First of all I'm not sure how you would really describe what kind of resivoir this would be. I fish several power plant cooling lakes in IL. one I fish in particular has no real structure outside there are a few points and coves, a large land bridge that comes out from the plant about 200 yards into the lake a side that brings in cool water from the river and a warm outlet that pumps into the lake . for the most part it is a huge rectangular lake. this lake being regulated by the power company stays around 65 - 70 deg year round. I have been thinking that I should look for underwater points / drop offs and ledges vs beating the bank all the time? do you think that the water temp being so regulated throws off a bass's clock as far as the spawn and whatnot? should I look for fish where you would think they should be this time of year holding in postspawn patterns / some still possibly spawning. Or should I look more into the temp of the water, considering that they regularly pump water in and out. You can tell by the stacks on the plant.  Am i right to look for underwater structure and substrate changes in a lake that really has no decent structure or protected sides (no hills or trees for the most part) large flats , and rip rap. or where the land bridge bottle knecks a "Channel" from the cool side to the warm.

thanks,

Andy

Power plant lakes fish a little different from normal lakes. Early this year I was fishing Newton in Illinois early Feb, late Jan with snow on the ground with water temp in the 70's. The fish where pre spawn. The good thing and something to keep in mind is that the closer you get to the discharge area the warmer the water and the closer you get to the intake the cooler the water is. This means that depending on where you are fishing in the lake depends on which stage the fish where in. Early in the season the warm water part of the lake holds tons of fish but later in the year when the warm side reaches water temps in the 90's you can't buy a bite. About mid spring through summer the cold side will hold the most active fish. This time of the year the cold side fishes like a normal lake. You are going to find most of the fish hanging around any deep structure that is close to the bank. The intake area that has the rip rap should hold fish year round. If you are fishing the channel take some time and watch it on your graph and look for places where it swings close to the bank or makes any bends. Any cover that is nearby the channel will hold a fish or two. Any points that are at a steep angle will hold more fish than long tapering points. You should have a large population schooling and chasing shad so keep a topwater lure handy if they blow up close enough to make a cast.

National Grid has a large plant on the Providence river.  The warm water output pipe disperses water at 66 degrees.  This is enough to hold stripers there over the winter.  May I remind you, it gets cold enough here for salt water to freeze a couple times a yr.  The stripers are the smaller class schoolies and can be caught fishing the rip from the output with small bucktails.  

I'm not sure if there is a scientific reason that they don't migrate back to the Chesapeake with the rest of them when winter comes but I'm glad they don't!