Hopes are high for this year’s Rainy Lake bass championship where a higher water level on the lake isn’t shaking anyone’s confidence.
This year’s Rainy Lake bass fishing championship is happening on a lake that has higher water levels due to the amount of rain we have had this year. According to anglers, higher water levels may provide a better opportunity to catch fish than lower water levels.
“I think the low water just reduces your accessibility to the back end of places,” said Heyens. “Whereas higher waters you can get further places you can fish in.”
A chapter on water fluctuations from Charles Liston and Saralee Chubb’s book “Coastal Wetlands”, said that higher water levels may have a positive effect on growth and number of fish spawned during the spawning and nursery period. They also said that water fluctuations of the lake change the temperature of the water which influences food production and spawning periods.
“So, a little higher water on the top, that doesn’t bother them a lot,“ said Heyens. “It’s when it drops too much, then it’ll bother them.”
Director of angler’s, Paul Jewiss, said that the dams are letting the water out and the water levels on the lake are holding steady. He said that the water hadn’t gone over, or flooded anyone’s docks and that water levels wouldn’t be an issue for the championship.
“I know a couple of guys wrote yesterday, and they said they had a tough time finding some bass,” said Jewiss. “I think lots more has to do with the hot weather and unsettled conditions we had for so long on the lake.”
Troy Norman, angler, said that when there is a lot of current like there is this summer, the bass will set up in positions where the current is going by, and they can feed on bait fish getting pulled through the current.
“High water like this with lots of water running through the gates changes a lot of positioning for fish that relate to current and loss to the neck down areas,” said Norman. “You’re going to see spots that on traditional low water years don’t produce fish, they’ll just produce some fish this year.”
Jewiss said that conditions start to warm up in July which influenced the fishing conditions on the lake. He said that the fish might go into the weeds in shallow waters if the water levels are also high.
“Smallmouth bass seem to go shallow, which seems an odd,” said Jewiss. “It’s one of those kinds of things that you go fishing and try to figure out what’s happening.”
Jewiss said that a lot of anglers were using LiveScope to detect fish ahead of their boats. He said the use of a fish finder would help contestants find higher weights of fish during the championship.
