Low water exploring

[AtticaFish]

Went out in my river only one day last week, busy season is just picking up for me at work. I was blown away by the sight of the river... I have fished it for around 15 years and have not seen it this low and CLEAR before. I tried fishing for a little while but saw very few fish and they all seemed to be small carpcuckers. I manged to catch (snagged by the nose actually) one...

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...then just decided to do some scouting around. I have caught an un-told number of fish from a single deep cut in the bedrock. This was the 1st time i had ever gotten to see what was actually on the bottom in this hole.

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Was able to cross the river to an area where a small creek joins up with the river. It was nearly bone dry! In the 1st pic you can see how high up the tree roots are showing, from the current ripping away any sediment there is during normal springtime water levels. Theres also a good sized log-jam farther back in the pic... it was actually about eye level with me to give you an idea of how much water flows through here in spring. The other pics i thought were just pretty neat looking because you could see how scoured the bedrock is in the creek bed. It reminded me of a road cutting through the forest.

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[JUNGLEJIM1]

You need some rain bad,almost the same here too.Both lake and rivers are super low here,the lowest in several years.

 

[toadfrog]

Rain would be good here in OK . BUT NO DANGED ICE . I like the look of the country there.

 

[ScottV]

Water in our lakes in MS is also very low. At this rate we all may be living in a desert before too long.

 

[JSC]

Great Pixes of the stream .. Bed .... Good to get the bottom "aired out" some and for you to see a little more of where to fish and not to fish when you have some water .... we are hurting for water here in the area ... salt is way up my river .. (Spec Trout & Red fishing has been excellent on up river) ... looks like we may be getting some rain today and tommorrow ... forecast for the River at an uspstream gauge is suppose to rise over 4 ' by Wednesday.

The last time it got low (Even lower than now) took a bunch of pictures of different spots up river .. (here in the tidewater part it takes a low tide to see some of these places) ..

That is really a neat looking stream you are on ..

thanx
JSC

 

[Pup]

It is a very revealing time on my local river too. It's interesting to see cuts and ledges where I never knew they existed before. Makes me want to keep a dated library of digital photos showing the contours and features of the river.

Nice photos and very interesting discussion AF.

BTW, I'm guessing that your pictured fish just might be a northern hogsucker.

Nothern Hogsucker

 

[AtticaFish]

Wow! Sounds like a low year for water levels across a pretty large part of the country.

It is neat to see what is in the deep holes that i fish often, most times i never know what actually eats my jigs up. :dodgy: In the one section of the river i went to, i did see some features that explain why i catch fish in certain areas, but one place still has me scratching my head why the fish hold in it. I walked all around it and there is realy nothing but a flat bedrock bottom with ledges on each side. Even with the water this low, there was baitfish loaded up in this small 10' wide x 30' long cut. :huh:

JSC - 4' in your river in only 2 days... that is a heck of a rise! Has got to screw up the fishing for awhile?

Pup - Some sort of photo diary of the different areas i fish is a cool idea. I try to just keep certain structures in my memory, but thats just not what it used to be. haha! And you are correct - it is a hogsucker... caught a few carpsuckers this year and have them on my brain i guess. Also catch some River Redhorse on occasion... beautiful fish!

 

[JSC]

"JSC - 4' in your river in only 2 days... that is a heck of a rise! Has got to screw up the fishing for awhile?"


The river (Choctawhatchee And Pea River) Both head up in Alabama and between the 2 of them drain a good size water shed ... they join each other near Geneva, AL .. and it is known as the Choctawhatchee thru NW FL ... at this rise only puts it up to less than 1/2 of being to the Flood stage (12') we may get a little stain out of it(which we need to clear now) with a slight increase in current here at the mouth ... it will be only a quick rise then fast fall .. Unless we get some more rain and I don't see that in sight ..... Below State Hwy 20 it will only get slightly into the woods (it flattens out breaks out into many sloughs and runs at this point) .. the reading I go by is the one on US Hwy 90 (runs next to I 10) ...

On your stream I would be taking pixes and fileing them away for future reference.

Good thread seems a lot of us are hurting for rain.

JSC

 

[Hawnjigs]

Officially declared drought in parts of HI too.

So, you low water guys salvaging lures & gear off the bottom? I found an anchor last year in a CO reservoir, & a buncha nice lures.

 

[AtticaFish]

Hawn - My eyes are always open but alot of what i find in this river you would think was intended for deep sea fishing. Mostly oversized hooks, sinkers and swivels on 20lb+ line. It is overkill for most of the fishing i do... to put it lightly.

There is one reservoir with a rip-rap bank that i have found a bunch of useable cranks and spinnerbaits in the rocks over the years. Water level goes up and down each year as the city uses the water... my youngest boy likes going there just to look for stuf!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Yeah, still water rip rap is a great gear eater second only to drowned shrubs & trees. Guess I hit the low water CO res at the right time cuz one dried out bush skeleton looked like a Christmas tree. Even tho I don't use em, gotta love those fresh outa the box name brand cranks.

So, where are your river fish holding? Do they look for deep holes to winter?

 

[AtticaFish]

I wish i knew! I have been told you can find them in deep / slow current areas, but there are very few of those with in reach for my lunch time fishing. I went out again once late last week and still only saw small suckers, no decent size fish. A few more miles to the north, the bottom of river turns all mud and slows down - widens out. There is a dam for a city water supply about 15 miles north of me that i do know has a good stretch of slow deep water. I have read that smallmouth can migrate a pretty good distance to their winter holes, but not sure how far that is for my little river.

We did finaly get some rain. The steelhead guys a little to the East of me have been doing the rain dance and praying to the rain gods since it has gotten colder here, looks like it finaly paid off. Have not heard of it allowing the steel to make it in their rivers from the lake yet though, still need more rain.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Sounds like your dropping water / cooler weather pattern triggers a migration. Wouldn't low water be an opportunity to hoof around for a honey hole? Lately, I've been trekking 2-3 miles into walk in areas & fishing my way back to point of demarcation.