River fishing after a flood

[Lures'n'Liberty]

Several of you may have seen my hometown of Monongahela, PA in the news after some pretty nasty floodwaters ripped through and made a hell of a mess. Now that the waters have receded and the water is navigable again, I thought that this may be a good topic. The water is incredibly muddy and the fish have been swept into unfamiliar territory. Cover has changed, debris is everywhere. Docks are trapped under bridge pilings, several boats and jet skis have sunk, and barge traffic has stopped as most of the locks are filled with who knows what. What do you do differently, what baits do you throw? Tips and tricks? 

[moguy1973]

You'd be surprised how well fish can hold to the same location during big floods.  From what I've researched the fish hug the bottom of the channel and the water isn't as swift down there as it is up top, and they also hold in eddies behind rocks and laydowns.

 

Problem with floods and fishing is after the water goes down a little the fish get gorged with food that has washed into the river.  It's usually a lot tougher for a while after a flood to catch anything.  The good thing with floods is it scours out pools and brings new cover to the river in the form of new trees for the fish to hide in.

[Scott F]

The rivers in my area in Northern Illinois have been high and muddy for months. what we've been doing is staying home or fishing lakes. The fish generally find ways to get out of the current so they don't get moved to new territory. If you have to go out, find tributary creeks or streams where the water is clearer and not moving as fast. You could try flooded parking lots and areas where there is little to no flowing water. One of the main reasons we stay home, besides the fishing sucks, is that those flooded rivers are extremely dangerous. 

[Lures'n'Liberty]

7 minutes ago, Scott F said:

8 minutes ago, Scott F said:

One of the main reasons we stay home, besides the fishing sucks, is that those flooded rivers are extremely dangerous. 

You could try flooded parking lots and areas where there is little to no flowing water

To be clear, The water has receded and it is no longer dangerous to fish.

 

As for the parking lots, I'm actually headed to fish a soccer field after work, the water is about 2 feet deep in spots and will be evaporating, we will play with rods and reels for a bit but ultimately plan to throw cast nets and remove all the fish, relocating as many fish as possible to the creek that they came from. 

[Scott F]

According to the USGS stream gauges, the water on your river is coming down but still very high and fast. No one I know fishes rivers during these kinds of conditions. If you do fish, stay on the bank and be very careful!

 

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/uv?site_no=03075070

[Gundog]

26 minutes ago, Lures'n'Liberty said:

To be clear, The water has receded and it is no longer dangerous to fish.

 

As for the parking lots, I'm actually headed to fish a soccer field after work, the water is about 2 feet deep in spots and will be evaporating, we will play with rods and reels for a bit but ultimately plan to throw cast nets and remove all the fish, relocating as many fish as possible to the creek that they came from. 

Good idea about relocating any trapped fish. As far as fishing post-flood conditions, I'd concentrate on fishing with moving baits that produce a lot of vibration. Spinnerbaits with big Colorado blades and wide wobbling crankbaits are good. I know that's how smallmouths in my river (Susquehanna) find food in muddy water. Use bright colors too. Chartreuse and fire tiger are good colors. Try to find eddies behind objects in the water that have "dead" water. Dead water is when an eddy creates a pool of water where there is little or no current. You can usually find these places pretty easy. They will have foam or other floating debris in them that doesn't get washed down river. Fish hold in these areas out of the current and wait for food to be washed toward them. Then they just dart out and grab it. That's just what works for me on my stretch of the river. Good luck and stay safe.

[WRB]

Bass are difficult to put into predictable buckets of behavior because River bass behave differently than lake bass due to current and species.

Generally LMB tend to move up into newly flooded areas and move back as the water recedes. Your River is receding so the bass should be located at funnel zones where water is flowing as it recedes. These bass are tight to cover looking for critters being washed past them. Jigs are your best lures during this situation.

Tom

[Looch]

your flood affected the Ohio River which also affected the tail end of the Beaver River below the last dam, the water got so high in the Ohio it backwashed the "wrong way" into the Beaver up to the last dam, yesterday it got back close to normal and let me tell you I enjoyed some of the best fishing since Spring, cant help but think that water pushed some Ohio River fish into the Beaver and up to the dam for easy food. Not really for smallmouth but the hybrid striper(aka wiper) bite was on fire, I caught 11 wipers yesterday in 2 hours, nothing huge for me but I did see a guy get a 10lb+ wiper. Over 30 fish of all sorts of species(sauger, walleye, drum, crappie, and a lone smallmouth) in 2 hours.

