Thread: Rathbun Lake

Finns thanks for the Fish Attractors GPS Locations.

Crappiekiller2, I guess your right about the abundance of flooded timber. We typically fish crappie cove, but have never had much luck west of Bridgeport.
I don't think I'll have internet access while down there, but will post reports when I get back on Sunday.

Here is a 3 day report from Rathbun:
Thursday, 5-15 kept 19 crappie and 2 gills. These fish were caught around Buck Creek and Crappie Cove in 4 - 6 feet of water. Water temp 56 to 62 degrees. All crappies were 11+" with 3 @13".
Friday, 5-16 kept 19 crappie and 4 gills. These fish were caught around Buck Creek and Crappie Cove in 2 - 4 feet of water. Water temp 59 to 64 degrees. All crappies were 10.5+" with 1 @13.5" and 2 @13". The water level dropped about 6".
Saturday, 5-17 kept 6 crappie at Rathbun and 28 crappie at Lake Miami. Rathbun crappies were caught in the South Fork down past the bridge in 2 feet of water up on the banks. Water temperature was 64 to 70 degrees. All crappies at Rathbun were 10+" with 1 @14" (largest of the trip). Water level dropped about another 9". It started getting real windy so we headed over to Lake Miami for the rest of the afternoon. The water temp there was 62 to 64 degrees and the crappie were shallow a foot off the bank. These crappies were not large, but were plentiful and fun to catch.
In the three days we were at Rathbun you sure could notice a pattern. Every day the water seemed to warm and drop. The warmer the water, the closer we kept moving into the banks and the shallower the fish were. I hope that the Corps don't keep dropping the lake or it may leave many spawning crappie eggs in the next week high and dry out of the water.

Finns, we stayed at the RoVelDo Cabins in front of the Buck Creek park entrance. They were nice for only $79 a night. We like them because they are close to larg ramps, bait shop and Centerville.

Sounds like you had a good time and thanks for the cabin info. Hope to get back up soon.

thanks for the info, sounds like you had a good trip.
The wife and I are going over Friday for the weekend, if we do well enough we will stay into next week.
I'll post on here when we get back.
Come on Friday....

Get ready to catch some nice crappies!!!! We couldn't find large quantities of fish, but their size made up for it. If the weather hold and the water temp keeps rising, you should have a good weekend. Enjoy your trip!

its going to rain tomorrow, we will be on the road to rathbun. the weekend is supposed to be good, hope the fishing is too. I'll post a report when we get back.

Hey crappiekiller2 how was the fishing? Hope everything is well...... haven't seen your post.

we have been here since friday. friday started out stormy but ended nicely. (weather wise) crappie were scarce for most on the lake but i heard a few got lucky. friday was jigs and saturday we tried minnows in every possible way! still no luck. weather was great. south fork was muddy with mid 50's water and north by the dam was clear and low 60's water. we tried in the brush, on the rip rap and some structure but no luck. i am sure somebody probably slabbed them but not us. maybe next time. sunday sounds like the last good day as stormes are supposed to come in monday. good luck!