Confused

I had fished Pool 4 this last weekend and caught some fish but not in the places they usually are this time of year. We found fish to still be in the current and on a few wing dams. I am not the most experienced river fisherman in the world but I want to believe that with backwater temps in the 60’s these fish should be in there. Am I missing something? Last year this time with backwater temps in the 50’s I was finding fish in these same backwaters I could go into more detail about exact situations but I am just looking to make some sense of what is going on right now.

Another things am confused with is the water level right now, why have they drawn it down so far already?

Was there current in these backwaters? Were you fishing wood?

The backwaters I fished had no current and gravel, and, or wood. These areas have always held fish, but now the water is low and the temps are higher than normal and the fish simply are not there. The fish we found were in the current with structure, but we did not boat any largemouth 2.5lbs or better at all. It seems the fish are still in pre spawn despite the warm water temps, plus the lack of vegetation in the backwaters on pool4 doesn’t help either

There has been alot of pressure on those fish the last few weeks because of all the tournaments and pre-fishing going on right now too. That may have been a factor. A couple tournaments and some smaller tournaments took place last weekend as well. So some of the more popular areas have been getting hit hard.

that is true as well,I think the low water has made some of these areas a lot less desirable spawning areas for the fish as well.

I think the water temp is deceiving! Up until a little over a week ago the water was low to mid 40’s, and then it almost instantly jumped to 56-58 degrees with the warm hot sun. Everyone instantly screamed spawn, but my opinion is that while the surface temp may say spawn all water is just now reaching those actual temps. Are you getting your temp readings, say from your bow mount?? In my opinion, some fish are starting to move towards spawn (only just finding that this week). Be patient, they’ll be there; keep checking back and you may be pleasantly surprised.

I’m down on pool 8 and I feel that water level is a big factor right now. I have records from last year and the water was at 9 feet with a flow of 80,000. Right now it is 6.0 with about 50,000 i believe. this is a big factor in where fish are on 8 this year vs last year with the same water temps.