weeks of rain, now what?

[txchaser]

Here in Texas we are in our fourth week of rain, and I'm wondering about how that might impact the fish. The first week they were up dirt shallow, second week was a mix of between 1' and 4'. Last weekend was mostly scattered around the weeds, in more than 5fow. Creeks and creek mouths have been good as long as the water clarity was still good, but not the best bite in most cases. 

Lots of stuff is flooded everywhere, but they have seemed to pull off the flood bite some. 

Water in the mid-70's. 

And it is raining all this week too. 

Anything different to do with all this rain beyond check and see if they are up real shallow again, and after that fish it like it wasn't high water? Skip it all and go look offshore since we are way out of the spawn now?

 

[jbsoonerfan]

Same boat. Tomorrow will be the first day I have been able to go in almost a month. I really don't have a clue what to do.

[schplurg]

I have the opposite problem. No rain, very low lakes everywhere  

[Catt]

3 hours ago, txchaser said:

The first week they were up dirt shallow, second week was a mix of between 1' and 4'. Last weekend was mostly scattered around the weeds, in more than 5fow

 

Rising waters tend to scatter em out

[E-rude dude]

Zona did a show about this. He went shallow, very shallow. 

[BrianMDTX]

I fished for four hours last Sunday morning and caught one bass on a squarebill. That was it. This rain and high water has put a damper on the bite IMO. 

[GreenPig]

Spro ? 50 dirt shallow. Get us pics.?

[papajoe222]

This is very common with rising water. The fish will return to the same areas they normally inhabit over time unless the rising water is due to flood management and rises enough to cover alternate structure, in which case you should treat an area as you would a new lake.  Some fish will remain shallow and some will look for deeper water homes in the summer the same as under any other condition.

[flatcreek]

Scattered 

[DitchPanda]

13 hours ago, schplurg said:

I have the opposite problem. No rain, very low lakes everywhere  

We have had some rain but considering we have been in a serious drought the past year it is not adding up to anything helpful for our water levels. My local is the lowest I've seen it in over 10 years I'd guess. Alot of the cover is out of the water. That said almost every piece of cover has fish on it because there isn't much available. Also I've been catching scattered fish on random stretches of bank with top water or moving baits.

[schplurg]

I drove over Lake Shasta last week via Hwy 5. Depressingly low. Not much snow on the mountain either. New Melones was 80 feet down a month ago when I went. Steep banks too. New Hogan was 30 last week. I do know of one lake in the Motherlode area that is kept full every year. Shhhh.

 

Rivers and creeks though are okay. For now.

 

I drove up to Oregon last week and saw some gorgeous rivers and streams. Breathtaking in their beauty. Gonna visit there again soon and bring my gear. My parents moved there.

 

Snowpack is already gone. Another bad rain year and we're in trouble. Heck we already are.

 

Anyways, I digress. Wish we had too much rain!

[king fisher]

Is the water just high or high and muddy?  Clarity will be a big factor on where the fish go.

[Bird]

Stability is best for fishing in my experience. 

Lowering for repairs, very bad.

 

Rising waters, bad as it scatters them but better than low waters. 

[Trox]

Some of the best fishing I've ever had has came with extremely high water (5-10ft above pool in some cases). I'm talking trips that we still BS about years later... And during most of those trips, the mayhem started SHALLOW when the sun became covered by clouds, almost immediately. It was a VERY noticeable difference not only in numbers, but quantity as well, with the water steady or still rising a bit, not dropping... 1-2fow. Couldn't catch a bite that shallow until that sun started to hide. Doesn't mean quality can't be caught all over the place during these conditions, but this has been my experience more often than not. food for thought.

 

[WRB]

Weeks of rain is far better then years of drought!

Tom

[txchaser]

To follow up, everything of size was:

1) on the outside weed edge next to deep water (top, mid, bottom bites)

2) rock right next to deep water (midcolumn)

3) hanging deeper on a ledge near even deeper water (bottom bites)

 

There were some little ones up shallow, and one odd fish still guarding a shallow bed. Odd because there were no bedding markings on the fish, and by the end of the day the water was touching 80 degrees at 6" deep.

 

Evening bite was poor, midday bite was great.