New to fishing! Can lots of rain effect fishing?

[crazyjerry]

I just started getting into fishing last year and go to a local park here in Northwest Indiana (Hammond). Calrson Oxbow park, this used to be part of the Little Calumet river and is now part of a 86 acre wetlands. Last year I was able to pull out 2-6 pound bass on a regular basis. This year the water level rose 3 feet from last year and flooded into many other parts of the wetlands. Other and myself have not been able to get a single bite since this happened and have fished many different locations. Other than the fish being in inaccessable locations now could the massive ammounts of water in the oxbow cause the fish not to feed? any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeremy

[Deuceu72]

Here's one tip. When the water moves up, the bass will move up with it.

[crazyjerry]

Thanks Deuceu72!

Another odd question I have is, will getting this much rain effect the pH of the and will this have an effect on the fish?

[Toddn76]

Welcome Jerry I am a newbie to this board as well but have been fishing a long time!  Rain can diffenatley affect the bite as well as many other conditions related to weather or temperature.  When the water table is up that just give those rescally critters more places to hide.  Not to get too technicle, bass are going to hang out in areas that have a lot of cover and a lot of food.  Try to concentrate on areas that have submergent vegitation or around lilly pads anywhere bait fish might hang out is where the bass are going to be...good luck and good fishing!

[Deuceu72]

uh...........I can tell you that the ph of the water will affect the bass, but as for your question of how does the rain affect it, you have to get some of the other guys to answer that one.

[RoLo]

In actuality, the "depth of bass" will not budge, regardless of a change in pool level.

For example, if bass are 6 ft deep and on the bottom, and the pool level is elevated 4 feet,

the bass will still be 6 feet deep and on the bottom.

The terrain will be different, but their depth will be the same.

Roger

[paparock]

Welcome to the forum Crazyjerry. Here on Bull Shoals in north central Arkansas the lake has reached normal pool for the first time since last April. We have received over 8 inches of rain over the last week which raised the lake and with the cooler temps cooled the lake at the same time. The fishing has been very hit and miss due to the air temps going up to the 80s then down into the low 60s and all the rain. Here it has caused some of the bass to be in pre-spawn, some are in spawn, and some are in post-spawn from the couple of weeks of very early warm temps earlier around the 1st of the month. The fish have to eat but rapid and/or unstable weather patterns will cause feeding changes. May be try baits that the fish don't have to chase but that will sit in their face for a long period of time. Split Shoting has been fairly productive here lately.

[RLinNH]

Great Thread!!! I was going to start a thread with the same question, only about my State of New Hampshire where we have been hit hard this week with Flooding rivers/lakes/ponds and brooks. Tomorrow is supposed to be our first semi dry day. I want to go fishing, but a lot of roads are still closed and I want to give the lake one more day to receed a bit more. I am going out on Thursday. My question is will the fish be using the extra 6-8 feet of water, or will they be where they have been for the last 3 or so weeks. In thier Pre Spawning hilding position of about 10-15 feet of water.

[RLinNH]

Toppers for the morning crowd.

[crazyjerry]

Well I hit up the oxbow yesterday, no luck on bass. Saw alot of perch and sunfish though. all the weeds are starting to come in. Todays the first dya it hasn't rained in about a week. The temp is suposed to slowly rising over the next week. BTW thanks for all the info so far guys I plan on being a frequent visitor to these forums.

Jerry

[ScootZilla]

Jerry i know how you feel man i live in Indy aswell.It has been raining for the past week and is raining right now.Havent been fishing in the past week but i plan to go real soon hope the water were i fish at is still good and bitein for me.

Scoot

[bassnleo]

One of the lakes I have been fishing has come up about 2 feet from the rain. Today I  caught bass in 1 foot of water around newly flooded cover. In past outings the same cover was fishless.........

[bubbler]

When the sk is clowdy and the water gets hifgher then the bass will get lots more shallow.

They will move up into shallow weed beds and rockyu drop offs only about 15-5 feet.

[=Matt 5.0=]

Not to get too technicle, bass are going to hang out in areas that have a lot of cover and a lot of food. Try to concentrate on areas that have submergent vegitation or around lilly pads anywhere bait fish might hang out is where the bass are going to be...good luck and good fishing!

Did someone say lilly pads???  

[Chris]

Is that a warm water discharge kind of park? I live about midway on the boarder of Indiana tomorrow there is a high of 20 degrees low of 12. You might be fishing in about 30 maybe 40 degree water. Most of the week the temps have been around 30 degrees. If you are fishing north west Indiana I don't think you have warmer temperatures than me. :-? If the water is cold, up and dirty your going to be jumping through hoops to get them to bite that is some tough conditions.

[Catt]

Not only do the bass move up with rising water levels they also scatter out