Lake is flooded, clear lake turned to muddy, what to do?

[jb_adams]

My home lake is a reservoir lake (Beaver Lake, which is the White River in NW AR).  Over the last two months, the lake has risen about 17ft on a 30,000+ acre lake.  This lake is traditionally a clear water lake since it's river fed.  Now, about 75-80% of the lake is very muddy due to run-off and it's flooded with debris.  I have heard there is a mudline/transition between stained muddy water and clear water closer towards the dam.

Yesterday, I observed a wide range of water temp.  In muddy water with 3-4 inches of visibility, the water temp ranged from 65 in less than 15ft and 62 in 25ft of water.  Deeper water was in the upper 50's.  I found tons of shad in the back of a deep cove with very little bass activity.  This was exactly mid-lake which is usually clear to slightly stained. I believe the oxygen levels may be depleted for the bass's comfort level and they may have migrated to water with more oxygen enriched content which means less stained water with more visibility.  I wouldn't think a bass would bed and spawn in very muddy water, that's why I believe they prefer shallow water because more visibility in order to defend their bed.  I'm still learning and I may be totally wrong but that just seems logical to me.

It's hard to learn how to fish for bass on beds when you can't see a bass in 1ft of water.  So I'm think I'm going to fish clearer water and water with visibility up to at least 1-2ft to find oxygen enriched water.  I feel I will find more actively feeding bass in slightly cooler shallow water with more visibility and just before they are beginning to spawn.  Is this a good strategy?

[WRB]

The rule is bass move up with the water. The silt will kill the basses eggs and they should hold off spawning until the water clears up to about 2 to 3 feet of visibilty.

I would fish the lower third to middle of he main lake major points with jigs and worms and move back into the creek arms and target secondary points and breaks. Try casting up on the bank and working down to 15 feet or so. Any clear running water comming into the creek arms would be good, like small ravines with running water. If the shad are working the shoreline, try a smaller spinnerbait or top water buzzer.

Things change quickly, so don't worry about the off color water, it will settle down fast. You should be able to meter the pre spawners, if you don't see any marks around 15 feet or so on the points, then the bass are up tight in the newly flooded brush.

WRB

[RoLo]

A 17-foot increase in water level is very extreme, and impacts the lake in two ways:

1) It increases the lake's surface area, which generally makes fishing more difficult

2) It normally creates a wealth of sheltered bedding flats, which benefits the bass population.

An important thing to remember is that bass in 4-ft of water before the change in pool level,

will still be 4 ft deep after the lake had risen 17 feet. I may be wrong, but I doubt that dissolved oxygen is a real concern.

Rainwater itself is oxygen-starved, but wave action and the increased water flow it causes in all the entering creeks

help to re-oxygenate the lake.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about water temperatures either. Although water temperature

certainly affects the disposition of bass, I doubt that it will affect the location of bass (others would not agree).

Very muddy water can be detrimental to bass when suspended sediment cumulates in their gills.

That aside, bass are capable of spawning successfully in very murky water,

but are forced to nest very shallow to get adequate sunlight to incubate their eggs (photosynthesis).

I would personally focus on the shallow headwaters, but if you feel that the water is harmfully mud-laden,

then you'd do well to head downstream toward the dam. Normally, as you approach the dam,

water clarity will gradually improve due to more advanced sedimentation.

Roger

[Matt Fly]

Move to the newly flooded brush/grass in the backs of creeks.   We used bladebaits on Lake Norfork.    White/chartruese skirt and white/chart blade was good bait for most.    We had luck on the SK Pure Posion Chatterbait as well.

[hawgchaser]

I am in the same boat being that I fish greers ferry/ It is at an alltime high and the fishing is TOUGH. Our lakes will be high for a very longtime. They simply can't let any water out or it will flood down south.

The high water is usually good for the overall bass population and once it clears, will provide some d**n good fishing. On Greers, the fish are in the back of deep coves in 4-8 ft. I personally haven't fished it and I won't under these conditions. Its slim pickens so I will go elsewhere.

Good luck and let me know if you find a pattern. I will also talk to my buddy that knows beaver well.

[CL]

i went out to beaver fork a couple weeks ago and had the same thing. No nibbles or anything. my buddy got one lm and it was a good 5 or so lbs.

[jb_adams]

Very muddy water can be detrimental to bass when suspended sediment cumulates in their gills.

That aside, bass are capable of spawning successfully in very murky water,

but are forced to nest very shallow to get adequate sunlight to incubate their eggs (photosynthesis).

I would personally focus on the shallow headwaters, but if you feel that the water is harmfully mud-laden,

then you'd do well to head downstream toward the dam. Normally, as you approach the dam,

water clarity will gradually improve due to more advanced sedimentation.

Roger

Thanks! I felt the really muddy water was too much for them due to the lack of settlement with the silt. I went downriver (towards bigger portion of lake towards the dam) and noticed the water eventually becoming murky instead of muddy. By muddy, I mean the color was light brown like flood water and I couldn't see a spinnerbait below 3-4 inches of the surface.

I've got a War Eagle Coleslaw spinnerbait Mattfly. That's the one everyone throws around here because they just flat out produce. It's white & chart. with white willow blades. Even though everyone is throwing them, there's a reason for it so I know I'll have one tied on.  

