High water in the spring is one of my favorite situations. It’s a good thing too, because since I started fishing the Tours in 2003, we’ve been faced with it about 50% of the time. I get excited because this usually means muddier water and more available cover than normal. To a lot of fisherman it is overwhelming to see everything flooded. It all looks so good, but it’s really not. The bass can be so hard to find because they can be anywhere. However, when it’s up, there are ALWAYS fish to be caught in the shallow visible stuff. Having confidence in the lessons I learned in the past when faced with this common condition, and knowing what I’m looking for really helps me to eliminate unproductive water quickly.The natural lakes I grew up fishing have serious flooding problems. When we got a tiny bit of rain, Lake LeBoeuf especially would go crazy. It was a mile from my house and I fished there almost everyday since I turned 10 and all the way through high school. It was small, almost like a big pond, but it really taught me a lot about high water early in my years. The difference in fish behavior on most of the flooded natural lakes I learned on versus the big southern impoundments are minimal. It’s pretty simple; in the spring when the water is high, it’s a fact: some bass are coming shallow. The only meaningful difference is the current on the bigger Southern reservoirs and the way fish position to objects, but everything else is quite similar.

I break the flood period into three categories and keep it simple. There’s always other variables, like weather, spawn cycle, current, generation schedules and so on, that must be factored into the mood of the fish, but that’s always the case whether it’s flooded or not. So again, keeping it as simple as possible, I break it down this way: Fresh flood, high stable, flood receding, and they are all very different as far as keeping a bait in the strike zone consistently.

Fresh Flood

For me, the initial flood is time to explore, both for fisherman and fish. It’s also usually the shortest period of the three. The fish are unsure of exactly what is going on because of the fresh water and the rapid color change. This period is normally the muddiest. I normally love off-colored water, but this is the exception and requires a different approach than normal.

I’ve found that the majority of the fish do not move up into the newly flooded stuff right off the bat; it takes a day or so. However, the few that do move up first are the ones I want because they are much easier to catch. That, for some reason, is the biggest difference between Northern and Southern fisheries. From my own experience, bass in the south move up a little quicker than those up North. I think it’s because they are more used to the fluctuation on the bigger, generated impoundments.

In the initial flooding water stage, I go into search mode. I stay away from the fast rolling mud and look for cleaner water. In this early stage you can always find it near the dam, or opposite the river end of the lake, but I personally prefer to look for cleaner water right in the middle of the mess. The main problem during a flood is that the fish spread out, but sometimes if you can find a cleaner patch of water surrounded by mud, it actually can do just the opposite; stack them up.

I look for back water ponds, beaver dams, cuts, or bays that extend back up against the main river flow (like was the deal when I won the Mississippi River Ever Start in 2002), and lastly around weeds or grass. The grass acts like a mud filter and usually causes a slightly clearer area somewhere in, or around it. A lot of times the key area is the inside weed line between the grass and the bank. This is probably the hardest to find, but can be really loaded with fish.

Techniques

I love flipping and skipping a jig in high water more than anyone, and there’s no doubt that it will work, but in this narrow window of the “fresh flood”, it’s hard to beat swimming a jig or lizard in the newly flooded grass or bushes. I like to throw the bait right up on the bank and pull it into the water. Even though most fish haven’t fully committed to moving up yet, it seems like the ones that have are super, super shallow and often good sized. A lot of the time they’ll smash the bait as soon as it touches the water, or you will see a wake coming from several feet away.

If you’re paying attention, many times during this stage you will actual see bass moving the weeds, or whatever around. Sometimes it’s carp doing this, because this is also the time when they are spawning, but a lot of times they are bass. If you see something move, throw at it and hang on. I’ve seen many times when bass were swimming right alongside the carp.

I have a home made jig that I’ve been throwing for 15 years now for swimming around heavy cover. I make long casts and pump the rod as I reel the bait just under the surface. It’s got a cone-shaped head and a stout needle sharp hook. I use weights between 3/16oz and 7/16oz. and as little weed guard as possible. I also have the same exact jig with a fine wire hook rigged at the same time for specific (more open water) casts. I used to only use the fine wire because the hook-up ratio was better, but in super thick flood conditions I was loosing too many fish (sometimes I’d have to horse them and the hook would bend.) So in 2002, I started making it with the heavier hook. It’s actually a tough trade off, because when swimming, often times you are not in the perfect position to get a solid hook set, so I make sure my heavier hooks are razor sharp at all times and try to give the fish a second “whack” once I tighten up on it. This is also one of the few times I may use braided line, Spider Wire of course.

I basically stick with black, white, brown and green type color skirts, with contrasting trailers. I like to add a flash material to the skirt to match the trailer and I like the skirts thin. My usual trailer choice is a Kinami grub because when you need an extra split second to react to an explosive bite, you can’t beat Yamamoto’s plastic. Fish just hold onto it longer, like with a Flash or Senko. It’s a definite advantage.

I also mentioned a lizard. This is my favorite technique, especially around the grassy areas and beside isolated bushes, like we find at Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. My main bait is called a Wedge Hog. I started using it in 2003 at Okeechobee in open grass areas and quickly realized its uniqueness and effectiveness. I then took it to Kentucky and caught some really big fish on it there too in high water.

