Another spring, another year of flooding in the Ozarks’ bass belt. High water is nothing new at the popular White River reservoirs which straddle the Missouri-Arkansas state line. “It seems like we get a 100-year flood every other year,” quipped Nathan Recktenwald, a Missouri Department of Conservation fisheries biologist.
Actually, it’s not that bad. But high water is a given once it starts pouring and the reservoirs bulge to protect the region from widespread flooding. Boat ramps and parking lots disappear under water, bass spread out in newly flooded timber and bushes, and marinas are difficult to access. But there is a silver lining to those dark rain clouds hanging over the Ozarks. Several years from now, anglers may be praising the high water that gave them so much frustration this year.
“Historically, we have celebrated high-water events here in the Ozarks,” said Jeremy Risley, black bass program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. “Especially when we have prolonged high water—sometimes well into summer—we know we’ll have large year-classes of bass.”
Arkansas’ Flooded Reservoirs
Short-term pain, long-term gain. That’s the story at the White River flood-control reservoirs: Bull Shoals, Norfork, Beaver and Table Rock. Those high-water events, however frustrating they might be in the short-term, are a major factor in building nationally known bass populations.
After a spring of seemingly non-stop rain, the table is set this year. As of mid June, Bull Shoals was 30. feet above the top of conservation pool, Norfork was 22 feet high, Table Rock was up 10 feet and Beaver was 7.64 feet high.The Corps of Engineers has been unable to make large-scale releases into the White River for fear of flooding downstream agricultural land and other interests.
That amounts to a maze of new spawning and nursery cover for the bass. But that’s only part of the equation. The important part comes post-spawn. As long as the water remains high and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t make large releases, the fry will have plenty of cover to avoid predators and food that was washed into the water. Shad also will benefit from the new cover and the nutrient-rich water, and typically pull off large spawns.
“We try to convey to anglers that the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term frustrations,” Risley said. “We tell them they wouldn’t catch some of those big bass that they do in tournaments if it weren’t for a high-water event several years before.”
Big-Time Bass Fishing Ahead
Del Colvin, a longtime guide at Bull Shoals, can attest to that. He has seen the boom years that can result from flooding.
“Bull Shoals would be a different fishery if we didn’t get these high-water years,” he said. “If these conditions continue, we’ll have some great fishing four years from now for largemouth, smallmouth and Kentucky bass across the board. I’ve seen it happen before.”
Colvin continues to guide even in the high water. He will get up early to launch his boat and find a parking place for his truck and trailer. That’s the hard part. “The parking lots are under water, so it’s hard to find a place to park,” he said. “Some people are launching off roads, then parking as much as a quarter mile away.”
Once on the water, Colvin has found success guiding his customers to big smallmouth bass on the main lake flats and points. He also targets largemouth along the old shoreline and in the flooded buck brush and bushes.
“I love fishing high water,” Colvin said. “I love seeing how the fish react to the changing conditions. You boat into a creek in this high water and it’s an adventure. You can go a mile or more into the creek than you normally could. And the bass will be up in there. It doesn’t take them long to find that new cover, especially if there are shad in there.”
Are there too many bass?
The only negative of the recent high-water years is that it may be resulting in too much of a good thing. From 2010 to 2023, Bull Shoals had more high-water events than it had in the 50 years before that, according to records kept by Risley.
“We added a lot of bass to some of our reservoirs and we saw the growth rates decline,” he said. “We still have good populations of shad, but there’s a lot more competition for that food.” Still, fisheries biologists remain hopeful that the spring of 2025 may be one to remember.
“In the past, I’ve gotten phone calls from anglers who tell me, ‘I just can’t get past catching these 12-inch bass. There’s something wrong,’” Recktenwald said. “I explain that those fish are probably 2 1⁄2 years old that came from a big [event] a few years back. We had a giant year-class that year that is just working its way through the system. We tell them to be patient and hold on for another three years. They’re going to see some big things.”
