High water

[bp_fowler]

We’ve been getting slammed with rain the past week or so here.  I gave it 24hrs since the last rain and went out to one of my fishing spots ( a 63 acre reservoir) for a few hours. 
 

When I arrived I observed that the water had risen considerably maybe close to a foot.  I remembered that folks say bass follow rising water.  

 

So I proceeded to fish around the new shoreline which had previously been surrounded by milfoil from the bank out to 25-30 yards at the furthest. I also tried to pitch in and around the newly flooded cover.

 

Unfortunately besides one fish that I hooked but came off.  Skunked.

 

So is it true that bass follow the rising water?  Or am I missing something here?

 

 

 

 

 

[Susky River Rat]

Following the rising water is a good rule of thumb. I have had it already where I have jumped the gun on the rising water and the fish weren’t there yet. I like to hit the freshly flooded areas after it starts on the down swing. 

[Pat Brown]

I would say that you were doing the right thing if you hook to fish and it came off. Maybe dialing the presentation and keep doing whatever you were doing there!

 

I really like frogs and worms after a good heavy rain.  Seems like they work that much better when bass are up there looking for those sorts of things already.

[WRB]

Bass normally move up with rising water but they are bass at the end of the day.

Tom

[Team9nine]

Depends on a lot of variables; always worth checking first to see if they have, especially if the water stained or muddied up. Also if there is good shallow cover that got flooded. Many times they only move up to the old bank line, or from the outside weedline to the inside weedline. Just need to put in the time and figure out how they react on your specific lake, as it seems like every lake is different. 

[Woody B]

A few thoughts.  I fish when I can so I'll be out there after a rain or whenever.   I have better luck during the rain, or right after than a day after when the skys have cleared.   I think the rain washes stuff into the water bass and forage for bass eat.   By the time the sky's have cleared it's my belief they're full, and not hungry anymore.   If I go to an all you can eat buffet for lunch I'm not going to be very hungry by dinner.   It may not work that way, just a belief I have.  

 

High water, depending on location, and how high can cause other things too.   If there's puddles or pools of stale stagnated or dirty water that get's taken in this can cause oxygen levels to drop.   Big storms (ie hurricanes) on lowland areas often trigger fish kills/die offs.   

 

I usually have pretty good success after storms, but tend to struggle for a few days after the sky's clear.   

[Bird]

Rising stained water is a scenario that I've never done well with.

Very tight up against the bank is about my only success.

Drastically lowering water for ramp maintenance is even worse..... what I've found.

 

Maybe me and the bass just need stability.

[Catt]

  On 8/16/2023 at 10:59 PM, Team9nine said:

Many times they only move up to the old bank line, or from the outside weedline to the inside weedline. Just need to put in the time and figure out how they react on your specific lake, as it seems like every lake is different. 

Expand  

 

This is my plan of attack 

 

How deep were they holding before the rain?

 

[scaleface]

! foot is not much of a rise. On small lakes with a 1 foot rise , I just fish them like before .

[bp_fowler]

  On 8/17/2023 at 2:38 AM, Catt said:

 

This is my plan of attack 

 

How deep were they holding before the rain?

 

Expand  

Previously when I had fished this lake most of my fish were caught in two locations.  
 

The first is a point next to the where the primary feeder creek empties into the lake.  This is also where I got my one only bite of the day while casting across the mouth of the creek towards some cattails and bushes.

 

 

The other spot was towards the lower end of the lake adjacent to the dam.  This was one of the few areas on this lake where the weeds were patchy enough for me to get a lure in there.

 

 
The water is murky and that didn’t change much with the rise in water.  There were other spots that I fished but they had not been productive in the past so I’m not sure why I thought they would be now.  
 

Actually I know why,  normally the weed line is pretty thick and broad.  So broad in fact that even if I bombed it out there with all my might I could just barely get past the outside edge of the weeds in some places.  I figured since the water was up I might be able to pick off a few swimming above the newly submerged weeds.  

[papajoe222]

The general rule is just as you assumed, however what I’ve found is they only move up to newly flooded cover and won’t stick around if there isn’t forage doing the same. As there was no new cover in your situation, unless the forage was using that newly formed inside weed edge, there wasn’t a reason for the bass to be there.