Despite mostly great weather this week, the bite slowed down a bit, especially over the weekend. Some folks did report excellent fishing while others had no luck at all, even by folks using the same baits. People were seeing plenty fish at the Dam and the Rock Slide but getting them to chew proved challenging for some.

The most consistent spot on the lake this week was the channel by the island which accounted for several of the big stringers and a few nice fish over 3 lbs as well. The back of the lake getting really slow and the fish are very skittish. We will likely have to restrict boat access to the back of the lake within the next week if the water continues to drop at the same rate is has. Big fish of the week was a 5 lber.

The bait n' wait folks did best on Rainbow or Garlic Powerbait fished 3' off the bottom or half a nightcrawler fished 6' under a bobber near shore.

Lure fishing was great for the few days following a DFG plant but slowed down considerably by the end of the week. Blue/Silver spoons like Thomas Buoyants or Kastmasters were working great for folks fishing from shore by the dam on Saturday. Red/Gold Thomas and Tasmanian Devils also caught some fish.

No good trolling reports this week...everyone had pretty tough luck on the troll regardless of their trolling depth.

Soft plastic baits like trout worms and mini-jigs are still accounting for a lot of fish with the baby brookie Sierra Slammer worms, Pink/blue sparkle Sierra Slammer jigs, pearl trout traps and the grasshopper Berkley atomic tubes. The jig bite mid day has been a bit tough but tipping the jigs with a mealworm entices more strikes when the hot August afternoon slows down the fishing.

The water level dropped a few feet on us this week making the rough shore launch to the left of the public launch ramp mostly inaccessible. For safety reasons we will be closing off access to that stretch of shore this week so unless we get a bunch of rain to bring the lake level up, last weekend was the last for private boaters at South Lake for the season. Folks with very small craft like kayaks and canoes that can be carried to the water are still welcome to do so but they'll need to make use of the public launch only for loading and unloading. South Lake Boat Landing plans to keep the fleet of aluminum boats and kayaks in the water through the end of the season. We may have to pull some pontoons out soon but we're playing that by ear.