I see on-line the lake is up about 8 ft. over the past few weeks, is the water stained a good ways down from the river. Thinking about heading up this weekend and
was curious if mid-lake would be a better starting point.

Absolutely! Go mid lake. The fish are there now. The water is very clear but there was a good bit of floating debris there yesterday. I pick up a good number of under sized striper in rattletraps. Water clear enough to watch them chase it back to the boat.