Trouble with high water !!!

[NHBull]

Gents,

With Winter run off at all time highs and 3 days of rain, levels on the lake at close to an all time high for pre-spawn.

That said, it looks totally different and the predictable spots aren't.

Any input is helpful.

thanks,

Al

[Team9nine]

From my experience, depending on lake and timing, the bass will do one of two things. Either they will move up shallow into the newly flooded cover, or they won't really move up, instead sitting on the old bank line. Really no way to know for certain other than to get out there and try both options.

 

Part of the difficulty if they do move up is that you could now have thousands of acres of newly flooded cover to fish. As such, you might have to cover some water initially in order to locate good areas before slowing down and settling in with techniques like flipping or pitching.

 

Another problem is that oftentimes you can't get to a "hard bank" due to the flooding, hard banklines being one area than can be particularly good.

 

Edit: based on your post below, unless you are on a river system, those fish are probably going to just stay hunkered down deep where they already probably are.

[WTnPuddleJumper]

High water is Cryptonite for a bunch of us.  Has the water just risen to these high levels recently, or has the water been high for some time now?  What has the water temp been for the last couple of weeks?  I fished a tournament at Pickwick this past Sunday right after a cold front with rain and a north wind.  I caught about 30 un keepers in 5 foot or less.  Caught 8 keepers in 20 feet.  The river was higher than normal but not radically high (like it is now).  Some of those deep fish were full of eggs.  They should have been on beds but I guess they moved off. 

[NHBull]

10 minutes ago, WTnPuddleJumper said:

High water is Cryptonite for a bunch of us.  Has the water just risen to these high levels recently, or has the water been high for some time now?  What has the water temp been for the last couple of weeks?  I fished a tournament at Pickwick this past Sunday right after a cold front with rain and a north wind.  I caught about 30 un keepers in 5 foot or less.  Caught 8 keepers in 20 feet.  The river was higher than normal but not radically high (like it is now).  Some of those deep fish were full of eggs.  They should have been on beds but I guess they moved off. 

The water level has been high since ice-out that was 3 weeks ago. Temps are around 44*,  Thanks for the input

[WTnPuddleJumper]

at 44 degrees I would imagine the fish would still be on the deep trend.  Im really not familiar with the temp patterns in the region you reside (being our avg water temp in TN is in the high 60's-low 70's)  but I would I would think that the temps would be on the rise from now on out.  I guess I would target objects (rocks. logs, etc) that would warm the water a little when sunlight is present.  Keep an eye out for baitfish schooling and maybe you can develop a pattern that will put some fish in the box.  I wouldn't rule out the deep bite either.  This, to say the least, has been one of the stranger years I have ever had trying to locate fish.  Guess we can blame it on el nino!

[lo n slo]

3 hours ago, Team9nine said:

sitting on the old bank line. 

 

 

my home lake came up a couple feet over the weekend and this is what we found yesterday. i fully expect them to explore the "new" shallow cover once things stabilize.

[geo g]

With newly flooded areas, fish will move into the flooded areas  within days.  These areas are a treasure trove of food and bass of all size will take advantage of the new food supply.  Look for areas with break points  from any current following through these areas.  Bass will often be in ambush mode in these low current areas.  In Florida we often  have this situation after heavy rains, or a hurricanes.