By Scott Norton
Most anglers, this pre spawn, found themselves dealing with soggy, muddy, and cold conditions. I will discuss some of the problems and solutions in dealing with these conditions. Some people sit these conditions out and wait for better weather and some of you take advantage of being the only one fishing. Learning how to catch fish during a flood will test your patience, you will to change gears, and your habits.
Let us start with where fish are during a flood. You would think that bass would stage up on the secondary points on the way to the spawning flats but the question is, “Why do they stage on the points in the first place?” Bass have an incredible hunger leading up to the spawn and the secondary points are the ambush areas for feeding. When a flood happens, they skip the secondary points and go all the way to the backs of creeks for food spilling into the lakes. Shad will also go there to feed as well and you know, where the shad are, so are the bass. This is basically a buffet or a conveyor belt of food.
Now that we have found their location, let us talk about colors to use. In muddy waters like chocolate milk, you want to go with dark and opaque colors. Dark lures throw off a silhouette and will be more visible to bass. Opaque lures will throw a glow if you want color. For example: if you use a spinner bait you can use a painted blade because there is not enough light penetration for reflection from a metallic surface. Now is a good time to use those bright red and orange colors since they also feed heavily on crawfish. When the water hits 50 degrees, they just lash out at colors that are red so this will also be a good color in your tackle box.
Next, we want to select a lure that throws off some sound and water displacement. With visibility down to inches, you need a dinner bell to guide hungry bass to the target-lures such as crank baits, spinner baits, jerk baits, and jigs with rattles. These sounds will be picked up by the lateral lines on the side of the bass.
Be sure you plan to wear a good rain suit before going to the lake during a big rain. You need to be as comfortable as you can in uncomfortable weather. You will find that you took advantage of a really good time to fish and if you catch that new personal best, you’ll have a great story to go with it. I hope this helps and enjoy fishing this season.
Scott Norton is a native of Western North Carolina. Born in Asheville, NC, he is a long time avid hunter, angler, and weekend warrior. He is a member of Southern Raft Supply’s prostaff team representing them in his Jackson Kayak Coosa FD.