I am happy for the rain and full lakes but I look forward the june channel cat spawn along the rocks all year and want to hear others opinion of what will happen now. With many lakes needing a few weeks to get to normal pool what do you expect the fish to do?
Will they spawn deeper?
Will they just spawn at the same depth regardless of the water releasing?
How do you see it playing out?
And yes I know there are many lakes that are just a few feet high and should not be affected at all. Just can't recall lakes 10+ feet high during what should be the start of the spawn.

nothing chaNges fish movement and location more than moving fresh flood water ... the spawn will still take place around suitable structure but most likely you'll have to find different structure when the water is 10 ft higher. I don't know for sure but I dont think they'll spawn in the exact same place as they did during the drought years because that area is going to be a lot deeper and I dont think they can hatch their eggs unless conditions are similar where they're set up nests mostly at 2.5 to 3 ft below the surface ... when I noodled this is where I found all the eggs every year with big males guarding them. Never found any at 4ft and deeper when diving down to feel under big boulders. So most likely all the nests will be 2.5 to 3 ft deep this year too ... Catfish are amazing creatures with amazing instincts too ... the males continually tend to and fan the eggs while guarding them and they may not spawn in areas with too much current or turbulence. Might not spawn at the same depth if the water is falling or rising either ... just have to get out and locate them as best you can. Don't think anyone can really give exact information in totally different conditions because it dont' work that way most of the time. Most of the time I have to find the fish every day and when conditions are changing every day the fish aren't usually in the same spots every day so if they change that much in a day then they're not going to be predictable a full year under totally different circumstances.

Wow, I did not think I would get a legend to respond, thanks Tiny. My favorite channel cat lake is 10 feet high and they are releasing water. I fish rocks along the dam and bridges so the structure is basically the same just deeper and if they spawn let�s say today in 3 FOW it might be high and dry in a week. I wonder if they are capable of post postponing their spawn, as you say, they are amazing animals.

Wow, I did not think I would get a legend to respond, thanks Tiny. My favorite channel cat lake is 10 feet high and they are releasing water. I fish rocks along the dam and bridges so the structure is basically the same just deeper and if they spawn let�s say today in 3 FOW it might be high and dry in a week. I wonder if they are capable of post postponing their spawn, as you say, they are amazing animals.

I went out at 5am till 10, fished rip rap and grass in 1.5 - 5 FOW, ended up with a hand full of nibbles. Very light nibbles, tried different baits for notta. Every body I talked to said them same. Maybe the lake is still unsettled from incoming water from Lavon. I've always caught fish in these areas over the years regardless of drought, normal and above normal pool. This is a strange year, hope the bite picks up.

I haven't caught anything in the main lakes, rip rap or otherwise. The only place I have consistently caught fish for the last 6 weeks is up in the creeks off of points and on flats in the upper end of the lakes. Always in the edge of weeds or brush in 2 to 5 feet of water. Blues and channels both in the same spots on the same day.
One thing fo sho, if they don't bight in about 10-15 min I move. So far I've been landing right on top of them. I'm out early as I can and am done by 11:00. Best biting around 8am

hahaha ... legend ... now that's embarrassing as i don't think I'm that. but thanks for the kind words.

That's what I was talking about ... the fish's instincts may make them know that the normal shallow spawn might be in jeopardy if the water is falling ... they know stuff like that as it's very evident in their movements when the water crests and starts to fall under other times of year. I'm pretty sure they'd know that if the water is falling their eggs will be trapped if they're only a couple of feet deep so it's not going to be a normal type of spawn, most likely as everything is different ... Now what I'd do if I were going fishing is I'd cover a lot of water in a short amount of time and not spend more than 20 minutes in a single pattern until I established a working pattern .. start shallow rip rap then work my way out to as much as 10 ft deep using several rods ... this will eliminate possibilities and then if unsuccessful I'd move to a totally different type area. My first requirement would be to locate the fish though ... if there's no fish in an area I won't even wet a line. The big mature fish most likely won't be available to be caught as they should be full on spawning right now and they won't feed but some females will still be out and immature fish available .. just go find them and see if they'll bite.

This is why I like fall fishing the best.

Fun topic, I shall see what happens Sunday.

Fish are aware of rising and declining levels and will adapt accordingly.

6-10 days for eggs to hatch. They're going to seek out water that's a desired temperature and has adequate light penetration to help the eggs develop.

Last night, had constant action in 3 ft of water in a fast-falling lake. Couldn't get bit in water any deeper.

Outstanding Thread.
Good Information here.

We fished hard for 2 days last weekend for 9 fish. They were all in less then 5' of water and slap full of what looked like meal worms. With all the new food in recent flooded area the fish are feasting so they don't feed like normal. We cought all channels and not a single female with eggs.

Same here. Fished 2 to 4 ft of water yesterday. All channels none with eggs. Bellies full of muck. Don't know what that stuff is they are eating. For the record water temp according the to the 688DI was 84.5 degrees right where we were catching. In the last 6 weeks I have only caught one channel full of eggs from this lake. I have caught no blues with eggs. Looking at these fishes vents they all appear to be male. My biggest fish yesterday was a ugly ol big head 3 lb male channel that felt like a 5 lb'r pulling drag. I have no clue as to what these whisker fish are up to. I past years I have caught fish with eggs up into Late July.

I'm thinking in the next few weeks the fish will get back to a normal pattern. Lake levels should stabilize and the abundant food source should be gone. Im wondering if the influx of cold water pushed the spawn back or if this is just going to be one of those years we just don't get a normal spawn. All I know for sure is there is lots of room in my freezer that I was hoping to fill this time of the year.