High water level...can there be too much?

[BassB8Caster]

Hey guys, i looked quickly through the new threads and didnt see any discussions of the last storm here in the northeast. We got a ton of water dumped on us in a very short period of time. There is a ton of scattered flooding. Word is a dam here in Maine as well as one in NH broke. As most of us know, a rise in water level is good as the bass will check the new areas out for nood food sources. I have seen this first hand last summer. My question is, is there such thing as too much of a rise in water level? Prior to the rain, many lakes and ponds were lowered in anticipation of the rain. I fished the day before the storm thinking they would be actively feeding. The fishing was tough at best. So what do you guys think? Good fishing this weekend? 

[Catt]

High water level...can there be too much?

 

Nope!

 

Fishing well be great... catching not so much!

[RB 77]

 I agree  with Catt, any rise in water level is usually a good thing... in the long run. It's a God send here in Southern California on any body of water. However, it is usually associated with tougher "catching" conditions as it seems to spread the fish out and give them new forage to key in and basically disrupts normal feeding patterns. I'm a firm believer, in general, the most productive catching takes place within a stabilized weather/ conditions window the majority of the time. With this being said, of course I have experienced the complete opposite from time to time. Only one way to find out you know...

[scaleface]

It might be extremely tough . My best success when fishing rapidly rising water is to fish points .The fish are there . They might be holding in the same spot before the flood . Say you were catching them 5 foot deep then it raised 5 foot , they may stay at ten foot . Or they may be up if newly flooded areas . Other places to look for  is  rip rap , boat ramps , flooded pond dams  and saddles . 

[38 Super Fan]

For the most part flooding makes for pretty tough fishing, but not impossible. Two more areas to key on would be old shorelines, (where the normal water level was pre-flood), and flooded grass lawns if there are any on the lake you're fishing.

[BassB8Caster]

Thanks for the input guys. Basically what i was thinking. I was just curious about too much of a rise. And the timing of the rise. Here it started raining around 4ish sunday afternoon and was done by midday monday. Some places received over 4 inches of rain. only one way to find out. 

[Bucky205]

Logan Martin, it helps because usually, they will pull water.  The bass here seem to bite better with some current.  I have noticed that brighter colors tend to produce better after water rise because it usually muddies the reservoir.

[Catt]

High water scatters fish ?

[Bluebasser86]

It depends on the lake around here. Some lakes that are lined with trees and cover that isn't normally in the lake, and the lakes lack much cover, high water seems to make every fish in the lake move into the newly flooded cover and the fishing is great. Some lakes have lots of cover already and are lined with trees and bushes along with having lower fish densities, makes it almost impossible when the water gets high and the fish scatter.

 

Ones things for sure, you won't catch them if you don't go. 

[slonezp]

On 11/4/2017 at 8:41 PM, Catt said:

High water scatters fish ?

Can also push them shallow. Best week of fishing I ever experienced was on Ky Lake in March during flood stage. The water pushed the bass into the buck brush at the backs of the creeks and into peoples back yards. Caught my PB as well as more fish over 4lbs than I ever had before. I've also won more big bass pots during high water than during regular or low pool. That being said, any quick rising or falling of water levels will scatter fish. It will also cause them to congregate in eddy's. The latter is true especially for river smallmouth and walleye