What's your opinions on HIGH water 2024

Trevor in Burke reply :

so the water has been low up until this latest monsoon, I was starting to see bedding bass, how will the high and very dirty water levels affect the bedding bass, will they hold true if they haven't reached full spawn yet? I've never seen that water as high as it is at my lake, my boat is half submerged, beds that were in a foot of water are now in 3-5 feet of water in some places.

Hung up Paul reply :

Great question. I imagine water temps dropped a few degrees overall. No idea though about how this effects the spawn. I'm going to wait until the weekend after the dust settles before I head out again.

JCrzy4Bass reply :

IMHO I think the first wave of spawners is gonna be pushed back. The rain was a cool rain and I agree with Paul it probably dropped the temps in most lakes. It has gotten higher and I'm assuming muddier in run off areas therefore my guess would be since new cover has water on it and the water is muddy that they are holding tighter to structure or will be for the time being until we have more stable weather.

I definately think that the crankbait bite that had died down on most lakes as of last week will probably pick back up as the bass will probably back off the spawn and start to feed up again.

I may be wrong but this is just based off things I have read and learned about the spawn this past winter while studying up. Since the water temperatures were never prime to begin with I feel confident that this is what we will be experiencing until the next full moon in May.

Of course things will change over the course of the next couple weeks pending on what kind of fronts we experience and mid day temps/sun so forth.

Trevor in Burke reply :

I think mid-May is a stretch, I feel like they'll be back cruising the shallows and bedding again after 2-3 days of sunny skies and no rain. Although I'm sure some are scattered now as not all fish spawn at the same time, I'd think the ones that were close to spawning are holding close to where they were. I guess the only way to truely know is to plop a black and blue tube in there 8-)

Not a sermon, just a thought.

rondef reply :

This is my year fishing the spawn so I really can't say what to expect as to when the ladies will be spawning. My gut tells me that the cooler water has put the spawn off to a certain degree, how much I don't know. But I agree with JCrzy4Bass that the crankbait bite may pick back up again over the next couple of days. I guess I will find out this Thursday when I fish Lake Mercer.

JCrzy4Bass reply :

I agree with the sun thing, but the key will be what the temperatures are at throughout the next week or two and if we have cool nights or more fronts like this. April is a pretty rainy month. But your right, the spawn is scattered and not all fish spawn at the same time.

The one's that were in process or paired up will probably be back on the beds when we see some consistency in weather and temperature.

I just think the biggest wave of spawners is gonna come off the next full moon in May. That's gonna be heavy action time, and I'll be out there every day if I can sight fishing my pond, Mercer, and a couple of other smaller ponds in the area.

Time to break out tubes, lizards, craws and spinnerbaits.

Trevor in Burke reply :

I meant rain scatters fish...

don't forget about the devils horse just chillin' above their heads, they hate that when they're on those beds

JCrzy4Bass reply :

Ahhh, I thought you meant "scattered" as far as not all the fish being on the beds at the same time. my mistake.

Tight lines. Should be an interesting rest of April.

Wayne P. reply :

The next big wave of spawners will be the NEW moon if the water conditions are favorable.

Chai reply :

just got done fishing Lake Braddock from noon till now with a few buddies of mine. Caught a lot of blue gills it was fun, and caught a few 1lbers here and there. Spinner bait with yellow skirt/head/spinners and Realistic colored worms seems to be doing the trick right now. But they're defiantly not where they're at right now Trev. I walked the entire lake and couldn't find a single bass. Kinda had to cast into the cove to the right of the pier, thats where they're hitting for us. These next couple of days should do the trick, no rain just shine

flippin4it. reply :

Quote
The next big wave of spawners will be the NEW moon if the water conditions are favorable.

Wayne nailed it on the head.

roadwarrior reply :

Well, you might want to try something different. I had my "best day ever" several years ago, at Bull Shoals in north central Arkansas, fishing the "normal" bank line. The lake was up 30'+ and submerged trees were in full-leaf! Man, what a sight.

We (my guide Tim "Hot Dawg" Curtis and I) fished in what would appear to be the middle of the lake! Seriously, when we first started I didn't have a clue what he was up to. We cast 3 1/2" Mizmo tubes (Kent' Classic or baby diaper yellow) into what looked like open water. Smallmouth were holding along the tree fall-lines. For two and a half days we never went fifteen minutes without "Fish On!"

8-)

Trevor in Burke reply :

I don't understand happened to all the posts in here, I was coming back to finish reading that long post by CJ, what the hell

okrod reply :

If I hear what the warrior is cooking, those fish already spawning are staying on their original beds although they're now off-shore?

roadwarrior reply :

Quote
I don't understand happened to all the posts in here, I was coming back to finish reading that long post by CJ, what the hell

It was deleted.

The text of the post was copied from another source (professional writer) without permission.

roadwarrior reply :

Quote
If I hear what the warrior is cooking, those fish already spawning are staying on their original beds although they're now off-shore?

No, this was the first weekend in June, 2002 and the smallmouth (we think) were still staging in pre-spawn mode. Bull Shoals is a huge reservior and very deep. The rising, cold water had the entire lake population confused and the spawn delayed.

On a side note, as a result of the shoreline flooding, recruitment for year class 2002 was estimated at 95% which is virtually impossible! Right now (2008) there should be more 4-6 lb smallmouth in this lake than there have ever been. I hope to find out in a few weeks.

p.s. Water conditions were similar in the spring of 2004, but estimated survival for that year's smallmouth spawn was -0- The two year olds had a feast!

8-)

okrod reply :

Thanks for the clarification.

Trevor in Burke reply :

Well, would you mind posting a link so I could finish the article please? 8-)

roadwarrior reply :

No, we will not be posting a link to another fishing website or forum.

