(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
When the Bassmaster Elite Series event on the Upper Chesapeake Bay was postponed due to flooding, Pete Gluszek lost an opportunity to see how the top pros from around the country would’ve attacked his home waters under less-than-ideal conditions. He would’ve relished the opportunity.
His relationship with high-water conditions hasn’t always been ideal. He once spent nine consecutive days on Richland Chambers Reservoir in Texas without getting a bite, but on day 10 he got two bites and that translated into a 20-pound limit on the first day of a tournament. That lit a fire under him to figure out ways to excel consistently when lakes and rivers are rising.
“I’ve seen it a million times,” he said, and while it’s not his preferred condition, he’s learned to compensate.
Of course, there are challenges to anglers when the deluge comes, especially when the muddy water is cold. It can move bass and bait around and make them exceptionally tough to catch. On the other hand, it can also offer benefits. For example, it can provide stain to ultra-clear water, flood shoreline cover and collect fish, and sometimes even bring warmth to cold lakes. Gluszek weighs these ups and downs when he begins his search, also taking into account several other truths.
“The first to muddy is the first to clear,” he explained. If it’s clearer today than it was yesterday, that can be the best condition. Even if you have trouble seeing your lure, predators start feeding almost immediately as things improve.
When confronted with decreasing visibility, he’ll seek out the most stable water he can find. That might be near the dam, and it’s also often in creeks protected from the water flow. If the rain is local it might lead to a different conclusion than if the storms took place far upstream.
He’ll gauge whether the water is rising or falling by the thickness of the wet area on the bank or shoreline wood. If it’s thicker, that means the water is dropping. When that occurs, he’ll look for cover that’s adjacent to drains. On the flip side, if the water is rising, he’ll try to anticipate the cover that will have some depth on it the next day. He’ll also try to find a stopping point – like a terminal bank or a sea wall – that will keep the fish from going up into the woods.
With limited visibility, the fish rely on their lateral line and quick reactions to keep on feeding, so it’s “a great opportunity for power fishing.” That makes the techniques he’ll use “pretty obvious” – something that creates noise and vibration. Those include vibrating jigs, spinnerbaits, thumping crankbaits, big jigs and lipless cranks.
If you want to learn some of the other keys to Gluszek's strategies for locating and capturing bass in flooded conditions, including the rationale behind his favorite spinnerbait blades and his trailer choices for vibrating jigs, check out his full video, direct from the water, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
