Isabella is holding at 11 percent capacity and the annual Isabella Lake Fishing Derby starts April 9th and runs through July 4th. There will be 500 tagged trout with cash prizes ranging from $20 to $5000. The trout bite has been steady from shore and boat. From shore anglers have been finding trout with Get Bent Baits, Powerbait, spinners and GULP! Pinched Crawlers. Boat anglers have had success with leadcore followed by Flicker shad, Tasmanian Devils and Needlefish. These have all worked well for the annual trout derby in years past. The crappie action is improving with stringers of slabs be reported. Our contacts reported the Crappie bite has been solid in 15 to 20-feet of water near structure. They’ve been coming on minijigs and live minnows. Boaters have been plucking slabs trolling with flicker shad. The bass bite is still hit or miss and haven’t yet moved into shallower water. Bass have been coming on big worms, deep diving crankbaits, shad, and crawdad imitation baits. The catfish bite is steady with cutbait, and dip baits. Out in deeper water they’re still being found over shad schools and can be fooled with vibrating jigs.