How Has The Drought Changed Your Fishing?

[jim k]

This forum seems to have active members from across the land. With much of the country suffering a severe drought, I was wondering how many lakes, rivers, ponds and reservoirs were heavily impacted?

From unusable ramps and impassible nav channels, and dried up marinas, to fish kills, tell where you are from and what has happened on some of your favorite bodies of water?

[Mad Fisherman]

In central NJ, some of the body's of water here are being affected, but not much. Everything is just down a few feet. Still have been catching fish though.

[tnriverluver]

In my part of Tenn everything seems about normal for this time of year. Some smaller ponds are low but that isn't unusual for this time of year. The heat is the main factor keeping me off the water right now. Much cooler weekend coming up so the fish better hide!

[5dollarsplash]

High temps have people avoiding big fish here in NW Wisconsin. A lot of people don't want to take a muskey or big pike for fear of it dying on them. My local lake limit is 50" so you feel awful about one passing. This has put more pressure on the bass and panfish population, since people don't feel as bad about them. I think the year has been decent so far, although the summer bite has been slower with water temps around 80*

[tholmes]

Here in the middle of Kansas, the drought is severe and the heat has been brutal. The water level at the community lake that I fish the most is down at least six feet from where it was last year. As a result, the structure that was in 12-15 feet of water is now only 6-9 feet deep. The water temperature has reached the mid 80s and driven the bass into deeper water and out of reach of us shore-bound anglers. It's been a tough summer.

Tom

[11justin22]

We are in crazy severe drought here. One of my favorite lakes is down bout 12 ft.

[Bluebasser86]

One of the local lakes I normally fish a lot is almost impossible right now to catch fish. The shoreline is lined with water willows that the fish normally get into and chase baitfish and crawdads but all those weeds that normally have at least 2 or 3 feet of water under them are high and dry now. The result is all the fish have pulled off the bank and are now suspended over 30-50 feet of water chasing shad and almost uncatchable unless they're pushing them to the surface. The water temps in most of the other lakes I fish have just now dropped out of the low 90's and into the high 80's, fish are almost hot to the touch when you catch one.

[bkohlman]

I fish both Kansas and Arkansas and the drought has completely changed the contours of local lakes. And just made it darn un fun to fish with temps over 100 almost every day until about 9:00 or later.

[RyneB]

The strip pits i fish have dropped a few feet, but fishing hasnt changed. My local small river is almost dry. There is barely anyone water in it. Just a few spots where it is deeper that is holding a foot or two of water. No flowing water whatsoever. You can walk across most parts and not even get your calfs wet.

[basshole8190]

west point lake here in georgia is about 10-12 ft down and water temps hover around 92-96 degrees and most of the boat ramps dont have enough water around to launch a decent size rig..its on the rebound for the next week or so i hope with the rain we've recieved the last couple days. it wont last long tho because the coe is releasing 40000 cubic feet per second. fishing has been downright miserable a day with 3 12-16 inch bass is a great day right now and many are going home skunked. The chatahoochi is just as good as ever tho mixed bags of keeper spots an LM's when there's current

[Missourifishin]

The heat and humidity here in Missouri is the biggest problem. It is just miserable. I did alot less fishing in july than I wanted to because of it. And when I have gone, I have been extending my fishing hours even later at night or earlier in the morning. The small rivers and streams have darn near dried up. Luckily, I normally fish lakes and ponds anyway. And although the water levels are down alot, the fishing is still pretty good as long as you're fishing the coolest hours of the day.

[Missourifishin]

The heat and humidity here in Missouri is the biggest problem. It is just miserable. I did alot less fishing in july than I wanted to because of it. And when I have gone, I have been extending my fishing hours even later at night or earlier in the morning. The small rivers and streams have darn near dried up. Luckily, I normally fish lakes and ponds anyway. And although the water levels are down alot, the fishing is still pretty good as long as you're fishing the coolest hours of the day.

[Bair]

My fishin has not changed. It's always a drought in SoCal

[SirSnookalot]

This is rainy season in South Florida and we have had a lot of it. My places have too much water and the bite isn't as good as when I have lower water. The spillways have been open non stop, pushing a lot of freshwater into saltwater areas, this has been a very sub par year for me as far as snook goes.

[B@ssCrzy]

The reservoir I fish is down 6-8 ft. I have mainly been fishing my local ponds. They are down some, but last week we got some decent rain that helped them out. I am actually having one of the best years of my life fishing this year. I attribute that to having about 1.5 years now of being on this site and am starting to really understand a lot of the advice that I have learned here and have been able to translate that onto the water. Went out last Friday on my reservoir and caught six fish and lost one in about a 4 hour period. For me this is excellent. The best part about being out on the lake when it was low is that it has allowed me to find some stump fields, bolders, and other cover that I never knew were there. Next spring when it fills up is game on!! I have definitely been doing better in the mornings and evenings. Middle of the day has been rough.

[TommyBass]

Lakes here in Indiana are down several feet. Lowest I have seen most of them in the last 20+ years. Not really changed my summer fishing though, the fish are still holding on the same structure and cover, its just shallower than normal. A few of my shallower (4-5ft spots) arn't holding fish now though, since they are now out of or in 1-2 ft of water its rather hot at that depth.

[Nice_Bass]

Fish kills, very low water. Fish suspended over deep water. Fishing is actually terrible this summer- sizes are way down as well. We are getting a bad run here in IL.

[moguy1973]

Like said above. All the rivers here in Missouri that used to be floatable are all trickles that you can wade across. Makes catching fish easier since they are all concentrated in pools. It's just been too dang hot to think about fishing though.

[basshole8190]

This is rainy season in South Florida and we have had a lot of it. My places have too much water and the bite isn't as good as when I have lower water. The spillways have been open non stop, pushing a lot of freshwater into saltwater areas, this has been a very sub par year for me as far as snook goes.

SNOOKALOT SEND SOME THAT RAIN UP MY WAY