High Water Feeding Frenzy During The Winter?

[Seth]

Has anybody had luck hammering smallies when the water rises in the winter time? I've heard from several people that said it's a killer time to catch big smallmouth if you can hit the river when it first comes up. Anybody else experience this? I do know that this summer when the water was high they caught some of the biggest bass of the season but the water was a lot warmer then also.

[Guest]

deleted.

[fishinwrench]

I've had some excellent days around the mouths of smaller tribs immediately after a winter high spell. An example would be where the Osage fork meets the Gasconade, But really any deep hole with lots of shallow water in both directions is going to have smallies ganged up in it. High water or not.

[Lvn2Fish]

I know in the lakes, or even tributaries of the lakes, it takes warm water coming in the lake or river. If it was going to be 60 degrees and raining tomorrow it would turn on big time. But with this being a cold rain the water temp won't rise. Resulting in less activity.

[Al Agnew]

It generally always helps if the water gets enough of a rise to make it somewhat murky. Just about everywhere has been super clear all autumn, and tough fishing. Not that you can depend upon them going into a feeding frenzy, but the fishing should improve, at least. And higher water levels mean more current, and since the fish don't like to be in stronger current, it actually limits the places where they are likely to be, and makes them a bit easier to find.

A rise of a foot or two, with murky water and lots of current, can bring out the fish that are left in the smaller streams, too. Most of the time in cold weather, the smaller creeks are very tough fishing, either because the fish have moved out of them, or because they seem to really burrow under cover and go almost dormant. But a rise, especially one with even just a little warmer water, can make the smaller creeks worth trying.