how to fish a lake that's been lowered

[Chris at Tech]

One of the few lakes I've found by home that are close enough to hit after a day of work has been lowered quite a bit in order to repair a bridge.  I've never exactly torn them up on this lake, but it's close and it fits the need when I need to wet a line

With that said, what approach or changes should I make when fishing a lake that's been lowered a good bit?

[Randall]

Chris, the most reliable place to fish on the lake is going to be anywhere there is a channel running through the lake where the fish can go as the water drops. I would fish by any of the culverts since they have current as well as a channel for the fish. Steeper banks will also be good since the fish can move up and down with the water level. The worst places to fish will most likely be flats. My guess is that most of the fish are out of reach from shore and are out in the middle on humps and channels since most of the lake is flat. How low is the water now? I want to get some photos while the water is low enough for me to see some of the good stuff.

[Chris at Tech]

So you know which lake I'm referring to?

How low is it now?  Wow...let's just say I had no idea the wooden boat docks by the baitshop were on 15 ft pilings.  You know the second roadway that crosses the lake?  The one not being repaired?  The shallower section off the main lake on the other side of the road is totally empty.

And the ranger I talked to said they still need to lower it a lot.  At this rate, we can catch bass with our hands

But yes, it's a great time to get some idea of the structure in the shallow parts of the lake since there's no water covering them.  I'll be doing that this weekend.  There's a ton of tire piles by the bait ramp.

When I was there last, I saw 3 or 4 schools of shad getting torn apart, but no takers on my Fish Head spin.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Any baitfish in that lake will likely be slaughtered, not having places to hide, and the food supply for baitfish will be drastically reduced. It won't take long for the bass to begin eating anything that moves. They will probably take up deep water hideouts around ledges, stumps, rocks, humps, anything that will conceal a bass, anywhere the water level will be stable, especially in the deepest drainages. I'd fish the edges of creek and river channels, any deep holes, drop-offs. Take plenty of photos of exposed structure. They'll be worth their weight in gold.

Jim

[cakes]

IMHO usually a drastically lowered lake isn't that great.  If the suggestions other members mentioned do not pan out I wouldn't spend to much time there.

[Ben]

When the lake is dropping things can get a little tough but once it reaches a stable level for a few days, shouldn't be a big deal.  Actually the fishing can be the best it's ever been on that lake.   You still fish the same types of structure and holding areas you would fish when the lake was at full pool but now you have a smaller area to have to look for them.   Now, where the problem comes in is if your strickly a bank structure fisherman, working the bushes laydowns etc, you've got a whole new type of fishing to learn.   Because of the long drought the south was having until a couple of years ago, Clarks Hill was down to 14' below pool level and we were catching more fish than ever.    

This would also be a good time to take your camera, note pad, gps and get out there and start making notes and gps readings on key spots that have always been hidden from you before they dropped the lake.   I probably video taped 100 miles of shore line (there's over 1,200 miles so wasn't about to try for all of it), took a couple of hundred 35mm pictures and took several hundred gps readings and a spiral note book full of notes of the main creeks and coves I fish when Clarks Hill got down to 13'.  The time spent doing that has paid off handsomely since the lake is back to full pool because ain't no LCD in the world gonna give you the detail I've got.