I suggest sending a PM to the member that posted and asking him for a link.

Trevor in Burke reply :

I'm over it

Dan: reply :

WHAT THE? why can't we link to other sites for information.

JCrzy4Bass reply :

Dan,

We've never been able to. I think it has something to do with taking away from this particular site but I don't understand it either. If you try and put in a url to link to it doesn't show up in your post and there's just a blank spot there. I noticed it a while ago.

Anyway... I think if it's fishing related and this site doesn't have the answer (which is not very often) we should be able to direct people to a place where there may be helpful information.

Links to local fishery pages, department websites, etc do not normally work on here... egh.

roadwarrior reply :

We have agreements and links with a number of sites, but others are not approved by the Administrator. Unapproved sites are (generally) screened by our system. The internet is a vast universe that you can easily access on your own. The links at BassResource.com are regulated, which in many cases is designed to reduce or eliminate spam.

-Kent a.k.a. roadwarrior

Global Moderator

JCrzy4Bass reply :

Thanks for the explanation boss. Always was curious how you guys decided on that stuff. Makes perfect sense now. I could see how there would be issues that may arise if someone linked from a post here and got brought to a site that that has spam or some advertising malware or something. Ya never know.

Just out of curiousity how often do you guys update that screening thing and add sites to it. Do you think you could provide a list on the mains ection of the forum of valid sites or types of sites that will/will not work? Putting up an explanation like this as a stickey may be helpful... just a thought.

roadwarrior reply :

Nope.

Gotta keep a few tricks behind the

curtain, or as a beuracrat might respond,

"It's classified."

Trevor in Burke reply :

RW could you move the posts about sites to another thread so we can focus on the question at hand and get more opinions?

roadwarrior reply :

Quote

Quote
If I hear what the warrior is cooking, those fish already spawning are staying on their original beds although they're now off-shore?

No, this was the first weekend in June, 2002 and the smallmouth (we think) were still staging in pre-spawn mode. Bull Shoals is a huge reservior and very deep. The rising, cold water had the entire lake population confused and the spawn delayed.

On a side note, as a result of the shoreline flooding, recruitment for year class 2002 was estimated at 95% which is virtually impossible! Right now (2008) there should be more 4-6 lb smallmouth in this lake than there have ever been. I hope to find out in a few weeks.

p.s. Water conditions were similar in the spring of 2004, but estimated survival for that year's smallmouth spawn was -0- The two year olds had a feast!

8-)

Looks like my post was the last "on topic" so lets go from here...

Bull Shoals might be typical of high water conditions. As noted in the fishing report, the bass that are being caught are in deeper water, not shallow.

Trevor in Burke reply :

so were you catching those fish 30 feet deep since it was so high or did they come up with the levels

roadwarrior reply :

Generally, the fish were staging where the shoreline would normally be, among the trees that would be along the bank. Sometimes our tubes would make it to the bottom and we would catch smallmouth 30' deep, but more often they were scattered in the water column. They were related to the "cover" which in this case was full grown trees!

Now here is the current report. You will notice that the smallmouth are still deep, but largemouth have moved up into creeks:

http://www.bullshoals.com/fishingreport/

8-)

onehump reply :

I'm new to this forum and fish alot of the same lakes you guys do. I was curious to know if you guys do catch and release or take these bigger fish home. I hear alot about Mercer and plan to check it out this weekend, if anyone familiar with the lake wants to meet up let me know.

JCrzy4Bass reply :

As far as I know we as a forum are mostly catch and release when it comes to bass but it is a heated topic so...

I will just ask politely that if you catch fish at Mercer or any of the local lakes (bass inparticular) you return them to the water to preserve the fisheries. Small ones every now and then are fine, but leave big mamas in there PLEASE.

If you wanna take your perch and catfish home that's fine.

RW, that's crazy that they were relating to actual trees lol. But not so much so if you look at other local lakes around us like Lake Curtis in stafford which has full grown trees in the water. Be interesting fishing there right now in a boat. I'd imagine dropping a jig down the line of the tree could be pretty effective. Though finding the water depth they are holding at must be a struggle at times like these.

roadwarrior reply :

Welcome aboard!

Just about everyone here at BassResource.com releases their big fish.

I know we have guys that have mounted a few and I think (hope)

everyone will harvest some of the smaller fish. But as far as big fish

go, we are all dedicated to C&R.

8-)

Trevor in Burke reply :

Put 'em back, once they pass 2lbs or so they don't taste great anyway.

Quote
RW, that's crazy that they were relating to actual trees lol. But not so much so if you look at other local lakes around us like Lake Curtis in stafford which has full grown trees in the water. Be interesting fishing there right now in a boat. I'd imagine dropping a jig down the line of the tree could be pretty effective. Though finding the water depth they are holding at must be a struggle at times like these.

anyway back on topic, yet again

feel free to make a new topic with other questions class 8-)

Jcrzy i'm pretty sure all the trees in curtis are years and years dead, have you seen some with live limbs with leaves and such?

I bet you could run a tackle shop off the amount of lures you'd find in there

Dan: reply :

I'm going out to fish some high water now. I'll let you know my most recent opinion on it after I get back...

roadwarrior reply :

Well, let's break this down a little further. Although the trees are technically "cover" they should be viewed as "structure" in this instance. When you look at wilderness, the trees and brush vary in height. So, surrounding the highest trees are trees half the size and 5-10' high brush covering the bottom. Although the absolute depth was 30' or more, the effective depth varied. We had a perfect scenario: structure associated with thick cover immediately adjacent to deeper water. We were fishing in coves that would normally be associated with mainpoints, all have access to the main lake or channel.

8-)

roadwarrior reply :

Moving this thread to "General" for more comments.

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