Finding Fish - flooded rivers

Actually Catching Something.
Advice for Parents of Young Anglers

Fish Suppers for Sailors
A guide to fishing for yachtsmen.

Big floods move fish

Fish dislike heavy flows and turbulent 'boily' water and will move (or be swept to) more sheltered swims. If the floods were as heavy as those we had on the Dorset Stour last winter (15 - 18 feet in places, 4 feet of water over the fields) then those relatively sheltered spots would be nothing like the ones that are sheltered in more normal levels. The river will still be up a bit and fish may not (yet) have moved back to their normal haunts.

You need to be mobile. There may be huge shoals of fish in one sheltered spot and nothing for a mile or more. If you can find one of those shoals you could be in for a bumper catch.

Predators follow those shoals as well, they rely on them for food. One way to cover a lot of water is to take a spinning rod and to keep moving on. You might not catch many fish but when you do get a perch or pike you can be sure there are food fish nearby. Mark the spot and return.

Alternatively the 'taking a bucket of bait for a walk' groundbaiting method is a useful ploy.