Osceola was good.,

Got on the water about 8 this morning. There was a fair number of boats out all ready. Not as many as most years. I was able to figure out what the fish wanted on my second pass up river and about 2 hours later was thinking about heading home.
There where lots of male saugers in the osceola area. Looks like spawning is in full swing. Watched on guy go to net a bigger female sauger and he ended up with 2 males in the net also. I boated about a dozen and a half males and a couple of eyes in the short time I was out.
As soon as the sun started getting high the bite left the area I was fishing. This was not suprising as most my fish came from 4 to 6′ depths.
Trolling cranks in this shallow water was what was working. Caught fish on a number of different shallow running cranks. The rattle rap and a walleye diver took most of the fish. Firetiger or chartruse where the colors of choice. Never did get around to trying any darker color as it got brighter out.
A very good opening morning.

My second trip to Osceola on saturday was a complete flip of my earlyer trip.
Headed out for about four hours in the afternoon to see if I could find some others areas the fish might be active in. No luck. Ended the trip with on sucker.
After talking to a cuple of other guys at the landing there where some fish to be found if you looked in the right area.
Sounds like the darker color cranks in shallow water and brighter colored cranks in the 10′ to 14′ range where producing some results during the mid day and evening.
I stuck around until the sun went down hoping that the bite that was there in the morning might show up again. Never happened.

Nice reports

Would it be worth my time to fish for catfish around the osceola bridge? If so should I fish north or south or right at the bridge?

Try north of the bridge and the south point of the park for cats.
Sunday afternoon was anouther slow trip for us. We took 2 boats of kids with us. Atleast they enjoyed a couple of hours on the water.

ok thanks for the info. i’ll be there later this week

Spent a few hours again in Osceola this morning. The bite is still not what it was opening morning. Water levels where way down this morning. Atleast a 1′ lower. This turned the area the saugers where in min 3.5′ to 2.5′. Scratch this area.
Headed to deeper water and quickly caught a small sauger. No more takers on cranks after that. After searching a couple of different shallow areas I headed back to this deeper water area and switched things up. Finaly picked up a few more fish trolling a lindy rig/crawler and a ring worm. Cutting back and forth across the river slowly trolling these baits seemed to work the best.
Ended up the morning with 3 legal eyes and a small sauger. Not a great morning of fishing but beats working.
Looks like pool 2 tommorrow for me.

I fished right north of the bridge from shore today. I got 1 small white bass and thats it So I tryed the south point of the park and got nothing. I had my cat rod out with a sucker on and I didn’t get any bites Any suggestions on what to try? Is there ever fish caught in that backwater on the west side of the park?

Dave. What time where you over there? Was that you about 11 fishing on the north side of the bridge?
If that was you there mid day the best advice I could give is to get there before the sun comes up or later in the day and after dark. In years past you could fish these spots all day and barely catch a thing but then at dark have the fishing turn on.
I have a polar kraft jon boat and haul it with a white van. Stop by and say hi if you see me.

yep that was me…I’ll try to get up there 1 more time before I go back home. I figured I wasn’t there at the best time of day but I thought i’d try it anyways. I’ll keep watch for ya if i’m there again

Is there a certain time you have to be out of the park area there?? I’d like to do some late nite catfishing there but I wasn’t sure if there is a certain time that you have to leave or not. I also notice that the south point must be pretty shallow straight out from it.

I think the park closes at 9. What you can do is park in the boat ramp lot and walk to the point. They dont seem to have a problem with this as long as you dont leave a trail of cans.
The back water area at the end of the park should be lees than 4′ in most areas. It is easy anough to check with a bobber. Where the current break is it run 5 to 8′. Where the trees are just up stream from there is the deepest at 10 to 11′.
My thought is that the cats do use the back water area at night to feed on the sunfish that are in there. There should also be some fish moving in the main channel ( current area).
When I was there this morning there seemed to be active fish up stream from the point. Up past the log jams. Might want to try wetting a line where the riprap shoreline is near the last parking area.
Good luck.