What happens to our lakes when big floods come.

Thought about posting on a similar post that is active but did not want to hijack the post.
This is a topic I have wondered about and have discussed with a lot of people. We get a big flood on our river systems like trinity, brazos or red. Fish get very hard to catch for a while as we fish for them the way
we always do when we have normal lake conditions. The fish have had their lives changed with muddy water,
high water, currents in the lake changed, scattered bait fish and scattered schooling fish. I just have never figured out what the high water method is. Another thought is a lot of people say the fish all went over the spill way. Of course you loose some fish over the spill way during a flood but the people who survey and should know say it is a very small amount. I think about a lake like Texoma with a thousand miles of shore line and all those fish piling up in a couple hundred yards of the spillway. Again It seems a lot of dead fish in front of the spillway.
Last year on Eagle Mountain we had a really bad flood and it was so bad I took off a couple of Months
and went to Montana. The accepted word was all the sand bass went over the spillway into lake Worth. The Lake
was muddy all summer. Went I got back the Lake had stared to clear and then we had the best fall we have
had in years and the fish were in the best shape they have been into years.
I keep thinking there is someone out there who can figure out how to catch fish in these high muddy conditions.
I know this post has not offered many answers but would like to hear some other peoples thoughts on this subject.
Johnny

I'd be curious to know how many fish actually get washed over the dam at PK. I think a great many do, we have hybrids in PK now, quite a few now and know the're not stocked. I figure we got them Graham.

Agree you always get some amount of fish to wash over spillway in a flood. I guess the question is how many. If it was a huge amount over PK to Granbury should have so many fish in it you would think you could dip them up with PK being huge compared to Granbury. I to always wonder. We always get a few hybrids here in Eagle Mountain from Bridgeport but just one every now and then.
Johnny

when the flood gates were open you could actually see fish coming over and trying top swim against the flow as they fell into the pool below the dam. Lots of Blue and channel cats were floating dead along with Gizzard shad. The locals all crowd the banks when they have the gates open and the fish that come out do not necessary go to Grandbury. They go up the hill to the parking lot in five gallon buckets. I have no idea how many stripers you can put in a five gallon bucket but its more than 5. I think the state does not care because the fish likely wont make it to granbury and they will starve in the river below the lake.

The river below the lake is very shallow. My depth finer shows the deepest parts to be about 12 feet. There's no bait in the deep part. last time I was there there were big schools of shad on the shoals and you could see LM Bass and stripers in about 5 feet patrolling the shoal to catch any shad going deep. Easy to catch shad, as they can't run away from you. It's either my net or get eaten. I still see lots of people fishing the river so there must still be a few fish in there.

Before the flood gates opened, I could fish Magic point at gaines bend and catch several stripers in the 25-30 inch range on lures. I would mark fish all the way across that cove. Now, you don't see anything in that cove except bait.

This is a great topic. One I have thought about a ton this year. I mainly fish Richland Chambers. The gates on RC have been open more than they have been shut over the last few years. Richland Chambers was in what I would call a massive decline in white bass population before all of the inflow over the last few years. The white bass fishery is getting better every year due to the inflow. Hybrids are a COMPLETELY different story. Richland Chambers is essentially barren of keeper hybrids now. There are a good many 15 inch fish but very few larger. I have been fishing RC for 10 years or so and its by far and away the worst hybrid year I can remember.

My personal opinion is that way more hybrids and striper go through spillways than the "experts" claim. I had the opportunity to fish the Trinity just below RC early this summer. The River was high and the gates on both RC and Cedar Creek were open. The river was boiling with hybrids. RC has had good stocking numbers over the last few years. There should be loads of keeper fish in the lake, but there simply is not.

In my opinion there is very little doubt that we lose a ton of hybrids down stream. However, the inflow is essential for a productive white bass spawn. Its a catch 22. The longer I fish the more I recognize that lakes go through ups and downs. Some years are great, others suck. Many of our lakes have sucked this year. Hopefully this fall and next year will be better.

PK there is no doubt that the fish are in different places than they were when the lakes were 10 ft low.
There is a hump on Eagle Mountain that I have been catching fish on it for 50 years. May not be but a
month out of the year but I have yet to catch one fish on it this year nor have I heard of anyone else catching one.???
I wish we were smart enough to have some answers but it is a interesting discussion.
Johnny

All this high water is certainly a game changer. Some days are tough. Occasionally we have a good one. I will be happy when I figure out their pattern. Seems as if it changes daily now.

Way different year, I have more looking than catching.
Seem to be much deeper than ever.

Me and the boys you are right about this being a different year. Fish were very late coming
back from the river. Fish were hanging in different spots than years past. On Eagle mountain
we were different in that fish were extremely shallow all summer. Till 10 days ago we were
catching sandbass in 12 to 17 fow and the water was 88 degrees. Made no sense. I have learned
one thing this year. I knew about half of what I thought I knew.
Johnny

The TPWD guys at the fish hatchery told me they put surplus Hybrids into PK. They might come down from Graham but they are stocked as well.