I had posted this as an add on in an older thread with no response so thought I’d just ask the collective.

 

I recently fished a new (to me) lake area that is an extension of a larger lake. It was blue bird skies, water in the mid to high 60 degrees and flooded up 11/12 foot per DNR report. It was like fishing an underwater forest. The visibility was decent up on the “bank”, 2/3 or so foot where I could see the brush, tree roots and rock. I fished the “shallows” out to around nine feet deep.

The high water produced small islands of brush and scattered stands of timber. I worked the islands from all sides with the full arsenal trading off between middle water column  (paddletail, curly tail underspin), top water (weightless fluke, hollow body frog) to bottom contact  (t-rigged worm and Rage Bug, spyder jig and a tube).

I worked deep into the timbers and brush and attacked each target from different angles rotating moving to dragging baits.  After about an hour and a half I moved on to another area fishing about 6 hours total,,,,,,to no avail,,,,,zip, zero, nada!

 

 I did have a couple small crappie bites but not one bass; brown, green or otherwise. WTH!!

At least to my condolence there were tournament anglers fishing the same portion of the lake for practice and they were “run and gun” fishing with no better results.

 

I fished methodically sloooow, quick, top water, mid column and deep without nary a bite. To add insult to injury I could hear fish (and on two occasions saw) busting top water fry but could never get one to hit my frog, fluke, underspin or paddletail. I’d then follow up with a worm, the t-rig or spyder jig with not a bite. Everything on my graph was suspended around 10 foot in 15/16 foot of water but could never catch anything shallow as mid depths were the same result. Frustrating!

 

I don’t typically fish high water lake levels but it was a very beautiful day with great spring temperatures and being on the lake was just the right thing to do, or so I thought.

 

This isn’t the first time this Spring I’ve been stung with similar conditions and results.
Am I clueless or was it just “one of those days”? 

Starting to feel this is my mantra!

17 minutes ago, Motoboss said:

 flooded up 11/12 foot per DNR report. It was like fishing an underwater forest. 

 

 

No expert, but it seems like with that much extra water there's a million other places that fish can go.

Agreed, probably added to the water volume by a quarter, maybe.

Sounds like it wasn't you. Sorry tho, those days are frustrating for sure. 

17 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

 

No expert, but it seems like with that much extra water there's a million other places that fish can go.

I agree with this observation. One river I fished a lot last fall with great success rose around 5 feet this spring and now it's incredibly difficult to find anything. There's just way too much cover to reliably find them and it's more trouble than it's worth when I could just go 10-15 minutes in any direction for more reliable water.

I loaded up and was heading to the same spot this morning but after half a day of rain yesterday it was thunder and lightning for an hour with heavy rain this morning. I’m sure the added rain hasn’t helped the lake level.

So, it seems on National Go Fishing Day I’ll be at the house!

19 hours ago, Motoboss said:

there were tournament anglers fishing the same portion of the lake for practice and they were “run and gun” fishing with no better results.

 

I fished methodically sloooow, quick, top water, mid column and deep without nary a bite.

 

It wasn't you. It was the conditions.

 

A higher water level can work to one's advantage if you can find current. I've caught big bass stacked exactly where the water is exiting. Then, when the water drops and the current dissapates, the bass leave that spot.

 

Going the other way, when water really drops, it concentrates fish and that situation is when I caught my only 25-pound-plus bag.

Our lakes are high also.  Spinnerbait has been working as will as flipping the brush.  Also plastics near the old shoreline have produced.

water temperature was the key thing answering your question plus a few Crappie. The are in pre spawn and the rising water level flooded their original spawn sites. The male bass more then likely were looking for new water near the original area, the Crappie were starting to spawn in the new flooded brush but not in numbers, the females were probably fallen back to deeper pre spawn areas along ledges etc. Timing is everything during these conditions and locating baitfish mandatory.

Tom

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

It wasn't you. It was the conditions.

 

A higher water level can work to one's advantage if you can find current. I've caught big bass stacked exactly where the water is exiting. Then, when the water drops and the current dissapates, the bass leave that spot.

 

Going the other way, when water really drops, it concentrates fish and that situation is when I caught my only 25-pound-plus bag.

 

 

This has by and large been my observation as well. 

 

When the current is rolling and the water is burgeoning and flowing out rapidly, find concentrations where the current is flowing rapidly and the fish are usually stacked up there but they won't be there when it stops. 

 

Low water is definitely easier to find concentrations of fish and big ones!

6 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

This has by and large been my observation as well. 

 

When the current is rolling and the water is burgeoning and flowing out rapidly, find concentrations where the current is flowing rapidly and the fish are usually stacked up there but they won't be there when it stops. 

 

Low water is definitely easier to find concentrations of fish and big ones!

 

When the Bass Swami agrees with me, it's like catching a four-pound bass!

Around here, high water/flooding is usually a one way ticket to Skunksville. And it’s extremely rare that I get skunked. By far my hardest condition to fish is high water. Conventional bass knowledge always says high water is good for bass fishing but given my experience I will die on the hill that it is the opposite.

Say, I thought of another high water situation where I caught bass: In 2023, we had a couple four-inch rainfalls in a five days. So, I launched at a bog, but the bog looked like a lake because all the weeds were underwater. So, I cast a Whopper Plopper in all directions, which I couldn't normally do because I'd snag. The freedom the extra water gave me let me catch many bass in places that would have required a slower, more methodical approach at normal water levels.