The FLOOD of 2013

Central Iowa has been blasted with rain for the past 2 weeks.  This caused every stream, creek and river in the area to overflow and caused mass chaos.  Roads were closed, basements flooded, and farm fields looked more lake farm ponds.  We escaped the worse parts, all but a few detours on trips back home, but I cannot stop thinking about people who are still reeling from water in basements, and those farm fields, hopefully the crop will still be good for them. 
I have been asked countless times the last two weeks the same two questions; Did you survive the flood? and What does this do to fishing?


A close-up view of the muddy water while
releasing a bass.

I was very happy to answer the first question with, everything is just fine at our house.  The second question was a bit harder.  The flood of 2013 has affected every body of water in this region.  All of the Marshalltown area lakes were flooded, and over their banks too.  Pine Lakes,
Rock Creek, Union Grove Lake, and Hickory Grove Lake all experienced flooding that I have never seen in the past 14 years of living in Marshalltown.  What does this do to the fish?  Well Fish still need to eat to live, but feeding is very difficult when the fish can't see.  All fish use several different ways tracking prey, hearing, smell, vibrations through their lateral lines, and sight.  The first three are very keen senses, but without the last one, the sense of sight, it is hard to track down their next meal.  So, long story made short, fishing when the water is high and muddy, can and is always very hard to be successful.

The best fish of the day, a pale, Pine Lake 14-incher.

With this in mind, and about 10 days of no fishing, I had had enough.  A quick call to friend Don Henry, and we were off to Upper Pine Lake last Sunday to see what it looked like.  Not to our surprise, it was muddy, well, that was an understatement.  Visibility throughout the lake was about 2 inches.  That translates to terrible fishing conditions.  We gave it try for a few hours, throwing numerous baits at them.  We did manage 3 bass.  Don caught his on a spinnerbait, and both of mine came on a black and blue chatterbait.  The flash and vibration of the spinnerbait and chatterbait no doubt helped those fish find our baits and made the impossible happen, catching bass in those conditions.
Fishing is on a halt here for awhile due to the floods.  Most lakes in Central Iowa are just too muddy to have a very productive day fishing for any species.