Water clarity has gotten lots of attention this week at Lake Dardanelle. The color has been compared to chocolate milk, and the main river channel has been deemed “unfishable” by many of the anglers.
In reality water color is not at all the primary variable in the environmental conditions. Lake Dardanelle’s bass population is very much accustomed to muddy water. They are river bass.
The primary factors are related. Those are water level and current.
Here, there are three types of current that are influencing the bite. Those are wind driven current, water release and barge traffic.
Wind driven current is a given. When it blows across the surface the direction of the water changes.
The biggie is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water release schedule at the locks and dams located at opposite ends of the 50-mile lake. That release schedule has been influenced by a round of heavy rain and runoff from Oklahoma. The dynamics of that release schedule are very unique to this river system.
At the upper end of Dardanelle the water level is 4- to 6-feet over normal pool. Fifty miles the opposite direction the water is nearly 2 feet lower. That, of course, creates a completely different fishery depending on your location.
And the barge traffic? Strange as it may seem large barges push a lot of water. They create wide, powerful wakes. That also creates current that can trigger bites. Case in point is the 1983 Bassmaster Classic won by Larry Nixon on the Ohio River. Nixon fished immediately above and below a lock and dam. The current created by the barges coming into and out of the locks helped stimulate the bite.
The point to all of the above is simple. Bass are current-oriented fish and there is a lot of moving water this week on Lake Dardanelle.