Lake McClure Fishing Report

At McClure, folks are finding quality bass action deep. Fish are keyed in on rock structure from 20 to 50 feet, but the best quality is coming from deeper ledges in the 40 to 50-foot range. Jigs and Neko rigs are doing most of the damage, with fish tight to slate rock and hitting on slow presentations. Sonar and LiveScope have been extremely helpful. Shallower areas in 20 to 25 feet, especially saddles and narrow coves, are holding numbers... but they are typically smaller than the deeper fish. Shaky heads and drop-shots are working well in these mid-depth areas. The topwater bite was very good a couple of weeks ago, although it’s cooled off some. Still, overcast mornings are seeing a window of very good surface action.

There’s still some trout in 45 to 60 feet of water, although it’s inconsistent. Blade crawler combos, spoons, and spinners are getting a few here and there. The crappie bite has been very good lately on small cranks and jigs.

Lake McClure has been one of the hottest bass spots in the area, turning out both numbers and quality as spotted bass move up from winter depths. Most fish are stacked up around 20 feet, where small jigs, shakey heads, wacky-rigged Senkos, and drop-shot worms are working well. They’re relating to points and rocky banks, though some have been caught very shallow on underspins. Expect bass to push even shallower as the weather warms and water temps rise.

A 1,000-pound trout plant a couple of weeks ago kicked off a solid bite for shoreline bait casters. Meanwhile, trollers running lead core line 40 to 50 feet deep have been picking off some nice holdover trout and kings.

Not a lot of big fish coming out of McClure at the moment, but action has been consistent. Spotted bass are still chasing schools of shad, and with shad moving deeper, so are the spots. Small baitfish imitation jerkbaits and Keitechs are getting hit in 15-40 feet of water, but the best bite has been primarily on drop-shotting worms around steep rocky banks, points, or any other structure variations. Small soft-plastic crawfish imitations and jigs are also getting hit by bigger fish.

Rainbows were stocked in late November, but reports on where and what they are biting are limited.