I guess you could say it is in the brush hog family, except it has big knob tails on all four legs that put out a ton of vibration, more than any soft plastic I’ve ever seen. It actually feels like there’s a small crankbait on the end of your line. It’s simply something that fish want to kill. A couple years ago in the FLW on Okeechobee, I used the Wedge Hog to finish fifth. Anywhere that there’s flooded grass or bushes, this bait works great.

I rig both the jigs and Wedge Hog on a 7?6? med-heavy Setyr rod. 99% of the time I use 16 lb Gamma Fluorocarbon line because of its superior suppleness and smooth casting qualities. It’s perfect for skipping a bait were it doesn’t belong and then getting the fish into the boat. I like a super high speed reel so that I can cover a lot of water and pick up slack quickly. I rig the Stanley Wedge Hog on a 3/0 Gamakatsu Sugoi hook, or a 2/0 Gamakatsu Super Line in heavier situations. I top it off with a tiny 1/16 oz Penetrater Weight pegged with a tooth pick.

High Stable

This is the best period, and in the spring, usually the most common. The incoming water has settled down and the color is coming back. It might still be muddy, but compared to the other day, it’s not bad.

During this time, I’m normally focused on flipping and pitching jigs and tubes. I still have the swimming baits rigged for the “in between targets bait” but I’m focusing more on getting something into the cover. By this time several fish have committed to the flooded brush, trees, grass, or whatever and are more predictable. They may be spread out, but once a pattern is detected, it generally holds true everywhere you go.

I still look for back water areas and pockets because in the Spring this is where the fish want to be. So even though the flooded water has the fish scattered, you still know where they are in general, and where to focus.

Techniques

This is a great time to pick a pocket, put the trolling motor down and just go fishing. I fish the thickest bushes as far back as possible and also the scattered brush out in front until you figure out the deal. When going from one bush to the next, I swim the jig or Wedge Hog or a spinnerbait, crankbait, frog, or buzzbait. A frog or buzzbait is a good choice for a bonus big bite in high water. Confidence is the key though, any one of these could work better at any given time.

My main two flipping baits are a 7/16 to 3/4oz TABU HC jig and a Mizmo tube with a thunder rattle. I like to go with more natural colors that match the water because most other fishermen are not thinking this way. That’s certainly not to say that black and blue or other dark colors won’t work too. I will also highlight the tips of the tube and jig trailer with a chart, red, or orange dye marker.

I generally use a 7? 10? heavy action flipping stick for the jigs and a 7? 6? med-heavy pitching rod for the tube, both non-retractable. I stick with heavy lines, just like when swimming, 16-20 lb Gamma Fluorocarbon.

Just like finding the best bushes or other flooded cover is important, so is finding out where the fish are positioning in it, and also their mood. Sometime they will come out of a bush and kill a buzz bait, yet other times they won’t come up for anything. Sometimes they’ll hit the tube out in front of the bush and other times they want it right in the middle. I’ve found that the latter is the case most often in the Spring. You may have to use a fairly large weight, like a 1/2oz and drop the tube down through the center of the bush, or tree and shake it for a while. This is when having a good rattle is so important. I rarely fish flooded targets without one or sometimes two.

Flood Receding

This is definitely the toughest scenario of the three for most people. When the water starts to fall, the bass feel threatened and begin heading away from the bank. One inch is all it takes for the fish to react. The biggest problem is that sometimes we don’t realize this is starting to happen, and we can’t figure out why what we were doing yesterday quit working. It’s very important to have a mark somewhere so that you can tell exactly what the water level is doing. I learned this lesson the hard way, consequently I can’t stress it enough. A lot of times when the flipping bite turns off for some reason, this is why, and most fishermen have no idea what is happening.

Generally, the fish do not bite as well now as during the other stages of high water, but on the flip side, they are very predictable once falling water is detected. They move to the outside edges of the weeds, bushes or trees and even sometimes out into open water in the middle of bays or pockets. When you find this, you usually find a load of fish in a hurry. Again, the key though is simply realizing the water is starting to fall.

Techniques

I really like going to a crankbait or spinnerbait, and again going into high gear, hitting outside bushes and trees or weedlines. If that don’t work, fan casting the center of bays and smaller pockets can be productive, especially if there’s some brush, rock or grass on the bottom.

This was the case in the FLW on Old Hickory in March, 2004. The high water was steadily falling during the final two days of the event and the bank fish all pulled out into the middle of a bay with some scattered milfoil. I caught several key fish by fan-casting crankbaits and ripping them off the grass. The water was still high and the flipping cover looked great, but it was coming down a couple of inches a day and it really affected the fish. The same exact scenario happened in the FLW Championship on Logan Martin where I finished 7th. I just ran out of fish by the last day.

Notes:

Knowing exactly what is going on with the level during high water periods is a must. I never fully grasped the importance of it until I started fishing these huge waterways. You need to know what’s happening every minute of the day and recognize when you need to adjust. It sounds easy, but believe me, it’s over looked often.

Log jams are great places to find high water bass. I’ll rest the boat up against the outside logs and pitch the jig or tube into the openings. I’ve caught fish 50 feet or more back into the log jam. That’s one thing about fishing flooded water, you have to have that “no fear” attitude and not be afraid to put the bait into some gnarly places. If you don’t get the bite, you won’t catch the fish anyway; I’d rather get bit and take my chances getting the fish into the boat. It makes for some tense moments, especially in high pressure tournament situations, but its fun trying.

I always carry a saw in the boat in high water situations. It has come in very handy more than once. I’ve never quite done a “Dudley” yet, but I’m always prepared for the opportunity.