The fam and I have spent a bit of time down by the Cline and it can be good but we've found it a bit tougher since the last big flood. The river used to flow primarily in one finger down to the lake. Once the lake got high enough (usually about July) the lakers would be stacked where there was just a little bit of current before entering the lake. After the flood the river started taking two shallower fingers down and I've found it tougher to find them in any concentration. Didn't make it down last year so maybe things have changed not sure.
The go to for us has always been a simple white twister tail dragged along the bottom, we've tried a number of things but always go back to that. You might get the odd one on spinners/spoons/swimbaits that are jerked higher up in the water column but we always go back to the ground punted jig. You will lose a lot of line and a lot of jigs, thank goodness they are cheap ha. There seems to always be a period at the start where you have to get the retrieve speed and feel down but after that it can be a lot of fun.
If they ain't biting there my suggestion would be to just hit random access spots along the lake (which there are many) and try for a bit. We've found them just randomly congregrated in one spot for no apparent reason where you can catch a pile in a day, to be gone the next. There are some big lakers in there but they are absolutely few and far between. The majority are really small but incredibly good eating.
P.S. This obviously all pertains to shore fishing, haven't taken the boat out there yet but some guys do. The wind is very unpredictable in the valley, no matter what boat I was running I wouldn't be venturing to far from a launch point. I've seen some very scary waves out there. Tall 6-9 foot breakers close together, not going to ride that out with your average fishing boat let alone anything short of an ocean liner ha.
