John K. Flores: What's your plan for high water bass fishing?

Over the course of the next couple weeks, the Atchafalaya River at Morgan City is expected to rise to 7.5 feet, which is considered a moderate flood stage event locally. What’s more, local officials out of an abundance of caution have been making preparations in order to protect residents and local interests from any potential flood threats.
St. Mary Parish is literally the southern gateway to the Atchafalaya Basin, providing access to nearly a million acres of bottomland hardwoods, swamps and lakes. The basin is simply an amazing ecosystem with tremendous biomass that provides commercial food and recreation opportunities for thousands of Louisianans.
That said, occasional flooding is normal for our region and, quite honestly, a good thing when it comes to fish stocks. A number of years ago during a similar moderate flooding event, I spoke with Mike Wood who at the time was Director of Inland Fisheries for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
My questions to Wood centered around how flooding impacts fish populations like bass, bream and sac-a-lait (crappie). According to Wood, flooding events allow fish numbers to rejuvenate after long periods of low water conditions.
Essentially, with freshwater sport fish spawning much of the spring in the basin, there is increased competition for habitat when the water is low. Moreover, there is also an increase in predation. Let’s face it, it’s a dog-eat-dog world that fish grow up in.
By contrast, when the water rises in the basin and goes over sandbars, bayou banks and canal banks, thus flooding backwater swamps and marshes, it provides an increase in spawning habitat and decreases predation. Fish can spread out, thus increasing their chance to successfully spawn — that’s the positive.
The negative is, high water will definitely impact fishing says Patterson resident Gerald Foulcard.
Foulcard, an avid tournament bass angler, said, “Bass can still be caught in high water, but the fisherman will have to catch them near cypress, tupelo and willow trees. The bites will most likely be few and far apart but can still yield a solid fish.”
Morgan City bass angler Howard Hartley echoed Foulcard.
Hartley, who back in 2019 fished the BASS NATION National Championship held on Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, said, “Anytime the river is on the rise, it sets back the bass fishing in the basin between the levees. Usually, bass are still catchable throughout the basin as it rises, but the threshold would be somewhere at 5 feet and climbing at the Morgan City gauge.”
Both bass anglers suggest getting outside of the basin levees. Foulcard mentioned places like Bayou Teche, any barrow pits you can get your boat into, the Quintana oilfield canals south of Franklin, and the Four Mile Bayou and Lake Verret areas near Stephensville.
Hartley said, “The further away you get from the Atchafalaya River and Calumet Cut, the less affected it is by high river. Places like Bayou Black area east of the river and Black Crook area west of the river are a couple areas I’d opt for. Plan B would be spending more time outside of the Atchafalaya Basin levee system for sure.”
When fishing high water conditions near cypress and tupelo trees, a little finesse is needed in your technique along with some specialty artificial baits.
Foulcard said, “The trick is getting that bait as close to the tree as possible, even if you have to bump the tree. You may want to use big-bladed spinner baits with Colorado blades. Jigs with creature trailers may also work and if an angler can find some stained to partially clear water, he may be successful.”
“The water would have to be pulling out of the woods and swamps,” Foulcard continued, “but can be caught on big square bill crank baits in crawfish colors or perch colors, which will be their source of forage during this time of year.”
No matter where you’re fishing, with high water conditions, Foulcard stresses fishermen need to practice boating courtesy and be aware of no wake areas around camps and wharfs.
Over the next several weeks, high water in the basin will impact anglers. However, the nice part about living in St. Mary Parish is there are plenty of options to formulate a Plan B until the water recedes.
John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net.