Fishing theories in an hour
One spring evening some years back, I met a fellow and got into an extended fishing conversation.
Water conditions were high, and he made the flat-out statement that when waster is high, fish in a river or creek swim upstream until they are stopped by a dam. I must have look doubtful because he became a little agitated, and the result was we agreed to meet early the next morning at a spot just below a dam.
We did, right at daylight. Several other anglers were there, fishing from banks on both sides. "Rig up with something that looks like a shad," the fellow said, and I did. I tied on a pearl-finish small crank bait and tossed it out.
The man also threw out a small crank bait, but his was a different color - black back, white belly with an orange spot.
We each caught a white bass within a few minutes. Oh, the action was not hot and heavy, but we landed several white bass. The anglers around us scored with some striped bass - not large ones but big enough to cause some "looky here" comments.
We were at the Millwood Dam in far southwest Arkansas.
Our fishing session last only an hour or so, but I admitted to the man that his theory was at least partly or tentatively proven, that fish move up toward dams in high water conditions.
Visit the Lake Conway dam when water is high, when it's rushing through the gates, and you'll see folks lined up on both sides. Some are snagging, some are fishing with bait or lures. They must know something.
At the above-mentioned Millwood Dam, there is a cable across Little River a hundred yards or so below the dam. This is the limit for boats to approach, and it's there for safety reasons. Some anglers in boats move up to the cable and do there fishing there, with occasional good results.
Two brothers who lived at Paris (Arkansas, not the French one) were creative and innovative. They were also serious about fishing below dams on the Arkansas River. They obtained a couple of radio-controlled toy boats, fastened a hook or loop on each and used them to carry their rigged lines well within the 100-yard no-boat zone below the dams. Their catches were catfish, stripers and white bass.
These two fellows were also Razorback basketball fans, and they gained a bit of renown during the Eddie Sutton era by antics with a hog hat on wheels, radio controlled and running around the court of Barnhill Arena at halftime.
The theory of fish coming up to dams in high water isn't so if you think about it.
When the water is up, food comes through the dams just like food washes downhill into a stream or lake after a heavy rain. Most experienced anglers know and follow the incoming water strategy even when a dam is not involved.
Most fishermen when working below dams in high water times cast toward the dam hen let the bait drift downstream. My new friend at Millwood advised casting out then leaving the b ail open on the reel for several seconds. This let the lure drift downstream with the strong current.
Some of the other anglers nearby were using live bait, big minnows and nightcrawlers on a drop line with a heavy weight on the end of the main line. This let them fling the thing a country mile, then the weight pulled everything deep, with the bait riding up off the bottom.
Still another angle is to use bright-colored lures in high water below dams. The thinking is the water is dingy, murky, turbid, whatever your term, and the bright colors make the lure easier to see for a fish.