It has been some time ago that I have posted, so I thought perhaps I would give an update on Rock. WOW, the water is high. Some of the reports implied that it was up to the rocks, but "what rocks" was not indicated. This is Rock Lake, there are rocks everywhere. LOL

There is no indication that the water has been higher then it is now. The launch site is not owned by the state, but leased by the state, and the owner was visiting the site on Saturday. He has owned the site for many many many years and he has never seen it higher. Nevertheless, it is only about three feet above high pool. (algae marks on rocks and depth below the water to the best I could tell, plus my own marks on rocks left in the past) Still, the water flowing out of the lake is moving quite fast. With no dam on the lake, the only way the water can go higher is if the outflow is great enough that the constriction downstream cannot handle it.

The water was dirty, with only about a foot of visibility based on a white lure. The water temperature was only 36 degrees, plus or minus .5 degrees. There were a few fish that were rising, but very few and for no known reason. We did see a single black cricket on the water and it never got taken that we could tell. They just cannot eat what they cannot see. Near the mouth of the outlet we did see a few small fish at 22 feet, a couple near at bottom at 60', but little else showed up.

Three of us fished it hard, very hard, and two of us caught fish. I was not one of them. Ouch! We did catch one that the Boga said was 4.5 pounds, and I did lose a really nice one. It appeared to me that the strikes were reaction strikes for the most part. Overall, we think we might have caught and released up to 15 fish from 7:00 am to 4:30 PM.

The good news is that most of the rocks that have caused danger in the past are below prop zone right now. You also have good water for launching the boat. The bad news is that the current is rough for those with poor launch and recovery skills. Also, you will not be able to see the underwater rocks, so if you are new to the lake you will not be able to "learn" the lake.

I expect that Rock will be good once this crazy runoff stops, but there are so many signs of flooding right now that I do not expect that to happen soon. Also, the color is not exactly normal mud, but more of the clay color. I suspect the mud will tend to hang in there for some time and not settle out very quick.

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