I took the day off so I could have a 4-day weekend and this morning, I headed out to Idong lake again to try to catch some big bluegill and hopefully, a few bass as well. Imagine my surprise when I saw how low Idong is; I’ve been fishing this lake for 6 years and this is the lowest I have ever seen the water levels:
The water is so low that they’ve moved the houseboats out of the northern part of the lake because, well, there is no northern part of the lake anymore. And the island in the second pic is not an island anymore. It is now part of a long piece of land which you could walk from shore to maybe another 100 yards or so past the island (see the 3rd pic).
See those trees laying on shore? The one on the right is the very same tree where I lost that big bass about a month ago (see here). The worst part is that with the water so low, almost every spot is super shallow. I only found a few areas where the water was deep enough to even try fishing.
Here is what’s left of the cove, which as you can see, isn’t very much. There were two vehicles parked down there when I got there, both of them carp fishermen, camped out overnight. I took that pic about 1/3 of the way into the cove so those of you familiar with that part of Idong can see just how far out the water is.
As for the fishing itself, it was tough because I had to look for places where the water was deep enough to fish. And as hunterdave mentioned in an earlier post, the usually crystal clear water of Idong is really dirty right now. I ended up catching 5 or 6, but the above two were the only ones worth taking a pic of (Last 2 pics are the same fish). Notice how skinny they are? I also spent about two hours walking back and forth with my ultralight rig, looking for bluegill but couldn’t find a single one. This would be a perfect time to be out there with a boat, because I bet all the bass are schooling in the deep pockets of the lake right now. One good thing is that now I have a pretty good idea of some of the layout of the lake for when the water is up again.
I guess the recent rains did nothing for your water levels. I fear it will be the same down South also. I know of one pond that has dried up fully and a few lakes that are getting close to drying up. I was hoping that this years Changma would fill the lakes back up again
It’s actually surprisingly difficult to catch bass in these low water conditions, I used to think that the bass would be all stacked up waiting in line to eat my lures
Usually, when the water is up, the areas in the pics are pretty deep and will hold bass but with the water so low, almost that entire stretch of shore was all very shallow water…so shallow that I wished I had brought my waders so I could go out about 25 feet or so to get back to deeper water. And yeah, I think it really affects the bass when the water drops so low and so fast.
I also can’t believe how nasty the water is in that lake right now; usually it’s crystal clear.
We need some monsoons!
Wow! You guys definitely need some rain!!!
However, now would be a good time to drag some brush piles, a couple of old bed frames, refrigerators, what have you, down into the cove area so that you can structure fish them once the water comes back up. You have to think positive Nomad. Take advantage of the situation. Turn that cove into a mini Pyongtaek River, with all kinds of neat structure!!!!
Rob is on to something there…Nomad, you could transport some of the stuff from the river and put it into Idong. Cleaning the river and making structure in Idong = 2 birds and one stone