Fishing After Flooding

[GloryDaze]

Does anyone have good advice on how long the smallie fishing takes to pick up again after a river has flooding like we have had in the Ozarks? Or any suggestions on how to fish after the river has flooded and gone back to normal flow in a week?

[Al Agnew]

Flooding affects smallmouth a lot less than what a lot of people think. A flood that results from relatively warm rain, like this last one, tends to get the fish moving, and after the water goes back down they should be scattered into their spring and summer areas. The biggest difference will be in the river itself...lots of changes in cover and in where the fishable water is. The other problem is that the river will be higher than normal for quite a while even though it will be clear enough to fish, and the fishing will not be easy because the fish have so much water they can use, and fighting the current to fish effectively will be a lot more difficult.

I went last Wednesday, the day before this last flood started. The river was still a good 1.5-2 feet above normal, and just a bit murkier than normal for this time of year. Water temp was around 54-55 degrees, and I figured the fish would be in eddies out of the main current. However, I soon discovered that the smaller eddies along the banks adjacent to deeper water, where I expected them to be, were not producing anything. The only places I found fish were at the edges of bigger eddies on the insides of the riffles. This was in stronger current than I would have expected, and in places that, when the river is at normal level, would be too shallow to produce much. They were also some of the most difficult spots to fish. The point is, you just never know when the water is high, so you gotta fish everywhere you can. But I've had some excellent trips when the water is first getting back into fishable condition after a flood.

[FishinCricket]

Al is right.. Remember one key thing, the fish never really stop eating, they just slow down or change their eating habits based upon the current conditions. After flooding the river is inundated with strange foods for the smallies, so now might also be a good time to get out that really weird freaky lure than never really produces fish.. Seems to work for me anyways...

[Shawn]

smallies doing pretty good. weigh in from heartland had lots and lots of smallmouths more than spots or blacks. big smallie was 3.80. big bass was 5.17 i think. and winning weight was 16lbs. havent had too much luck. past two days had 4 keepers