a couple nights ago, during the full moon cycle, saw some folks bank fishing in a cove where the wind was blowing into it, at 12 to 15 mph SSE. the corks they were using , were going in the opposite direction of the wind, very slowly. they were fishing jigs, so it was not a minnow swimming the cork. my son asked why this was happening and I told him they must be letting water out at the spillway. he checked the corps website and they were only releasing 25 CFS..
Anyone else notice this happen on the lakes they fish?
If these deep reservoirs are subject to water movement during full moon cycles, it adds a whole new perspective in fish feeding and movements. most folks know that when alot of water is being released, the fishing gets tough.,
Im going to speak with someone at the reservoir control office, and find out how the flow coming out of the lake is measured.
with the gates closed it may let out a trickle amount at normal pool. but if there is a gravitational pull, it could be more,.
in other words the flow rate may be a calculated assumption.

I have seen this a lot. I think it is a light undertow current. How it happens I simply do not know. May be the barometric pressure or the structure of the water body. Just my guess.

Wind pushes water. As the water pushes into a cove or against a bank, the excess water has to go back against the waves. Always happens anytime wind is blowing. More wind, more current. Lakes always have some type current from the wind.

That's actually called "stacking" and is a real problem on some lakes when trying to determine lake levels.

that is a good observation.
next full moon I will go try again, hopefully the wind is slack, so I can verify this. thanks
Ive seen on waco, where the wind blows toward the dam, there is a slight back current that rolls back where the old dam goes across the lake. same principle .
Ive also considered the vaccum effect where if strong waves are going out in the main lake, it can pull water from a shallower cove in a creek arm.
kind of like how a pressure washer works, the pick up tube for the soap gets a suction from a connection to the main water pressure flowing out of the nozzle.

Learn something new everyday. Yet another thing I love about the TFF!

I think there is. Especially if the lake is bigger. Some of these lakes have to be subject to some gravitational pull. A couple times I have seen creeks flow backwards and I feel like this is why

Wind pushing water has an exaggerated effect with hurricanes. Hurricane Ike had a 17 ft surge over Bolivar peninsula. Strong northers blowing on the coast can push water out of the bays 2 ft lower than normal.
I've been fishing on a dock with wind blowing from the north into a big cove at 20 mph, from my left to right. Drop a 1/8 jig 12 ft deep and the jig is 1 ft left of my rod tip. Water rolling back out of the cove with current underneath.

the great lakes are inland lakes, and they have a tidal pull, but from what I understand, it is not so much, maybe inches, not feet. dont know if they have alot of river or creek systems .
also with lakes that have aquifers under them, I think they may have effects.
The Edwards aquifer is huge, not sure how many lakes it is over.

Yes, there are more currents in lakes than most people would think. And it's even more pronounced at bottleneck points, like bridges. And it can happen from wind, as well as new water coming into the lake. I live two miles from the 334 bridge on Cedar Creek, so I really like to fish it. But, it's affected by currents more than most bridges around here, and that can really have an effect on the fishing. Crappie don't like much current, plus it's much harder to keep a tiny jig where you want it, and doing what you want it to, in a current.

where I experienced this current was right near a bridge

The wind as stated, pushes the water around a lot! I see it on Sam Rayburn all the time. North wind will show a rise in lake level at the dam and south the opposite. When you pile water up in one end it has to level back out. You can really see the current it makes when it blows one way one day and turns the opposite the next. I’ve seen eddy currents in the standing timber. When you add dams and letting out water to that, it can be a lot in some places. As far as a tide effect, I’m no expert but I don’t think it would effect smaller water bodies to much. My .02