Thread: Hillsdale Lake

What is the lake like, corp of engineers does not show any lake rise. Is this correct, all the other lakes in the area are on the rise. I am interested if Bull Creek is muddy.

We are giving it a shot this afternoon for grins. I will let you know how it goes and if the lake is up or not. It has been ~2ft low.

The lab and I went out this morning. We got on the lake about 6:30 and we where the 3rd boat on the lake. Fished some brush and got into them until about 8 am then it was like someone turned the switch off. Not a bump in the exact same spot we where catching them 5 minutes earlies.I fished a few more spots with nothing so at 10 we headed out. Good sized fish, I cleaned 8 and I didn't keep anything that needed to be measured. I talked to the core guy to see if they opened the gates and he said no they hadn't changed anything. I didn't ask him if they where going to open them up any more but from 8 till 10 I didn't catch anything and didn't see anyone catch anything. I would think tonight will be the normal, good right at dark and then a minnow bite after sunset.

Lake did not come up more than a few inches and I didn't see any "muddier" water.

Originally Posted by Springhill Duckman

The lab and I went out this morning. We got on the lake about 6:30 and we where the 3rd boat on the lake. Fished some brush and got into them until about 8 am then it was like someone turned the switch off. Not a bump in the exact same spot we where catching them 5 minutes earlies.I fished a few more spots with nothing so at 10 we headed out. Good sized fish, I cleaned 8 and I didn't keep anything that needed to be measured. I talked to the core guy to see if they opened the gates and he said no they hadn't changed anything. I didn't ask him if they where going to open them up any more but from 8 till 10 I didn't catch anything and didn't see anyone catch anything. I would think tonight will be the normal, good right at dark and then a minnow bite after sunset.

Lake did not come up more than a few inches and I didn't see any "muddier" water.

Thanks for the report. Sounds like Hillsdale hasn't changed and is true to form where the bite turns off around 10 to 11 am.

According to this
http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/water_...s/lakepool.fct

looks like the gates won't be opened further in the next couple days and appears to only be rising about .01 ft per day.

I just may be checking it out tomorrow to see iffen I remember how to catch a crappie.

Had a good time at Hillsdale this afternoon. Luckily the wind held off. We caught fish at the first spot we went to and didn't leave. We found them deep again. We didn't launch until around 5PM, so we only had a few hours to fish. I took a guy who is a die hard bass fisherman who I am trying to convert, so that was fun. I met Labs and Slabs on the way out. Nice guy. He gave us a few fish. We ended up cleaning 27. Nothing real big. 90% were right at 10" Nothing over 12". Color didn't seem to matter. My buddy has pics, so I will try to get those up tomorrow.

We had very little rain the other night......

Originally Posted by Wknd Warrior

Had a good time at Hillsdale this afternoon. Luckily the wind held off. We caught fish at the first spot we went to and didn't leave. We found them deep again. We didn't launch until around 5PM, so we only had a few hours to fish. I took a guy who is a die hard bass fisherman who I am trying to convert, so that was fun. I met Labs and Slabs on the way out. Nice guy. He gave us a few fish. We ended up cleaning 27. Nothing real big. 90% were right at 10" Nothing over 12". Color didn't seem to matter. My buddy has pics, so I will try to get those up tomorrow.

Way to go WW. You've been doing pretty good down there lately. I went out with a bass fishin buddy also yesterday. We fished LaCygne though instead of HD (his lake, his boat), however he was gracious enough to pursue the crappie all afternoon. We ended up with 23 legals; a couple of them pushing 13". Nice steady bite until about 6:30 when the wind shifted. Glad I got out, cause this weekend's weather is not looking good.

Lucky, check your PM's.

Tough day for Doug and I at Hillsdale. We caught 11 crappie total and took home 10 legal crappie. I was out fished 6 to 4.

Most were caught on the face of the dam in 24 to 28 ft of water. A very slow pattern of just dragging jigs around very close to the bottom while marking scattered fish.

Tried the bridge on the Little Bull only catching one legal. Tried some above the bridge in the channel and on flats a little bit with nothing.

Was seeing very good marks on the graph in the channel up the Big Bull but again nothing. Tried in the Wade Branch with the same luck and went back to the dam fished some more with nothing and called it a day.

Lee,

I didn't make it out this morning but I hope I helped some. With this weather that may have been a good day.

Nick