Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Historic Flood

We had an insane amount of rain and my property got 10 inches a week ago Monday. All my ponds including a 15 acre lake had the emergency spillways flowing. The big lake had a river at one point 2-3' deep 35 yards wide flowing around the emergency spillway. In these events do you typically lose a ton of fish. After things calmed I did see bluegill 1-4" that got stuck in the grass, a few small crappie, and one large mudcat. Found no bass? Racoons were having fun though.

When an event like this occurs do bass go deeper and suspend or did I likely lose many nice bass as well?
Any ideas or experiences to share??
Best thing to do is just evaluate impact through fishing?

Curious...........

OKIE

I am sure you lost a few and gained a few. The problem is you probably will end up with some fish you never wanted in there.

OKIE, did the dams survive without much damage? Sorry, but I don't know the answer to your question.

Okie,

My WAG is you loose some small fish that can't fight the current and some fish that are attracted to moving water. Bass and bluegills don't generally gravitate to moving water so you may be O.K. there. Just a guess of course.

I agree with Cecil that you probably didn't lose many big fish but probably did lose a fair amount of smaller fish. In big flood events like that, that is when unwanted fish move around. But if you already have crappies and mudcats, unless you add common carp to the mix you already have 2 of the 3 typical suspects.

Don't forget about Gar, Drum, and Buffalo.

Thanks for the feedback,I know I can pretty much just hope but those were some of my thoughts. I am happy my emergency spillways held well with no meaningful erosion and dams seem to be ok for the most part. A git-a-cross on one of my creeks took a big hit and of course I really needed something else to work on....Happy Days!

Okie, I live in Edmond also,Waterloo & Sorgham mill area. We lost dozens of 1.lb CNBG. I found 40 or so in my neighbors field the day after. We also gained some hybrid blue gill that we didnt have before the flood. Our pond was flooding for 12 hours straight so there is no telling what else we have. We have been fishing and culling for the last week every evening. There are lots of perch on our banks now being enjoyed by the buzzards. I plan to start fishing for catfish this weeekend to see if we have any of those.