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Clinton Lake, Hot Water Fishing SmorgasbordBy Steve Welch By the time this article is published I will surely have had a few crappie guide trips under my belt. I usually start in mid-February for the ice-out crappies on Lake Shelbyville . This bite can be very good on a bright, sunny day during our first good warming trend. I always put the Crappie tackle away for about three good weeks of hot water action on Clinton Lake. April 1 they open up the hot water discharge, which has been closed to boats since October. We can run right up to the discharge area and fish in 70-degree water. On Shelbyville or any other natural lake this temperature doesn't arrive until nearly June. The crappie fishing is either up or down in this basin, you never know. I had a trip just three years ago on opening day when we hit a downed tree in this area at daylight. We caught three limits (45 fish) over the nine-inch minimum at our first stop in less than an hour. Thus, I am always prepared to fish for crappies first. For all the other species wind is a big plus since the fishing is very shallow. The last couple of years we have done much better throwing the two-jig rig or a gay blade to the shore and fishing for anything that will hit it. We caught 51 walleyes on my first outing last year, but all of them fell short of the length limit. They should have grown that additional inch by now. However, we did catch a ton of white bass, largemouth, smallmouth, and channel catfish. The action is fast and furious, which is why my clients hire me. We used to have tiger muskie in the lake and boy are they jumpers! I had one jump into my Ranger and hit me in the nose while I was looking over the side of the boat. Let me tell you that you will do some backpedaling when a green, 40-inch Muskie jumps into your boat! I had a client set the hook in a brush pile only to have a muskie grab his crappie and bite it in half. I had to inform him that it no longer met the minimum length requirement and he would have to throw it back. I miss the tiger muskies, but they didn't have a long enough life span to grow to huge proportions so the program was abandoned. The area of the lake that I am referring to is from the Dewitt Bridge up to the Route 48 Bridge. I try to stay in the 60-plus surface temperature range for crappies. You need to check all the downed trees and the two coves that are in this basin. The white bass will seem to leave the mouth of the hot water discharge after the water temperature reaches 80 degrees. The boats that tie up to the discharge cable are looking for big flathead catfish. You often hear of a really big one being caught early in the season, usually more than 50 pounds. I have heard of some weighing 80 pounds. I bring three 10-foot rods with a slip bobber rig on them and either a plain hook to tip with a minnow or a sixteenth-ounce jig and tube in some shade of chartreuse. These rigs are for the crappies and for the other fish I have three spinning outfits spooled with eight-pound test. These rods are six to seven-foot with good backbone and a fast tip to whip the light baits long distances. On the business end I have a two-jig rig, which consists of two ¼-ounce jigs tied one foot apart. I have a twister on one and a shad body on the other. Just throw towards the bank, keep your rod tip high, and reel back. The other bait I use is a ¼-ounce Gay Blade in either chartreuse or chrome. All good things come to an end though. Since I am a crappie nut and the weather is getting warmer by the third week of April, I put the spinning outfits away and go back to Shelbyville, which is where I will remain until the middle of September when this same pattern repeats itself. I fish Clinton hard once again until October 10 when they again close the discharge area to boat traffic until April 1. This is a good way to fish your way through fall turnover. The current and warm water in Clinton has a positive effect on the fish during the turnover period. Shelbyville can be very slow during this time frame. I have received a good response to this pattern during my winter seminars. People are now starting to book trips for the spring so don't wait too long to get something set up. Steve Welch |