 

It took me a couple hours to figure out why the boat ramp was flooded 2 days ago, I check the water level online and it said the gauge read at 5.89 ft(waterdata website), which is basically right at normal, the gauge is above 2nd dam in Beaver Falls where the Ohio River cant affect it. So then I got down below the last dam in New Brighton , the water was super high but rocks below the dam were showing which is not normal if the high water comes from over the dam like usual. So I was like what the heck  is going on, until I heard about the Mon being flooded and figured it out. On Sunday, I fished the upper Beaver River and Shenango River because of how high the Ohio and tail end of the Beaver was. The storm didn't really hit us that hard like it did south of PGH. I saw the California Boat Club came loose and was floating down river. Always kind of wondered why schools like Southmoreland's new football field are located so close to creeks/rivers that flood every year. 

 

I have fished the Mon a lot in the past and at normal height, I know some pools can be almost like a lake. I use to troll one section for muskies all the time. Just be aware there are going to be new snags and be careful in your boat. Fishing should be fine after it gets close to normal. It's a river, fish are always coming and going. Rivers are always changing, big rain events will ruin and create new hotspots all the time. Always had good luck in dirty water with dark colors, black/blue jigs, black, the color "bama bug" is my favorite after a storm and water looks like chocolate milk.

[Lures'n'Liberty]

On 8/1/2017 at 2:00 PM, Looch said:

your flood affected the Ohio River which also affected the tail end of the Beaver River below the last dam, the water got so high in the Ohio it backwashed the "wrong way" into the Beaver up to the last dam, yesterday it got back close to normal and let me tell you I enjoyed some of the best fishing since Spring, cant help but think that water pushed some Ohio River fish into the Beaver and up to the dam for easy food. Not really for smallmouth but the hybrid striper(aka wiper) bite was on fire, I caught 11 wipers yesterday in 2 hours, nothing huge for me but I did see a guy get a 10lb+ wiper. Over 30 fish of all sorts of species(sauger, walleye, drum, crappie, and a lone smallmouth) in 2 hours.

 

It took me a couple hours to figure out why the boat ramp was flooded 2 days ago, I check the water level online and it said the gauge read at 5.89 ft(waterdata website), which is basically right at normal, the gauge is above 2nd dam in Beaver Falls where the Ohio River cant affect it. So then I got down below the last dam in New Brighton , the water was super high but rocks below the dam were showing which is not normal if the high water comes from over the dam like usual. So I was like what the heck  is going on, until I heard about the Mon being flooded and figured it out. On Sunday, I fished the upper Beaver River and Shenango River because of how high the Ohio and tail end of the Beaver was. The storm didn't really hit us that hard like it did south of PGH. I saw the California Boat Club came loose and was floating down river. Always kind of wondered why schools like Southmoreland's new football field are located so close to creeks/rivers that flood every year. 

 

I have fished the Mon a lot in the past and at normal height, I know some pools can be almost like a lake. I use to troll one section for muskies all the time. Just be aware there are going to be new snags and be careful in your boat. Fishing should be fine after it gets close to normal. It's a river, fish are always coming and going. Rivers are always changing, big rain events will ruin and create new hotspots all the time. Always had good luck in dirty water with dark colors, black/blue jigs, black, the color "bama bug" is my favorite after a storm and water looks like chocolate milk.

We didn't really get nailed with rain in the valley so much as they did south of us in West Virginia. The mighty Monongahela is a different animal than most other rivers out there, it is always muddy and it flows north. I'll definitely give that Bama Bug color a shot, and you're certainly right on the Black and Blue jugs. Green Pumpkin and Whiskey colors are also pretty effective, you really don't need to pack a rainbow of tackle to catch fish, just the dark stuff will do here. 

 

As for the California boat club, the rumor mill says it broke loose but that's not true. To give a little background, the clubhouse was built on a barge many years ago and a few months ago it sank. During this flood, the roof (and only the roof) came off and floated downstream. It made it up to Lock and Dam No 4 and sank there. My office is nearby, I've actually been watching them clean up the mess a little bit with cranes, it should be interesting to say the least. They're pulling up all kinds of stuff, a lot of debris, I've been told that a couple jet skis came up too. There have been docks found everywhere, if you like to fish under docks the options have certainly changed, although there's still way too much debris floating to take a boat out for the next couple of days at least. 

[Turkey sandwich]

So to summarize:

Cons: very fast water that may still be dangerous due to debris, extremely muddy water, displaced game species.

 

Pros: fewer jet skis.

 

Well, this sounds like a win. 

[Lures'n'Liberty]

3 hours ago, Turkey sandwich said:

So to summarize:

Cons: very fast water that may still be dangerous due to debris, extremely muddy water, displaced game species.

 

Pros: fewer jet skis.

 

Well, this sounds like a win. 

technically the jet skis are still here but they are now providing cover, as they have been relocated to the bottom of the river.

[Turkey sandwich]

As all jet skis should.

[Sam]

It has been my experience that rivers are extremely dangerous after a flooding situation.

 

Lots of debris in the rivers floating and under the water; fast moving current; dirty water; too much mud on the ramps to launch and trailer boat safely; and the fishing is a challenge.

 

Now flooded lakes are another story.

 

Great fishing flooded lakes.