FISHING FLOODED LAKES

[Harold Scoggins]

As many of you already know, Oklahoma has experienced a wicked May, weather wise. I've lived here going on 25 years and I do not remember it ever being like this. I hate to admit it, but when it comes to fishing flooded lakes, I feel like a rookie. Ran into a few other anglers yesterday leaving one of the lakes at our refuge as I was getting ready to launch. They all reported the same experience as I found later, the bass are all over the place. Under normal conditions I usually know where the fish are at any period during the year, but with this extremely high water, I feel like I'm throwing darts. When I checked out known structure where post spawn bass normally retreat, they're not there. I checked out a lot of the newly submerged shore line and saw a few bucks, but no post spawn. The month of June is going to be interesting.

[roadwarrior]

We found fish at Bull Shoals along the "old" bank, just outside the tree line in 15'-20' of

water. Not in the bushes or grass, but deeper on both primary and secondary points. We

caught a mix of green and brown on the Rage Tail Swimmer, Space Monkey and Lizard;

BPS Tender Tube #71 and GYCB Fat Ika.

 

[Dogface]

Try fishing the flooded shoreline. Fish will move into the flooded areas during high water.

[Catt]

4 hours ago, Harold Scoggins said:

They all reported the same experience as I found later, the bass are all over the place.

 

50 yrs of fishing Toledo Bend I've experienced high water a time or two. All the "new" water tends to scatter the fish out, well actually it scatters the bait out.

 

Everything on the lake has changed dramatically, water depths, water clarity, water temperatures. 

 

Some of the bass will move but like @roadwarrior mentioned many will stop at old bank line.

 

I forgot to add pay attention to if it's raising or falling, both positions bait & bass differently. 

Edited May 27, 2019 by Catt
Operator Error

[scaleface]

I fished Bull shoals under flood conditions and found smallmouth thirty foot deep on a major point .My home lake , Mark Twain is a muddy lake , so the bass are always shallow during high water.The best place i found and so did everyone else , was a newly submerged pond dam . Also shallow main lake points , and boat ramps   

[Jig Man]

I have been fishing Stockton lately.  It is 16’ high.  I have been catching fish about the old shore line.  I haven’t been able to get anything deep.

[Frog Turds]

extreme high water is always challenging, some set up here and some set up shop there...fish can be found in all the above places but various factors come into play whether they are actually in a specific spot or not, always a reason though when they are...

 

here i am weaving in and out of trees in what is suppose to be dry land and jig'n/floating over what is literally the forest floor...this was a couple weeks ago...

 

not the fish in the attached photo but my big fish of the day in these trees weighed 4.14#'s

[GreenPig]

48 minutes ago, Frog Turds said:

extreme high water is always challenging, some set up here and some set up shop there...fish can be found in all the above places but various factors come into play whether they are actually in a specific spot or not, always a reason though when they are...

 

here i am weaving in and out of trees in what is suppose to be dry land and jig'n/floating over what is literally the forest floor...this was a couple weeks ago...

 

not the fish in the attached photo but my big fish of the day in these trees weighed 4.14#'s

I'd be throwing a big rat in and around those trees.

[Harold Scoggins]

(Sigh)