Gamefish can become channel surfers
As summer progresses, the frequency with which gamefish like bass and walleyes use submerged creek channels increases. Locating prime channel areas and then plying them with the proper lures will increase your productivity.
Though fish location will vary from lake to lake, the most fruitful areas tend to be ones where the tops of the channel edges lie in 12 to 20 feet of water. Keep in mind that many Pennsylvania reservoirs experience significant drawdowns by fall. Channels that were in 40 feet of water during summer may be half that by November.
Certain shoreline characteristics tend to concentrate fish. Features like sharp bends, merging secondary channels, stumps, bridge abutments, brushpiles and cribs increase the odds that walleyes and bass will be stacking up there. And since fish do tend to concentrate in specific areas, it takes a fair amount of patience to find the sweet spot.
Today's anglers have a long list of tools to help them located prime channel areas. The foremost tool, though, is your own power of observation. Many shoreline contours hint strongly of what's happening underwater. Steep shorelines suggest that the channel is nearby. Many boat access areas are located on roads that are now submerged. Chances are there are remnants of a bridge or culvert where the road crossed the channel.
Lake maps provide a fair location of channels. Used in concert with a sonar unit, anglers can quickly paint an accurate picture of underwater channels. Global Positioning System units that accept electronic mapping programs can lead you to choice channel areas, though the accuracy and detail of such maps varies from lake to lake, as well as from program to program.
During late summer and early fall, when water temperatures are still warm, horizontal presentations, such as deep diving crankbaits and slow-rolled spinnerbaits, efficiently cover channel areas.
The key to deep diving crankbaits, such as a Bomber Fat Free Shad or Rapala DT 16, is to make long casts that land well beyond the target area. This allows the lure to dig down to its maximum depth by the time it reaches the structure you intend to fish.
Short-armed single blade spinnerbaits are ideal for the slow-roll retrieve. Allow the bait to sink to the bottom, or as near the bottom as you'd like to fish, then begin a steady retrieve, incorporating occasional pauses to allow the bait to flutter back down.
Fall fishing over channels is a more vertical affair. Bucktail jigs, blade baits and jigging spoons are the hardware of choice. Maps, GPS units, and your ability to read a sonar unit to find channel areas with the complex features that attract fish will get you close. Then, it's a matter of going in and fishing the spots. Vertical baits provide the accuracy that allows pinpoint fishing.
Keep an eye on the sonar unit and hover the boat over potential areas as you pump a blade bait or yo-yo a spoon or bucktail jig. When you make contact with fish, mark the exact spot with a GPS waypoint or electronic maker, or use a marker buoy. Since a buoy can attract unwanted attention from other anglers, camouflage it by taping it with black electrical tape.
Keep detailed information of the location and characteristics of productive channel areas as you discover them. Good areas tend to continue kicking out fish from one year to the next.
Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.
