Lake Sinclair Fishing Report – March 2006

Sinclair: Level: .3 feet below full pool. Temp: 52-56 degrees. Clarity: Stained.

Bass: The bass bite has been on and off. With the weather stabilizing, the fish should be biting better in the coming weeks. Jerry McClure said he thinks the bass are staging, waiting for the water to warm up a little more before they get really shallow and start looking to spawn. “Some fish are up shallow, but I think maybe the big ones are still in deep water right now,” he said. Jerry has been catching good numbers of fish lately. Jerry is throwing a Texas-rigged walking stick around docks. He will work the dock posts, but Jerry’s strongest bite has been flipping. Jerry said a lot of anglers are having success with crankbaits right now. A Shad Rap, a Rat-L-Trap, and the Suddeth’s Little Earl are all strong choices on Sinclair. “The spinnerbait bite isn’t quite on yet, but it’s going to turn on,” Jerry said. He guessed the bass fishing would be wide open after the warm weather. A spinnerbait worked along sea walls with chunk rock, or rip-rap banks and around blowdowns will be strong. Jerry prefers catching bass on sunny day because they hold tighter to cover. On cloudy days, pick a bait that will cover plenty of water to pick off the scattered bass.

Crappie: Big Eddie Smith at Lakeside Bait & Tackle said the trolling bite is on. He said the hot baits have been an acid rain Kalin grub on a 1/16-oz. jig head or Hal-Flys in red/green/yellow and black/blue/black are good too. Good numbers of fish are in water eight-feet deep. As the month progresses, they’ll be even shallower. Start fishing all the way in the backs of creeks.