Because I live only 45 minutes away, I have fished Fossil Rock three or four times a year from the very beginning of its availability under the previous owners, the Wyrick family.  It has changed hands to new ownership. During last summer's low water drought I fished the lake and could see  substantial earthworks underway on the western and northern shorelines. Getting in with my mini-pontoon was a bit crazy but the newly dug 20deg slope ramp with deep pool at the base allowed straightforward in and out, though once in the boat had to be waded over shallow water to the channel before a trolling motor could be deployed… Fast forward to April 12, yesterday. There is no correlation between the club map on our website and the launch point. None…As in previous years the best available slope for launching is at the southwest end of the dam. The trail to the "launch site" indicated on the map is non-existent. To launch, one must drive to the large barn area, then proceed past the barns and earthmoving equipment to the west end of the end dam located several hundred yards beyond the barns. There is a small plastic 2-man bass tracker type boat there… I assumed it was the clubs but I it might belong to the family…there was once a club Jon boat on site…didn't see one this time. The shoreline tracks indicate where the water’s best launch depth is located. The bank is firm sand, so in and out goes OK… but be vigilant and selective about your exact entry point as there is an attractive innocent looking bog right next to the pile of dirt on the bank that will swallow your trailer if you crowd it. There's no gravel at all near the boat launch area. 
     The entire west side of the lake has been "worked on”. So all the natural shoreline transitions are gone… the water is deeper in the west shore coves…not sure how but the fishable water surface is greater than before. Although the “new” western shore cove bottoms are all covered with some kind of coontail that looks fishy, there aren't many of the normal signs of fish presence, there. There's just nowhere for bait fish to hide, hence not many baitfish and very few bass in those shallows, at a time of year when you'd expect there to be fish everywhere in such water… All our productive fishing was on the eastern shores, up the northern creeks, and in the timber related to those areas. The dam has some fish on it and there's a beaver aided brush pile halfway down the dam that held some fish. The water quality overall was excellent and at this point there was none of that filamentous algae that has plagued this lake in years past… you could throw crank baits(✔️) with minimal frustration…and of course worms, lizards, underspin rigged ribbit frogs(✔️), hollow body frogs, soft plastic Kaitec shad. Watermelon and slightly darker plastics, lizards(✔️) seemed to be better and “not so obvious “ to the fish in this clear water. I had a late afternoon streak of luck using a classic two-bladed spinner bait with chrome and shiny brass blades. When you paused it and let it fall it looked like fireworks going off under water… the bass, though smaller than what I've been catching out of my own lake, seemed to really like the spinner offering. A tiger striped white and black lipped crank bait with some red/orange and yellow on the belly was effective all day… 

Overall, the fishing at this lake has diminished and the price has gone up… the access is marginal at best for non kayakers. For now I would recommend the Cody lakes over Fossil as a better fish/dollar value … As it warms up, the top water bite could be special, wasn't there yesterday… time will tell.

Tom Jones