It doesn’t matter where you call home, high water levels we’re currently experiencing are making it tough on everyone.
But don’t put your fishing gear away yet. High water and heavy discharge aren’t all bad when it comes to fishing. And it doesn’t mean fishing this year is over or not going to be all that good as high water opens up areas, allowing fish to move into them to spawn and to feed. The heavy discharge coming from the dams acts like a magnet, and it draws fish up stream to feed on all the new aquatic life and other food sources being washed through the gates.
Here are some tips on different kinds of fish in high water.
Walleye
Put your boat along a bluff if you have one in the water you are fishing. Use several baits and presentations. The reports indicated that drifting with bottom bouncers, spinners and crawlers had accounted for good catches of walleyes. It didn’t take us long to realize that something had changed as crawlers weren’t what the fish wanted today, it would be a jig or bottom bouncer/spinner and minnow bite accounting for the majority of the fish that would be taken on this trip.
Increased flows and high water are not always bad, so don’t think because there’s high water in the lakes and increased flows into the river, fishing will be poor. If fished safely and properly, it can be some of the best fishing not only this year, but for several years down the road.
Bass
The old saying that bass move shallow in high water is very true. The first thing I try to do when going after these high-water bass is look for mudlines. Mudlines generally produce ambush spots for actively-feeding bass.
Many impoundments, usually muddy up very quickly during heavy rains, but not all areas are as muddy as others. When heading out to fish on a high water day, do some up-front research to get to the best areas. Head to the banks and bushes and wood structure, looking for breaks in the mudlines along the edges of the structure. Not all the creeks have good high water structure, but the ones that do will produce big time!
A lot of times the mudlines are just out from the shore or break around a bush or stump, and you can bet that a bass is sitting on the clearer edge waiting to feed. Look for noticeable points or indentations in mudlines around or next to visible cover. That subtle break generally occurs because of two reasons; there is a small drop around the edge of or in-between the cover or the cover itself is breaking the water flow. Whichever of these occur, you need to fish it because the small drops or current break is generally just below or next to the mudline and holding a big bass.
This is perfect setting to flip a Tightline Jig and wiggle it over the clearer edge or stroke it off a treetop along a clear point. I prefer Tightline's Wood Thumper and Grass Flipping Jigs. Both come with rattles that help bass zero in on them in limited visibility conditions.
Another effective high-water mudline tactic is to clip a single, big Colorado blade onto a 9/16-ounce Secret Weapon Quickstrike or Sidearm spinner bait, flip it back past the flooded tree line, and slow-roll it back out. Fish are alerted by the approaching lure's throbbing blade. Kill the retrieve beside every break in the mudline, stump, lay-down, or bush you pass and let that short-arm spinner bait flutter down to the bottom. Then lift it with your rod tip and swim the lure slowly to the next target. In muddy water, bass hold tight to those ambush points, and the flashing, noisy in-line blade draws strikes.
If you've not experienced the difference in-line blades can make on a spinner bait, give one a try and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Crappie
For quite a while, all it has done is rained. This has brought the already full lake several feet above summer pool. What this means for the crappie fisherman is that it will be up to the weather to determine the fishing for crappie until the high water leaves. If the weather turns bad and the temps drop and a cold front comes in the crappie fishing will be slow. But if the weather is calling for nicer weather, the crappie fishing should be stable and good. At this time of year the crappie have a natural reaction to move shallow. And with the lake at several feet above normal and a lot of new land area flooded this offers the fish like the crappie and bass a lot of new food to feed on. In some cases I have seen this cause a feeding frenzy in the shallows. This all sounds good and it can be as long as the weather is stable during this high water period. The crappie will continue to hold shallow as long as the water stays high. Then as the water returns to normal summer pool levels the crappie will move and hold on the cover. When the water is high look for things like bloomed out tree limbs that are hanging out in the water. This provides the shallow water crappie an excellent form of cover to hold on. Also the green leaves put off oxygen into the water and the tree limbs will hold a lot of small bugs for the smaller bait fish to feed on and this will move in the larger fish like the bass and crappie to feed on them. So you can see this form of shallow water cover can be a great type of area to fish during high water times. It is certainly one of my favorite types of cover to fish for crappie and some of my best and most productive crappie trips both came from fishing flooded bloomed out tree limbs in the water. The willow tree limbs seem to hold the best fishing. Once you have located this type of spot you can start with a minnow or small tube bait or curly tail grub or a doll fly. Most of the time you will only need to fish about four feet deep. Start out by placing your bait close to the outside areas of the tree limb. You can fish with or without a floater. I will use a floater in this type of cover most of the time to keep from getting hung up on the tree limb when a crappie pulls the bait under the limb. A floater will also let you have control of the depth you are fishing at and show a strike better. Fishing this type of cover can be very productive in both day and night fishing. Other types of good high water crappie fishing cover include lay down trees, brush clumps, bridge pilings, brush piles both natural and man made, standing flooded timber and boat docks. Fish all these areas in the high water for best results.
