JT, got a question for you.

[ernel]

JT, I would like to pick your brain for a moment if I could. I would like to see how you would fish a resevoir that goes through a major winter draw down.

It is an old resevoir and has no aqutic vegitation because the drawn downs prevent any from surviving. There is some hard cover in the forms of lay downs and a few stump fields, but at full pool the majority of the stump fields are under 40-50 ft of water. There are flooded willow bushes and few other types of trees that get flooded when at full pool as well. Most of these are in 3-8 feet of water.

What makes this bad is the lake is coming up as the bass begin going into pre-spawn and spawn. It really is hard to pinpoint where they will end up when the water is coming up sometimes up to 5 feet in a day.

When the resevoir hits its lowest point during the winter drawdown, it has been pulled from 40-50 feet. Now the only things that are left to fish are points, rocks, sloping banks, humps,creek channels and the likes.

So my question is where do you start? Both during the drawdown and the return to full pool. I have never seen any article that addressed how to fish during these severe drawdowns. So I am curious how you would handle this. Coming back up isn't anywhere near as bad as going down. Once it stablizes it is not too bad either.

This is only one of the lakes that I have to fish. One of the other ones gets pulled close to 80 feet in the winter and is even older and has less cover than the first. I wont get into it though. Thanks for any info you are willing to part with.

[JT Bagwell]

Well the first thing I would do at this body of water (during drawdown) is motor around and look for nice humps that are in about 20-25 feet of water. Once I locate some of these areas I would fish them with heavy spinnerbaits, Carolina Rigs and Crankbaits (and possibly big Jigs).

The reason I would chose the humps in deeper water is because these bass are less affected by the drastic drops in water depth. Granted they are still affected but it's on a lesser scale.

When the water is coming back up I would just keep moving with the water levels. The bass are going to keep moving as long as the water keeps rising. Willow Bushes are something that I really love to fish and I would definately hit them on the way up. Most importantly you need to find areas that have a defined bank (ie, dike, dam, rock bluff, etc.) These are great areas to fish in High and/or rising waters. The baits I would use are Jigs, Plastics (Kreatures, Senkos, Grubs, Etc) and Spinnerbaits.

Hope that helps.

JT Bagwell

[D.Taylor]

We have a small lake that has an 8 foot draw down here but 8 foot is alot when max depth is 33 foot.

Our lake keeps vegitation though it is drawn down for the fish to feed and they know it.

When the lake initially begins to fall beat the First edge of the cover. The minnows and bait ill be sucked to this edge and the bass will have a field day.

Then move from there to the next edge.  

Once the visiable cover is gone id say find the creek channel or go to the humps as stated above.

Now when the lake rises the bass will follow it and bank is important.

The thing id look at is water color. If this lake is clear the bass wont need to go that far to spawn and they wont.

I would find a good solid bottom You can scout this right now. Bass like to spawn on a good bottomn they dont want mud. They will spawn in a bush or even on a log. So in your draw down look for these high water areas with solid bottomn where thy can go in the high water and get their business done.

You can fish the flooded bushes just like a small lake or get right in them.

There will be bushes that make points, bushes on ledges, pockets in the bushes. as it gets closer to spawn id get right in the heart of them.

[ernel]

I will have to keep the humps in mind. I normally have tried to work the points as the water is falling. Almost all of the banks that are near the main lake and feeder creeks are on a hard slope. Most 45 degree or more. So that is why I have just pulled back on points. They almost all go to deep water quickly. Once things have stabilized, I have been spending my time in the creeks and coves. The water temps here are 4-5 degreess warmer than the main lake channel, and they are still in 30-40 feet of water.

As far as the rising water goes, I am on about the same thought line as what you described. Seeing as this is a resevoir that is located in the foothills, almost all of the banks are defined untill it gets close to full pool. Then things slope off gradually. I normally try to go with places where the rock is transistioning from rock to clay or changing composistion from one rock type to another.

I normally hammer the willow bushes all through the summer and can normally pull fish from almost every trip out. I also go back to places that I photographed during draw downs that look "fishy" so to speak.

JT and D. Taylor thank you both for your input. If you see anything else that you think could be improved on in this post let me know.

[Chris]

Most fish tend to stay in a comfert zone. If the fish is used to living in 8 ft of water and the lake drops 20 ft then it will pull back with the water and if there is structure in the general area around that 8 ft depth they will hang on it or suspend. Shad would be the main factor that would pull fish out to the deeper humps or points. But if there is structure available in the area that they did live they are not going to move half way across the lake to find a lone point. The creek channels its the same thing they will pull into the channel and follow it down as the lake drops. Try to figure out where they spawned last year or likly places where they might spawn. I would then look around in the deeper water for structure that might hold them. When the water comes up the fish will stage on rocks or stumps or small drop offs and continue to move up with the water and take up new structure. The fish in the creek will just follow the creek and the fish on the points will just follow up the point.

[JT Bagwell]

Can I have your attention please.....Will the "real" JT please stand up?  ;D

I somewhat agree with Dusty T. and Chris. However, when you start talking about a resevoir that is dropping 30-50 feet during the seasonal drawdown as opposed a small impoundment that has a maximum depth of 25-30 feet prior to a drawdown, I think they are very different creatures.

JT Bagwell

[ernel]

Jt, what about saddles? Would that be a good place to look also?

[hookset]

If i may put my 2 cents in all of the above posts are correct I would just like to add to it.  When the water levels fluctuate to that degree I have found that working vertical structure has been fairly productive.  In vertical structure I am mainly referring to bridge pilings and very steep almost vertical banks. Bridge pilings are vertical so bass wont have to leave them in the event of a big draw down, they just move up and down with the water and suspend at a comfortable level.  Im no pro by no means I am just telling you what ive had luck doing in this situation.

[D.Taylor]

Hookset good observation bass will rise and fall on vertical structure with the water levels till the bait leaves.

JT I agree about the size thing but a Bass is a Bass and if the bottomn dont fall out of it they will follow the structure they have available to them as long as the bait is still there

As for the saddle thing yes they are good to check out. I dont fish alot of this situation.

I would try to get a copy of the Smith Lake Bassmaster event from last year.

If i remember right the lake rose very quickly might be of some help to you in the spring cause it was pre spawn conditions.

[JT Bagwell]

Good follow ups guys.

JT Bagwell