Interesting to see a Spada report. This lake/reservoir gets hardly any pressure, and even less reports. I fished it last summer one time. I was very disappointed in that the fish were so small. I thought we'd tie into some bigger fish.
Did you mark anything special on sonar? Did you fish much in the area of the dam?

I recently read a scientific report on Spada that basically said that the lake is not able to produce fish much bigger than 13". It has to do with the low nutrient levels because of how fast the lake flushes. There may have been big fish in the lake "back in the day", but it appears those days are over. The people conducting the survey used nets all throughout the lake and said that there was no indication that bigger fish preferred the deep parts of the lake (dam area). There were no large fish netted. There was a period in the late 80's when they raised the level of the reservoir that allowed for big fish growth due to an inundation of nutrients from all the drowned plant life, but those nutrients are long gone. If you are going to fish Spada, you'll just have to accept a 12" fish as a good one. Still, it's a beatiful place to fish. If you take a light spinning rod or a fly rod and cast to fish rather than trolling for them, you can have a very fun time. Remember, single, barbless hook.

Ya it does not get any pressure at all which makes for a very nice outing. I marked very few fish compared to usual, but did not pay to much attention to anything but the depth. I tried off the downriggers for a while but did not get anything so switched to flatlining. I generally dont fish near the dam but rather head back towards the opposite end of the lake. I have fished spada alot over the past eight years and have got a few nice fish with the biggest going 16 inches. I also read that report and found it interesting, however I believe it was carried out quite a while ago so maybe stuff has changed. Also the fishing seems to improve always as the lake level drops, and it was very high when i went.

Very cool to see a Spada report. Interesting to find out the lake does not hold large fish. The lake looks very fishy, color of the water is cool too.

I'm sure as the level drops the fishing does get better. The fish are more concentrated. Also, I know I've seen a fish or two jump out there that was bigger than 13", but I'm sure those fish are few and far between. I'd like to hook into a 16" fish on my fly rod sometime. By the way, last time I was there (late May), I saw a Bobcat walk accross the road as I was driving in. Very cool.