Well, haven't been in 20 years so looking for some suggestions on where the stripers might be the end of March. Will they be on the lower end near the dam or further up the lake toward the river/creek mouths? Will they be feeding on the surface yet or is it still a little early/cold? Is the spillway below the dam any good this time of year? Any help would be appreciated, not looking for coordinates. Will be staying at the Little Rocky Lodge

It�s been tough this year. But from my past trips including yesterday they are not in the upper river part.

Anyone been up the Nolan?

There has been a few fish in the river since early December. I haven't been in two weeks but the fish have been back and forth from McCown to Lakeview for several months now it seems.

Well, we'll be up this weekend, see if I can find some, and either report where they are- or probably where they aren't.

I just saw a phone video of a good mess of fish being caught in the Nolan last Sunday. They were wading, and doing well.

Check the post "Sandies at Nolan/Brazos".

Back to my original post, from what I have read most of the reports are coming from the northern part of the lake near creek mouths. Did see some of the guide's report consistent catches of stripers using artificials this last week so they are biting somewhere!

I would focus north of the bridge. Cedar Creek to Steele creek.

Is shad hard to find on this lake if we wanted to try and catch some for bait?

Is the topwater bite happening yet? Kind of sounds like these fish haven�t really moved out of their early spring patterns yet...

Birds have been working in the AM hours close to White Bluff.

So we made it to Whitney this weekend with very little success. Got to the cabins around 3:00 on 03/28 and decided to put in at Steele Creek boat ramp thinking fish would be near the river. Made it out to the mouth of the river and the wind was blowing 15-20 with big whitecaps. However, within ten minutes we found birds on the surface and fish down to about 30'. Caught 7 stripers trolling and kept 6 before the bite slowed down. Went south around Cedar Creek and then across the lake just to see what it looked like. Marked quite a few fish across the lake from Ceder Creek but only managed one white bass there.



03/29 started at Steele Creek again but the fish and birds were gone. Trolled around the area for about an hour and never got a hit. Wind was howling again and saw three or four boats come in from the main body of the lake and shack up inside the mouth of the river out of the wind. We looked around closer to the boat ramp and saw a few fish on the graph but only managed one white bass. Decided to explore up the river since we had never been and stopped at the mouth of Nolan Creek. Trolled around with small white bass lures then got the trolling motor out to fish a few coves creek mouths but no luck. Made it all the way up to Ham creek without a fish. Talked with two other boaters up the river and it was dead for them also. Did I mention the wind was blowing 20-30! Put the boat back on the trailer and drove back to the cabins to put the boat in on the south side of the lake. Explored some of the coves and creek mouths looking for black bass but nada. Water was 10 degrees colder on the south side than up the river.

03/30 didn't fish because of the front so we drove around the lake and explored again. We decided to come back in April next year when the weather will be a little more predictable and hopefully find them on the surface.

RCW, what baits were you using?

Actually caught most on a sliver 5" hellbender and a few on deep diving shad colored crankbaits. We had lots of swimbaits to try but the fish were to deep and scattered to stop and jig for them.