By blade baits, what did you mean?  Spinnerbaits or jiging spoons?

A lot of folks say stick to the back of coves in warmer water but after what I saw yesterday, I think I'll try the murky water first in shallow water. I'm fishing in a flat bottom boat and I still can't get back far enough because of floating logs and brush.

I think I'll have to re-spool with bigger line too. There is so much brush around, I may have to step up to at least 15lb line just to keep from loosing too many baits.

[Catt]

I would forget targeting bedding bass & target bass that are still in the pre-spawn mode

You mentioned tons of shad in the back of deep coves?

I can promise you if there are shad there are bass

Spinner baits, Rat-L-Traps, & Carolina Rigs  

[Matt Fly]

The bass wasn't on the beds or close to bedding late March.    So those bass will be seek shallow for the spawn soon.    I'm sure that the spawn in your region most likely occurs/starts in mid to late April dependon on the last few fronts that pushes thru.

Blade baits are another term for spinnerbaits, inline spinners and such.

   

[RoLo]

[quote author=6F4D58582C0 link=1208450

577/0#7 date=1208515132]I would forget targeting bedding bass & target bass that are still in the pre-spawn mode

[CL]

im here in ar too, we are going to try wooley hollow state park, ill let you know how the water is there and the action, im going sunday hopefully.

[Daiwa]

Haha. Just looking at this and all the other threads that bring member muddy. into it.

Lake is flooded, clear lake turned to muddy, what to do?

Muddy. What did you do??

[jb_adams]

Fished for pre-spawn fish all afternoon.  No signs of any feeding bass that I could find.  Finally went way back in the back of a long cove and thought I saw shad schools.  Turns out, it was bass frylings.  The water temp was 62 degrees and there was bass fry everywhere.  That told me the spawn happened previously a week or so prior.  Everything I've read told me that the bass had moved out of the back of coves in that area and could be found on points or transitional areas on their way out of the coves or main lake points.

So, on my way back to the dock which was down river (colder clearer water) I fished a few minutes in flooded brush and got pounded by a really nice fat 2.5lb spotted bass.  Nice fish for the day!  So a few minutes later caught a 2lb spot off the same brush pile.  This water was only 54-55 degrees and when about 5:30, the wind finally calmed down a bit and the fish went active.  I heard 3-4 fish jump in an hour of fishing this cove.  It wasn't a really long cove and water was around 2-3ft visibility and greenish stained vs. the Mississippi mud color the rest of the upper end of the lake has.

Another large cove down river has 52 degree water and about 4-5ft visibility.  I think you can find more pre-spawn and more active bass there than any 65-70 muddy water with no visibilty.  It's just too silty.

[CL]

i went to wooley hollow today. it was a bust. we could see the bass follow the bait all the to the boat. heck, we even saw 3 and 4 at a time follow the spinner, but nothings bitting. we tried a couple different lures and still nothing.

on the other hand, the water is clear. i think we tried the wrong time of day, my buddy who fishes this lake often said he hardly gets anything in the day out of this lake, always early morning or as the sun is going down. he said its a feeding frenzy then.

[Lavrax]

time to equip with vibrating lures!! colorado spinnerbaits, rattlin cranks and firetiger colors. When fishing the mud, i had the greatest success on these  8-)

[Bankbeater]

I have luck with bright colors like fire tigers and red in the flats and around drop offs.  Also have been using baits with sound in them like rat-l-traps and spinners with Colorado blades.

[jb_adams]

Guys, this water isn't just muddy. It's the color of a Yoohoo chocolate drink! There is practically zero visibility up river.

A friend of mine caught 4 fish in a tournament on Saturday in muddy water but I don't know how muddy. Once you cross the Hwy 12 bridge, it's "Yoohoo" for a long long ways.

It hasn't been this muddy in years the locals say. I agree, firetiger and bright flashy noisy baits are great but when you have so much flooded shore line, the bass go so shallow that they are in extremely thick brush and in areas a boat can't even get access too. You need a boat to get to the best places where you can fish from a bank. I just don't have the patience or the money to fish a rattle trap through really tough flooded brush. I'd rather go weedless and reduces your options for noisy baits.

Saturday afternoon, the wind died down from 15mph gusts to 5-6mph and the fish started biting. Everyone seems to be having better luck down river towards the dam where the water is clearer and stained with a greenish tint vs. "yoohoo brown" from all the silt.

Caught these two with a War Eagle spinnerbait. Compared to bass I typically catch from this lake, I'd say the population of bass is getting much much better. I typcially catch 12-13inch spots, rarely over 2lbs. and never "chunky" like these.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/jb_adams/Fishing/2lb-7ozSpottedBass.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/jb_adams/Fishing/2lb-2ozSpottedBass.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/jb_adams/Fishing/ClifftyWaterfall2.jpg

Found this waterfall, notice the water color? Green and milky. Saw one small 12" bass in this area and tons of bass fry. No aggressive bass found there.

[jb_adams]

So about how long should I expect this really muddy water with tons of silt?

Last year, we had an algae bloom, this year, it's silt and muddy water.  Next year should make for AWESOME fishing!