Staying on the Pulse
Current is one of the last great secrets in bass fishing. Current is mysterious, ambiguous, and hard to quantify, yet it plays such a strong role in bass behavior, especially in power-generating reservoirs.
Most reservoirs in a power-producing chain of lakes have both an outflow and an inflow dam. To truly pull a slug of current through an entire reservoir, both the outflow and inflow dams must be open or generating at the same time. Current connoisseurs call this a “pulse,” as a surge of water moves through the entire lake, creating a more consistent current than just the outflow or inflow dam produces alone.
Staying in tune with that true pulse of water flow in a reservoir is the key to catching more fish in power-production lakes. With that, it’s prudent to always keep an eye on the inflow dam generation in addition to the outflow dam generation.
Not too long ago, keeping up with the pulse of current flow in reservoirs was a challenging task. Only local anglers had the advantage of looking at buoys and bridge pilings to accurately estimate how many generators were turned on. Anglers not familiar with the lake would run towards the dams, hoping they would be pulling current. Some anglers certainly know the helpless feeling of waiting anxiously during a tournament day for the water to “turn on.”
Thanks to Deep Dive’s Generational Releases function, that waiting game is over. Deep Dive has assimilated generation information from the TVA and Alabama Power’s network of dams across 47 lakes into a single tool that allows anglers to see which generators are running. For each lake, both the outflow and inflow generator usage are shown in real time, as well as the forecasted generator activity, taking all the guesswork out of it.
To quickly get on the pulse of a TVA or Alabama Power lake, first access the Outflow History graph on the Deep Dive app. This provides a look at the peaks and valleys of the outflow current over the last 7 days. The key information found here is the time and duration of the spikes, or peaks, of the current flow. If the current outflow peaks at roughly the same time every day, that’s a good thing. Bass get conditioned to the timing of the current. The more consistent the current, the more conditioned they become.
By scrolling back to the previous day’s peak current flow in the Outflow History, you can see what times the most water exited the dam. For example, maybe the peak outflow the day before lasted from 12 p.m. until 6 p.m. Now, to find the true current pulse in that outflow, switch over to the Generational Releases feature. Use the slider to go back to the previous day’s generation schedule and look at the hours between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. of peak outflow. This will reveal how many generators were open on both the outflowing dam and the inflowing dam during that time of peak outflow. Now, find the exact times when both the dams were generating simultaneously. So, the spike in the Outflow History graph may have been from 12 p.m. until 6 p.m., but the inflow and outflow dams’ generation overlapped from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. – that’s when the true pulse ran throughout the entire lake.
To estimate the next time the pulse will run through the lake, scroll forward in the Generation Releases function to see when the outflow and inflow generators will match up and generate simultaneously again. In less than a minute, it’s possible to form a solid idea of when and how current will run through the lake. Obviously, predicted dam releases may change without notice. However, Deep Dive arms you with the best real-time information to put you closer to the best current flows for the day ahead.
When studying the Generational Releases function, you may notice that some lakes have multiple inflow dams. For instance, Lake Chickamauga has three inflow dams: Watts Bar, Parksville, and Apalachia. Watt’s Bar Lake has two inflow dams: Fort Loudon and Melton Hill.
Knowing exactly which inflow is providing the most current can easily be obtained from the Generational Releases function. However, in the case of multiple inflows, Deep Dive’s Streamflow Map is also a powerful tool. This map shows the major inflows into a reservoir. Regarding Chickamauga, Parksville’s (a.k.a Ocoee) and Apalachia’s outflows are part of the Hiawassee River, which is a major inflow for Chickamauga. To see the flow rate of the Hiawassee River entering Chickamauga, just click on the Streamflow graphic of the Hiawassee to see how much inflow the river is contributing to Chickamauga.
Indeed, current is mysterious and difficult to quantify. But Deep Dive’s exclusive tools of Outflow History graphs, Generational Releases, and Stream Flow maps used in conjunction provide the only quick blueprint for the real-time current flow in TVA and Alabama Power Lakes. If current has been a mystery to you, it’s time to get on the pulse with Deep Dive.
