Where to fish when the rivers are up

[rairdog]

Thought I would see if anyone had ideas on methods and locations when the rivers are blown out. I know feeder creeks sometimes produce. How high or stained makes it not worth the effort? It's a bummer when you get the Spring itch and the weekend doesn't look good for fishing the rivers. I always assumed the fish lay low when the river gets above a certain point but after 3 or 4 days you figure they need to feed. Maybe the lakes are an option. Finding a cove that the wind blows baitfish into? Finding shad this time of year also seems difficult to me. Any helpful hints on these subjects would be :0a31:

[Chief]

when the river is on a steady rise catfish seem to be pretty active. the faster current rolls all sorts a food around for the cats to eat. yeah feeder creeks are a real good stop to fish at those times. shallow feeder creeks dump warmer water into the river, baitfish will be attracted to that warm water and the cats will follow

[treddinwater]

I've found high water periods one of the best times for channel fishing. Try and find slack water areas on the river you are fishing. On the White River what I usually do is find a slack water area that would usually only be about 2ft deep when at normal level and about 5-6ft. deep during high water. I've done well fishing the shallow areas adjacent to my usual cating holes during high water. Caught an 11lb channel last spring using chicken livers when the water was up like its been here lately. Tight lines and be careful if you go out with the high water.

[SilverCross]

High water bank fishing is good. Cast out with a nightcrawler and let it drift into the weeds on the bank, cats are up there getting all that fresh food they can't reach during regular depths. Learned that years ago from an old man. Hadn't thought about it in years till this post.

[dinkbuster1]

treddinwater is right, high water is the BEST time to channel fish! i fish near any slack water, better if there are snags or downed trees near. the last high water period we had i found them on a flooded sand/mud bar, 2ft deep, and with a downed tree near. could only keep one pole in the water at times! now flats are another story. i cant find them to save my life when the rivers are blown out.

[gebs]

I love fishing when the water's high. I target all those really shallow bars that are only 1-2' deep during normal water depth. I cast on top of the bar and let my bait drift down to the deeper part below the bar. I find that the cats are just below the bar. They are grabbing everything that comes over the top of the bar and swirls down in the underwater eddy that the bar creates.

I like the grassy area along the shore idea, sounds logical.

[vlparrish]

The river can be excellent at high water especially when it is on the rise. Look for grass that has become underwater, alot of times worms and things will crawl out of there and the fish will frenzy on them. Also look for any fresh water coming in no matter how small. Alot of times the small clear ditches along a river will hold fish where the water changes. Vern

[slabmaster]

i like 2 kinds of flooded river fishing. one is drifting the main channel current with any kind of baait you can stick a hook in "as long as its bleedin". the other is fish tillable landwhere a feeder creek runs along a bean ,corn , milo or wheat feild . ffish up in the feild.

[slabmaster]

i also agree with cat hunter about fishing crawlers near the bank. wwhen the lake i was raised on floods you can go along the bank and rake back the leaves and literaly fill a five gallon bucket with earth worms in just a matter of minutes.this works best during the rise it seems that the worms vanish as soon as the water starts to fall just a little and so do the fish.

[treddinwater]

Fishing crawlers close to the bank sounds logical, I'll have to give it a try here soon.

[dusky]

I go shallow and focus on current breaks like trees, snags, points, fronts of holes. They seem to bite better when the bait is closer to the current than clear back in the slack. It must be because that's the where the food is coming from.

[Alex Dolbeare]

During the past 3 weekends I have been out on White River targeting prespawn channels in the high water. Each week as the water has been warming, more and more channel cats have been pushing up river into predictable high water spring locations. As May approaches the height of the prespawn bite will just countinue to gain inteseity. This past Saturday we boated 20 plus channels average being around 6lbs with the largest fish about 16.8 and a few more in the teens.


With the river blown out I have been targeting current breaks and woody debris close to the main channel current. I found that the flooded grass and fields would yield a few small 12 inch fish. The biggest fish came from cover with 5 mile an hour current pushing directly into it and current breaks caused by the bank or in-stream cover.
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[catwacker]

when the mississippi is high, like now, i have had good luck fishing on the islands. if you can find green grass in the timber the fish will often be up in 1-2 ft. of water. fishing a cane pole in the tree roots works good.

[Lil Hooker]

I fish near the shore when the rivers are high

[HoosierPoleCat]

well with most fish they will rise with the water. Thats why you should study your surrondings when conditions are normal. Study the contur of the banks, islands, ect...Then when waters rise you will have a better idea of what, where to fish.