Lake Sinclair Fishing Report – February 2022

Sinclair: Level: 1.2 feet below 340. Temp: 48-54 degrees. Clarity: The lake is muddy in the rivers and stained all the way to Nancy Creek.

Bass: Tournament angler Karl Pingry reports, “Bass fishing continues to be fair to good, and it’s still taking 18-plus pounds to win a tournament. Ed at Lakeside Chevron has plenty of information to pass on. The club tournament on Saturday was won with 18 pounds on a crawfish-colored squarebill crankbait in the backs of the pockets fishing the mudlines. Other patterns you can count on are a ChatterBait or spinnerbait fished parallel to the grassline. If you parallel the rip-rap, throw a Booyah version of a Rat-L-Trap or a Fritz Flatside crankbait. Both the Little Earl and larger Little Earl crankbaits in pearl and chartreuse are working, too. In the muddy pockets and upriver, a chartreuse-and-white, turtle-back bladed spinnerbait is still producing. Lastly, a Texas-rigged monster worm in junebug red in front of the docks is a big bass producer. The key part of that setup is using a 1/16- or 1/8-oz. weight. SLOW is the key. Expect to use the same baits in February. Include a Senko in the arsenal if the water temps reach the mid and upper 50s as the first big females move up to warm their eggs and try to spawn. If the water is clear, Ed said to parallel the grass, docks and seawalls with baits already mentioned, and add a jerkbait to your arsenal.”

Crappie: Allan Brown reports, “Crappie fishing has been excellent and will get better as we get closer to the spawn. Major creeks like Crooked Creek, Nancy Branch and Rooty Creek are good trolling in deeper areas. A few warm days and they will get move up on shallow flats. Trolling small, 1/32-oz. jigs on flats will produce some good catches as the water warms. Coves off the main river are good places to try, as well. Dock shooting picks up, and docks with some kind of structure always hold fish. The spawn usually fires up around Little River first in those small creeks and coves.”

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