Top_Heavy's World

The spring rains have come to Eastern Iowa in huge quantities. My favorite ponds are as full as they can be, the creeks are like a yo-yo, up and down. My local rivers have left their banks for several days in a row and my favorite carp killing reservoir is as high as I can remember.

This road is several miles from where I normally put in my boat, the water changed our launch location! I would have put in right here if the logs hadn't drifted in so tight.
High water is a blessing for hunters, the water floods new areas of grass and other brushy vegetation and the carp move in to look over the fresh food source. I actually ended up hunting behind the logs from the bank, the carp were stacked at the mouths of creeks and feeder streams. This water was clear as it dumped into the chocolate milk colored reservoir, not only does this attract them, but they are much more visible there as well.

Carp shooting is as much an art as bow hunting for deer, setting goose decoys or fishing for walleye, each has it's seasonal factors and changes that affect the way the hunt is conducted. Spring hunting- cold water, spring rains change the water level weekly if not daily, no leaves on the trees, the sun is lower in the sky, no water vegetation, but lots of fresh land growth that is teporarily flooded.... lets go through them a little and see if I can help make your next trip a little better.
Cold Water- the carp are not wallowing and trying to spawn yet, which is the easiest time to kill 100 fish in a day or more. The fish usually are tail up in the water as they root around at the base of grass clumps or bushes. The fish often sit about a foot deep in clear areas as they try to warm up in the sun light.
Water Fluctuations- constant changes mean you have to be more flexible, and willing to walk more often as the fish are most often in the newest flooded material. One of my biggest secrets when hunting big fish, usually grass carp, is that when the res goes up and gets muddy, the grassys will be in the cleanest water, and some current will be a bonus. When we move out of these areas into the muddy water, the german carp become the norm.
No leaves on the trees- this means less shadowy areas, a many fold use. The fish are most easily seen in the bright sunlight so they are visible amongst the branches of flooded bushes now, when they won't be in the summer. Your shadow is now more visible and detrimental to the hunt. Carp see your shadow and sink out of sight or blow out and disturb the other fish near them, watch your shadow or kill less fish. The fish are going to relate to the bank more than flooded brush as in the summer as the only green material to eat is the bank grass, summer floods are awesome for shooting fish in the large flooded willow patches.
The sun is lower in the sky- the summer sun is more directly over us and thus produces better visibility and less paralax. Deep fish are barely visible this time of year as shadows are more prevalent due to the angle. The lower sun also is slower to warm shallow bays which can be one of the best shoots right after a major influx of new water. The bays flood 100 feet into new grass and the summer sun hits it for 1/2 the day... You are killing fish, in the spring, it might take a few days to warm up much. The angle of the sun also creates more reflection and even with polarized glasses, you still see less fish.
No water vegetation- In the summer I hunt the edges of weed beds like a wooded fence row between timbers during the rut! Fish will relate to these edges and I have sat, anchored in place, for most of a day and seldom had to wait more than a few minutes between shots. This is fantastic shooting practice and a very relaxing form of hunting. The good part of that is that all of the fish will be near the bank, much less gear is needed and more people will be able to enjoy the sport.

When the water comes up look for the clearest, warmest and most sheltered bays, hopefully with flooded grass, and you will find the fish. Hunt slow and use this time to tune up your equipment, it is only a matter of weeks and the fishing will be crazy good! We will be having multiple 100's of shots per day soon!