Lake Shelbyville

Providing a broad-based summary regarding recent fishing trips to the spillway in late April and May.  Walleye fishing has been excellent as walleyes continue to feed up from post-spawn.  Daily limits for those that are willing to study the water flows, weather, and how the water is being discharged threw the gates.  Each combination in terms of discharges through the gates, chutes or a combination thereof, will dictate where the crappie and walleye will position when feeding. I caught walleye limits seven of the nine days that I fished with several large fish released and skinny limits.  Average fish were between 17-22 inches which is very good for this particular spillway.  The crappie fishing was very good.  It was a matter of spotting the eddies in the water flow.  Once you spot the slack water, you will find crappie schools suspended in this area during non-feeding periods.  You can find them early a.m. and p.m. easily but during mid-day, you have to find the depth by finding the right jig weight and count-down to quickly learn that ?an abundance of fish awaits.  My favorite two baits are bass assassins and crappie sliders. Color isn't as important as finding these schools of fish but a crappie nibble doesn't hurt.

The best bites were early a.m. and dusk.  The best baits were crappie sliders and paddle tail-style baits. My targeted fishing window was between 4:30 p.m. through 8:30 p.m.  

Again, take 30 minutes and study the fishermen that are there.  You will learn where and where not to fish based on their results.  Then move to where they are fishing, sit down, observe, and learn.  Do not be afraid to ask questions.  In my 40 years of fishing the spillway, I've only come across a handful of fishermen that were not willing to share information, insights, and techniques.  There are simply good people that fish the Shelbyville spillway.

Headed back down next week.  I expect a new challenge as the discharge rate drops to 40 cfs which is a totally different approach.  My successful baits of the last trip will remain in the car.  Now is the time to shift to countdowns, blade baits, and jerk baits.  Best bite windows will remain between early a.m. and dusk.

Best of luck out there and stay safe. ?Feedback is appreciated to know that the updates have some value to those that want to know to fish this spillway effectively but always remember, save some for the next guy!

Lake Shelbyville crappie are on fire! If you want to catch them right now & next week is going to be PRIME.
I was there the last 3 days water went from 58 To 65, I was on the south end of the lake.
At the cleaning stations the dumpsters were full by the end of the day. LOTS of boats out to no surprise, & must be very cautious the water is    4 -5 feet low, the gates at dam had very little water flowing. You will catch a lot of under-size fish.
I hope this helps some one!

Tight Lines.

Just completed my latest trip to fish the spillway.  Overall, I would rate it as slow.  I felt that it was water temperature related.  The water temperature was 42 degrees in the spillway.  That's the sweet spot for the actual walleye spawn (39-43 degrees).  The bit was super spotty and what resembled a bite window was less than 90 minutes (dusk).  

I had a personal best of catching muskies each day during the trip.  Admittedly, I wasn't fishing for them but they were the only game in town.  I caught approximately 12 muskies; 5 foul hooked and the rest were caught on 4-5 inc swim baits.  The three largest were 38,40,42.  I saw two guys that I knew lose two larger ones on 'the leap'!  Always fun and most were released without removing them from the water.  The walleye bite was not there.  They had more important things to do.  Expect the bite to pick in two weeks.

There's a ton of baitfish at the moment lining the shores by the tens of thousands.  Our best evening was 7 walleyes with the largest just shy of 6lbs.  All fish on the trip were released. Hopefully, the bite will improve.  We expect the white bass, crappie, and hybrids to move in mid-May which makes for fun fishing.  

Take what you need to sustain your family and leave some for the next guys!

Tight lines and safe a journey.

Cripler,

In my opinion, for the next 30-45 days, the majority of saugers and walleyes will be up in the river.  At this time of year, the main population of walleyes and saugers has not yet dropped into the lake. If I get out on the boat (when there is a slow spillway bite), I focus on the creek channel around Point 3.  I follow the river channel up into the Wolf Creek area.  I fish the points closest to the creek channel.  It's hit or misses and I don't waste a lot of time.  I'll catch them sometime in March but it's tough fishing.  I'm a patient stubborn fisherman and I'm from the old school.  I fish one rod well and love jigging and feeling the initial bite while the rod is in my hand.  Trolling produces more fish overall.

The better bites are around Fish Hook and Allenville in the rive.  My favorite bite is the spillway until mid-May.  That's when the walleye bite takes off with good bites on the flats and breaks.  Points 5, 6, and 3 in 11-12 feet will produce fish on harnesses with minnows.  

Hopefully, the spillway bite will turn on next week.  It's time.  If it does, there's no reason to fish the lake.  You can catch walleyes, saugers, hybrid stripers, white bass, and crappie starting around now through June (if the discharge rates remain steady).

Good luck out there.

Jigaroni…. When you fish the lake do u still target walleyes, if so what kind of structure will you be fishing in march, thanks

Love the reports thanks 

The first trip of the year is in the books.  Boy did I take one on the chin but I wasn't alone.  There were several skilled fishermen that I met over the years that did not catch fish.  It was super slow and we didn't really know why.

Good water flow at 1,200 cfs on discharge.  Pretty good weather yet the fish were acutely negative.

I caught four walleyes for five days of fishing with the largest being close to 4 lbs.  Caught plenty of buffalo, gar, and seven muskies.  My hair jigs and streamer flies caught no fish so I have to try again when I know a good bite is present.

Next trip March 25th, 2023.  I will try the spillway but will most likely launch my boat onto the lake for a couple days to blow out the engines.

Good luck out there!