Ok. Was planning on going to the lake in the morning. Figure the cool rain will have fish on fire. But heres the question- what will the rain do to the lake. Tims Ford or Normandy. Will they muddy, flooded? Lake fishing is new to me. Im a river guy and i always had to wait several days after a big rain. What your thoughts?
Heavy rain and its effect on lakes….
- Thread starter redblood
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Biggun4214
Well-Known Member
My Grandpa always said the fish bite better in rising water.
I just wonder since its an impoundment of the duck river, would it be up. Same for Tims and the Elk River
chck3300
Well-Known Member
I've found this to be true for me also.
Lol I don't believe this
I found fishing the edge of muddy stream run-off always produced Walleye on the natural lakes up north. Impoundments? I couldn't say.
BigCityBubba
Well-Known Member
I don't fish impoundments much anymore but I never remember them getting very muddy after allot of rain. I have launched from the parking lot on Percy Priest and Center Hill during flooding and neither were what I would consider muddy. I would think allot of rain could lower the water temp which I would think would be a good thing. I love fishing in the rain in the summer. I have found that sometimes the fish will pull in shallow during a rainstorm.
Then you haven't fished very much.
The lake was up, but fairly clear except for the backs of a few creeks. However, the fishing was awful
Carlos
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Tomorrow might be better, I'm planning to go.
Fishing chart said it would be bad-it told the truth!
Rising muddy water affects fishermen more than it does fish.
fish will move with the water and most times they will scatter out. in late winter and early spring high muddy water makes them move shallow and i mean shallow. dirty water heats up quicker.
"You don't know until you go."
Truer words were never spoken.
Truer words were never spoken.
Maybe it depends on the fishery and the species. Before the Asian carp invasion, when the MS River was an incredible bass fishery, the river falling .2 or .3 feet a day was optimal. If the river was rising, you might as well stay home. A slow fall would position the bass so predictably it was almost automatic. You knew where they were. Rising water scattered the fish and made them very hard to catch. I know some old timers in their 80s that are excellent bass fishermen and have been fishing the river all their lives. They wouldn't even go when the river was on a rise. A quick internet search brings up lots of articles about the challenge of fishing rising water. The crappie fishermen I know on the reservoirs I fish in MS hate rising water. You can still catch them, but the lakes tend to get muddy from the influx of water coming in from the rivers and creeks. Apparently it's different on the East side where you guys fish.
Doesn't necessarily make them bite "better" but it puts them where the majority of anglers fish which is in 6ft to 2ft. Catch ratios just go up. That's my thoughts anyway.
Biggun4214
Well-Known Member
I always thought that more water meant more cover for bait fish. So the bigger fish had to look harder for the bait.
Could be. In my experiences bait fish don't necessarily use cover. They use the power in numbers plan. Schools will hang out most of the time in open water, if there's current, it pushes the bait fish towards the bottom. That's why in the summer people struggle to catch fish when there's little to no current. When they generate, bait fish get pushed or look for somewhere to get out of the current and the bass or crappie etc set up on structure. I rarely catch fish when they're deep behind structure, they'll be in front of it because they're in an ambush situation waiting for the current to push bait to them.
