Middle Yegua. I'll pull up my car to the edge of the bridge, put the rod tip out the window, and drop a line in the water.

I have gone upstream so far that I reached the end of the fish. Kind a crazy that someone would go that far upstream, but I wanted to know everything about the creek. It took me around five years of exploring every inch of this creek when I first started fishing it. I guess the unknown part got the best of me. It's an awesome creek to say the least. But in order for me to understand the spawn in this creek, I had to learn and understand the creek first. But that's just who I am. I started at Irwin bridge, I did not know anything about Newman's bottom. I found it by walking and fishing the creek downstream from the bridge and started seeing anglers on the creek fishing. I asked them how did they get there and they told me. Took me several more trips before I found the right roads that lead to Newman's bottom. But back then, I didn't have the Internet or a phone with GPS to get me there.
To answer your question, the fish will only go about 3/4 of a mile upstream from the bridge. The creek gets real narrow up there, so I think that's why the majority of the fish don't go any farther upstream than what they do. But they have about 3 miles of shallow flowing water to spawn in below the bridge.

Thanks, more great information. I won't waste my time walking further than that first 3/4 mile.

I really enjoy the exploring part as well. There's always that hope to find the ultimate fishing spot, LOL!!

And there are a few real good hot spots upstream. Wish I was a ten years younger again. I have put myself in some strange places to offer these fish a nice little white jig. Vertical dirt walls with tree roots to stand on as I lean back on the wall to make such offerings. LOL Climb out on trees that have fallen over the creek so I can get in the right place to make the best cast. I have been all over this creek and I know where they like to stack up to feed and spawn. But, those were yester- years. Getting all muddy wasn't an issue, I didn't let to many things stop me from fishing each and every spot from different angles to find out which jig presentation on each hole got me bit more often. Bait presentation is everything. Every hole has a spot to stand that will get you bit over and over again. Personally, I get a big kick out of drifting a jig into a hole of fish. They can not resist it. And it doesn't seem to disturb them at all, allowing one to really load up on some fish. I have never kept over a limit of fish on purpose, how ever I have gotten home with one over my limit a few times. That could have been a costly mistake. And I use a counter to help me keep up with my catch. But I use to go down there and do the catch and release thing only. I probably caught a hundred plus back in those days. I would start early and fish late. I felt like I could never get enough of it. Back when I started this white bass thing, there was no such thing as a size limit or daily bag limit on these fish. I can not tell you how many times I brought home over a hundred fish. It took me hours and hours to fillet my catch.

The dam is still closed but the lake has just about crested now. It only came up another 0.10 feet since yesterday.

Currently the lake level is 243.6 or 5.6 feet above normal.

Lake Level is 243.8. It came up 0.2 feet in the last 24 hours.

Coolshot drove by Irwin yesterday and sent me a photo. Water was still high, muddy and flowing hard.

Cool, thanks for sharing. I may give it a try on Sunday. Might fish Nails if the Yegua still looks too high.

Went by Irwin this morning. Water level has subsided some but is still out of the banks in the normal areas. Visibility was 2 to 4 inches. Flow was still pretty strong.

I caught 2 white bass and one crappie, all keeper size.

Lake level is 243.8. COE opened the gates back up either last night or early this morning. Release rate is 1500 cfs.

Fishing should be decent again in a couple more days, pending additional hard rains.

Thanks for the report, Jamie. This gives me hope for Sunday.