Most of the time bass move shallower when the water rises. They swim away from the shoreline toward deeper water when it goes down.
On Lake Dardanelle, Mark Menendez has learned otherwise from experience, trial and error, and running lots of water. The water on Menendez end of the lake is falling.
“The bass are not moving out at all,” he said. “They are staying shallow and finding whatever makes them comfortable.”
Whatever that is remains a mystery. However, Menendez confirmed the bass are holding to specific types of habitat at a given depth. They are not following the textbook theory of staging on any just any available cover.
There you have yet another nuance of a lake that fishes like a river.