Finley Water Level And Color.

[RSBreth]

I fished the Finley for a little while Sunday - lots of people at the park section with the nice weather. The water is still up just a little and a little milky green from all the runoff, but clearing. I caught my first two spinnerbait Bass of the season - to me that means it's officially Spring.

I think I saw 6 different people with one or another Bass Pro "Ascend" kayak - it seems to be the solo watercraft of choice these days.

[Jack Jones]

Beautiful weather for it. I came close to going, but figured the water needed to recede a little. Those Ascends are pretty inexpensive so I'm sure that's why they are multiplying like rabbits. What size, color, etc...of spinner bait did you use? Was this all up from the dam?

[RSBreth]

It's a custom one built off of lurepartsonline.com's "Hidden Weight" spinnerbait head - the smallest one with more weight added so it's about 3/8 - shad colored (white with a dark back) with an Oklahoma blade stolen off of a Terminator. I'm still not happy with this one - so I'm still tinkering with my spinnerbaits.

I was up from the dam, away from the crowd.

[Arofishing]

Thank you! I have bass catching fever and I'm ready to catch my first of the year. Hopefully this week if not the next.

[OzarksRiverman]

I fished the upper Finley today at Olga for a little bit. The water was about a foot high and greenish, not milky though. I caught 5 smallish (though feisty) smallmouth on bitsy tube. Didn't check the water temp but it wasn't too cold not to wade.

[RSBreth]

Hey - great bit of info - I haven't been up there in about a month.

[Jack Jones]

Olga? Care to clue me in on where that is? I google mapped it and found an Olga Rd in Fordland and tracked the Finley up from Lindenlure Lake. It looked a little thin for fishing though. Am I on track?

[RSBreth]

That's right - there's some places up there that are bigger than they look on a map.

[OzarksRiverman]

Yeah, Olga is a good little spot. I fished just upstream from the slab yesterday. I like creeks this size because they're easily wadeable for miles and miles (I don't have a canoe). But it's important to tell everybody who goes with you--or encounter there fishing-- to consider catch and release. These smaller creeks can't stand a whole lot of pressure.

[OzarksRiverman]

I found a badass fishing hole on the upper Finley (above Linden) last weekend! I'm not telling anybody where it's at because it's so little... But the smallies were stacked up on a fast running bend with strewn boulders. I tried several different lures but the ole rebel crawdad was working best. I probably caught--and released 15 smallies and 5 goggle eye from that one hole in 30 minutes. Size ranged from dinks up to 3 or 4 nice 13-14 inchers! Not even May yet and I've got the fever. Good luck everybody.