tips on how to fish a reservoir after a big drawdown.

[Darth-Baiter]

my feeble mind thinks". less water equals bigger fish concentrations.  but I know this I not necessarily the case.

 

yesterday, I drove and burned a tank of gas to find my launch was waterless.  I rarely visit in November, so the conditions are now noted in my brain.  I hatched a plan.  I google earthed it, remembering a local told me of a natural kayak launch point near the dam.  I found it.  looks like a rutty jeep trail from way up (satellite) high, but I bet it is better than that.  it goes right past the dam, and stops at a beach!!  my plan is to launch and head towards the shallow end where my old ramp is.  find weeds, in about 10 feet deep and probe them with various baits.  then do the standard "ripping of cranks and lipless thing"

 

oh, the road goes past the juiciest spillway!!  I might stop and see if there are any no trespassing signs.  but that is a discussion for another thread.

 

drawdown tips?  are the fish freaked out?

 

 

[Pat Brown]

Our lake is down about 2 feet right now and I've been catching them on jigs in 3-5 fow on points and channel swing banks.

[Catt]

Creek channels, road beds, drains, end of points.

 

Texas Rig, Jig-n-Craw, & Deep Diving Crankbaits 

[LrgmouthShad]

3 minutes ago, Catt said:

Creek channels, road beds, drains, end of points.

 

Texas Rig, Jig-n-Craw, & Deep Diving Crankbaits 

My home lake is over 16ft low and that’s not even the worst of what we had.

 

In response to @Catt’s advice, I say “Yes!”

[thediscochef]

OH Ivie is less than 30% full, it started this hot streak closer to 40-45% fill. That means we expect you to catch a teener and anything less is a fail

 

I jest, from what I understand on Ivie most of the bigger fish hole up deeper when the level drops big. I've had a similar experience with Ray roberts. I would be looking for structures on a channel swing in 15ish fow

[TnRiver46]

Almost all our lakes drop in winter, from 6 ft to some dropping 40 ft. I do seem to have better fishing the colder it gets (to a point). The fish love to suspend when it’s dropping, once it’s bottomed out and stable they might hang in shallower cover. Other lakes it may fluctuate daily and the fish seem fast reacting and willing to do whatever, those are main river lakes with more current. Those fish will eat rattle traps on shallow flats all winter. The highland tributary reservoir fish seem to like clear water with depth, either use spoons and blade baits to get down quickly or start finesse fishing 

[Darth-Baiter]

great info people!!! thanks. 

[RHuff]

Some of my local lakes goes down 60-80ft…  Smallmouth tend to go deep. Largemouth though tend to stay shallow longer. Look for areas where there are pockets or small creeks drained down to little narrow “ditches/streams” sometimes 8-10 ft wide and 3/4 ft deep. I’ve caught good largemouth sunning in those little ditches after a drawdown slow rolling a spinnerbait or cranking a shallow running crankbait through them.. 

[Team9nine]

Really seems to vary based on water body. Things like how far and how fast the drop all play a role. In Indiana, we had some reservoirs that just dropped a few feet to winter pool, while others went down 20-25 feet or more. 
 

Bass in the bays and coves would often just get pulled off the bank onto shallow flats, hanging around any cover or slight depth drop (channels/ditches) that might be present. Bass located on the main body of the reservoir often grouped up on cover like laydowns or blown/fallen trees, anything that spanned a connection from the shallows to the deep water. Fish already positioned off-shore on points and such just kept moving deeper, often in relation to channel drops or creek swings.

 

The good news is, once you figure out what they do in your water, the location pattern tends to repeat itself year after year.

[T-Billy]

I agree with @Catt's suggestions, and will add laydowns to that list. My lakes get dropped 5-8 feet in fall. The wood left in the water can be loaded, especially on sunny afternoons. 

[Woody B]

When the lake is down don't spend all your time fishing.    Take a good look at what's usually in the water that isn't as well as contours ect.   This was REALLY important before sonar, but can help you understand what you've been seeing on sonar also.