Squaw Creek Pattern help

I’m looking for some guidance on Squaw Creek. Not specific locations or honey holes…but more so, how to adjust your seasonal pattern for it compared to non heated lakes.

I feel like I have a solid understanding of traditional lakes this time of year, but 70-80 degree temps in winter really perplex me. I’m also curious when the spawn runs on these lakes. Thanks in advance!

The spawn is on... these lakes kick into "Spring" patterns when the water cools down, rather than heats up. That being said, for Squaw or Welsh, just go fosh your strengths and conditions; don't get hung up on what time of year it is.

At what water temperature do you feel like they start moving up to spawn for power plant lakes?

Some have already moved up

But it’s not a sight fishing lake really. With the clear water and temp the fish spawn a lot deeper than a typical lake

Not many will be seen like your used to it

Depends on the lake... The year i got to fish Monti for the first time when the plant was running again, they spawned when the temps dropped below 90 degrees. Welsh when it was running heavy a few years ago was when the main lake cooled below 80, the upper end was low to mid 70s and they were on beds all over.

This was November - February, by the way.

They were up on the banks last Thursday. Caught a lot of cruisers and saw a few female’s moving up on the beds. 2 days later and they were all gone from the shallow. They are moving around a lot right now. The spawn should be really good on the January full moon.

Very good information and definitely not how I’ve been fishing it lately. Thank you for the tips!

On Squaw they spawn multiple times. Doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. There was a major spawn first of November this year. We caught 18 pounds off one laydown in 18 inches of water back then. Havent seen it like that since. But we always check shallow first just in case, then move on to other stuff.

Never fished squaw but fish power plant lakes every winter that have lots of hydrilla and pad stems... last two weeks have been catching in the pad stems in about 3 to 4 feet of water.. where water temps are in the low 60's.. haven't been doing well shallow in the warmer waters nearer the discharge where temps are in the 70's and up to 80.. Been catching most on small plastics on 1/0 owner flashy swimmers fished like a worm. No big ones but plenty of 3's. Have been trying to stay on flats near shallow creek channels but with the rains we've had, have had to get further away to find clearer water.

Just my personal opinion, but I think this is is a fruitless exercise. I don't think Squaw patterns apply in almost any way to non heated lakes and vise versa. Especially when you consider that often times the generation isn't even the same all the time. They will sometimes shut down part of the plant for maintenance which in turn changes the water temp. Add to that the fact that bass in power plant lakes are historically short lived, feed way more than bass on traditional lakes, and spawn 2+ times per year. I feel like I catch a few fish in some phase of the spawn almost every time I go out there. Personally don't think they spawn in big waves like they do on a normal lake. I'm sure those that fish it a ton get some sort of general pattern figured out, but trying to translate that to a non powerplant lake or vise versa just doesn't work. It's a great place to work on learning new techniques and fine tune your electronics skills, you just have to treat it like it's own unique ecosystem because it really is.