Can lots of rain turn the bite off ?

[surfer]

In central Florida we have received about 5 inches of rain in three weeks.  We needed it and still need some more.  The bite was fine for the preceding month, but after the first 1/2 inch fell the bite turned off.  Now that the sun is back out the bite is still off (as of Sunday).  I hadn't noticed that the bite had coincided with the heavy rains.  I was talking to an old man with an old boat and some beat up rods at the gas station and he said it was the rain.

Has anyone else noticed this pattern?  And when will the bite come back?  Or am I just not finding the fish?

[Matt Fly]

Not sure of Florida waters, some times the mud that washs in can shut the bite off, sometimes newly flooded areas with new growth underwater can send the bass shallow.

  Too many details not known to specualte on.  

matt.

[Infidel.]

Like Matt said it is tuff to speculate on this but it has been my experience when I fished in Florida and here in California that the rain doesn't stop the fish from feeding, it just changes their feeding behavior.  They will often relocate to newly flooded waters.  First thing I would do is look for where the runoff is still entering the lake and fish around there.  The current will make the bait fish active and the bass should be there feeding.

[Raul]

Same here, lots of rain, rising lake levels ( in the ones that can expand in surface ) make the fish move to the newly flooded areas, which can sometimes be troublesome now you have to cover 2-3-4 more times of surface to catch the same number of fish.

[Bankbeater]

Had this happen this past weekend.  Bright and sunny all last week and a heavy rain on Friday night.  Saturday the bite was off.  I think that it changes what they feed on due to the bugs and worms that wash into the water.

[surfer]

I was fishing Lake Conway on Friday evening and Nona on Sunday morning.  completely skunked on Conway.  This was mostly my fault as my fish finder found more suspended bass and few structure/ cover bass so i went after the suspended ones with live shiner, live worm and my usual barrage of artificial I am comfortable with.  Nada.

Sunday I did everything right.  Lake Nona is by far my most productive fishing spot.  I started outside the grass line and picked up one dink in the first five minutes so i think its going to be a normal 10 bass morning.  Nothing for the next two hours.  We can see the action near us with small bass ambushing bait at a grass point.  Wouldn't hit a live worm on a bobber dangled right there.  They were hitting bait within 3 ft of my bobber. So we moved inside the grass line and spent 3 hours and caught 2 dinks and a 1.25 lb. in 1 or 2 ft of water.  I spent a fair amount of time with my usual techniques and 1/3 of my time trying different stuff just to see if something would work.

I did notice the water was twice as clear on Nona as usual.  Visibility was about 6 ft.

I don't know what to make of it. My other 5 trips to Nona I landed no less than 12 fish.  It fits the pattern of the previous 3 weeks being tough for me here in central Florida.  I guess I will put it in the log book as a memorable event and hope it reveals its secrets to me in the future.  Maybe I will learn to find them after heavy rains.

[surfer]

And thanks for the advice.  I will look for the newly flooded shallows.

[jc2bg]

Depends on how much rain you get, and how strong the front is that accompanies it. Two things in addition to newly flooded cover (and forage washed in) might account for the shutdown. These two things are the big barometric change that follows a large front, and the big PH difference that occurs when a lot of runoff goes into the water. 20 or so years ago, Doug Hannon got everyone tuned into watching PH (the balance of acidity and alkalinity in a body of water) for predicting fish behavior. I lost my PH meter a long time ago, but I remember very large swings in PH readings just after a heavy rain, and 5 inches is HEAVY. Your drainage is better than ours up north, so your 5 inches may be equivalent to our 2 inches. But I still wouldn't be surprised to find the fish with a very small strike zone for several days after a major rain event. Like any "trauma" situation where bass are concerned, look for them in the tightest cover and fish them slow, possibly with smaller baits, until they get more aggressive again. They may not have gone far, but are just holed up with the covers pulled over their heads for a while. -- JC

[George Welcome]

Let's take Florida lakes and heavy rain and its associated runoff - Move from shallow to deeper water. Not only is water balance going to be heavily affected in the shallow areas but dissolved oygen levels are going to drop drastically. Fish will move to deeper waters less affected by the runoff for breathability and comfort.