Winter Haven Lake

A reservoir is a flooded valley, and the old landscape is still there under the water. The drowned riverbed is the deepest track and the main road for fish; old field walls, tree stumps, roads and bridges are the structure they use. The water level rises and falls, so a good spot in spring can be dry in autumn and vice versa. Fish usually hold near the dam wall in summer, where the water is deepest and coolest, and in the shallow feeder arms in spring and autumn where inflows bring food. Pike and zander patrol the edges of the old channel, perch use the stumps, and carp and bream follow the newly flooded margins where the rising water covers grass and insects. Wind against a steep bank creates the best feeding lanes.

Feeder fishing with a distance rod and heavy feeders reaches the old channel edge where bream and carp travel. Ledgering with boilies or particles on the flooded points and at the dam is the way to the big carp. Float fishing is best in the shallow arms and bays, especially where the inflow meets the still water. Spinning is dominant for predators: jigs bounced down the drop-offs and along the drowned riverbed, deep-diving crankbaits along the dam, and vertical fishing from a boat over the stumps. Trolling deep lures along the channel finds pike and zander in summer.

In spring the shallow arms warm first and the fish move in as the level rises over fresh ground. Early summer fishes well everywhere as the reservoir fills. In high summer the fish sink to the cool water near the dam and the old channel, and predators feed at dawn. Autumn drawdown shrinks the water and concentrates fish in the channel — the best time for zander. Winter is cold and slow but the deep water stays fishable longer than in any lake.

Look at the exposed bank when the reservoir is low and remember where the stumps, walls and the old riverbed are — when the water comes back up, those spots are where you cast.