Discharge and bass fishing question?

[Jim]

I have been working through a lot of discharge data from Old Hickory. Looking at the amount of water coming in from upstream and the amount going out from OH Dam. Two patterns are showing up and I wonder if they fit with your experience.

1. Low flow in the main channel is good for bass fishing in all seasons except the summer when high flow is better.

2. Fishing is better when the lake is rising than when it is falling in all seasons.

What do you think? True, False, maybe....

Jim

[whrizob]

I have been working through a lot of discharge data from Old Hickory. Looking at the amount of water coming in from upstream and the amount going out from OH Dam. Two patterns are showing up and I wonder if they fit with your experience.

1. Low flow in the main channel is good for bass fishing in all seasons except the summer when high flow is better.

2. Fishing is better when the lake is rising than when it is falling in all seasons.

What do you think? True, False, maybe....

Jim

both are true!
question one: in the summer high water flow is a must! i believe bc of the oxygen that current flow creates. with that said mr.jim, i have found that increased water flow increases the chances to catch fish in all seasons, execpt winter. now, i do believe that this is mainly for the schools of fish that are located off shore. some points off banks can benefit from increased water flow too, but i have better sucess on off shore structure and cover.

queston two: i have not found a situation where falling water was good! im sure everone has heard the saying "fish without water". i believe that falling water literally scares them and they will back off and wait it out. the fish are more worried about its saftey than eating. jmo. now with that said, rising water can be the best! and i think that has to do with the new cover that is offered and that the water is filled with more food. ex: when water is raising, it fills up with insects and different kinds of food that live in trees and bushes. it offers more food for bass, or for baitfish to eat. this all bring bass shallow. when i have new high water, i always fish high in the water column, in any new green bushes, banks, or trees. this is where i believe the best chances are to catch them. now with that said, if the water stays high for a couple or more days and ''stablizes", i will fish the "old bank line". i do this bc these fish will now relate to where the bank used to be. i believe they do bc it kinda like the first drop and usually has cover on it. jmo. hope that makes sense and helps.

[Travis C.]

For me, I have always found fishing better not only when Old Hickory is pulling water but when Cordell is as well. Since it is a run-of-the river lake, current really plays a role and if both are running it can actually create current out of the creeks into the main body. This is for spring, summer and fall. The only time it works against it is a lot of water in water keeps the temps real low with constant cold water. I would rather have water that moves daily it will help you pattern the fish better especially if its on a schedule.

You numbers may not reflect the fish making a move once generation occurs. The fish will reposition themself to catch food in different places than a non-moving water time. If you don't realize what is happening then you will continue fishing the same bank pattern thinking the fish just stopped biting. That is until you get to a point that hits a creek/main channel and there they are again.

On the second one it really depends on how much and how fast it comes up or falls. A slow steady rise or fall won't be as impactful as a quick one.

[Jim]

Thanks Whrizob and Travis,

I agree with both of your thoughts. The numbers are a little messy on this one because the discharge can go on and off during a day, but the creel results are only reported by the day. I can't separate the hourly discharge changes using the creel numbers. So the results are generalized to an average of the discharge conditions for the day.

I can look at generation from both Old Hickory and Cordell Hull (+ Center Hill) so this is looking at flow through current not just OH dam generation.

It is totally possible that all the fish are caught during generation, but that generation only happens for an hour that day. So it looks like the low generation day is good for fishing. But this is many thousands of interviews with many different generation schedules, so it seems difficult to believe that every day fits that pattern. People seem to be catching fish during low generation conditions.

I wonder if the numbers reflect the average bass fisherman going along the shoreline. Rising water and low current would be good for this pattern. Falling water and high current would not. For the offshore ledge and point bites the second condition is better, but I don't think most bass fisherman really know or fish the offshore bite as well as the shoreline bite. Even after years of fishing, I still like to toss baits to visible structure.

Thanks for you thoughts,
Jim

[Travis C.]

Something else about current that I had an idea about but never really understood is the strength of flow still in creek channels. I had a co-worker who was an avid diver. When he used to live in MI, he used to dive in a lake that he frequently fished. He told me that he could get down in the old creek channels and there was enough current to drift without having to swim.

I guess what I am saying is don’t write off the creek channels as just flooded ditches. Those creeks still flow to the main river and have more current than you probably realize. Now factor in generation pulling water out of those creeks in addition to the flow that is already there and you can see how effective the current breaks are along not just the main river channel but the creeks as well.

[Jim]

Yep, those creek channels flow both ways with the rise and fall of the power generating pulse as it travels down the lake. I think this is another reason the fish disappear sometime. They just move to deal with the current from a different direction and it is hard to figure out where that is.

[whrizob]

i would just say current flow! covers everthing. bc there are discharges out there too that effect the fish in the same way!