Environment of current impacts fish
After splashdown, the lure started drifting downstream at a steady pace.
I quickly engaged the reel and employed an erratic, stop-and-go retrieve as the suspending minnowbait continued its downriver swing in the current. When the lure had reached about a 45-degree angle from the boat’s anchored position, a strong strike stopped its progress.
The hook-up was one of many we had as we fished the tail-out section of an Allegheny River hole a few days ago. Aided by the current, the smallmouth bass fulfilled its reputation as an exceptional fighter. It was several minutes before my friend Tom successfully dipped the net under the lunker-sized bronzeback.
Whether they be bass, walleyes, trout, muskies or northern pike, fish in flowing waters live in an environment of current. Current strongly influences the simple objectives of their lives, which are: to feed; to not be eaten; and to procreate.
When it comes to the feeding, the tail-out section of a pool or hole often provides an exceptional station from which to feed. This is true of large rivers like the middle Allegheny, but also applies to much smaller waters, albeit on a proportionately reduced scale.
Natural, free-flowing streams and rivers — at least in our region — typically follow a riffle-run-pool configuration.
Riffles exist where the natural topography of the drainage drops more rapidly. As riffles quiet down, the current begins to slow and the depth increases; this is the run.
As the depth further increases and the current continues to slow, the pool forms. Within the lower end of the pool, things begin to shallow up, with a marked increase in current — the tail-out section. This can happen rather abruptly, or stretched out over a considerable distance. The tail-out spills into a riffle, starting the sequence once again.
Tail-outs provide gamefish with edges, and as we all know, both fish and game love edges. Edges in the form of current seams created by depth change (which influences current velocity); submerged rocks and weed beds; logs imbedded in the bottom. A myriad of characteristic —and combinations thereof — all of which are potential feeding lies for ambush predators.
Since tail-outs often hold numerous fish, and the ones found there are likely feeding, it makes sense to work the spot methodically, rather than firing a few cast as you drift down through it.
And if you’re a wading/shore angler, tail-outs should be a sought-out location.
From a boat or kayak, anchor the boat at least a cast’s length upriver of the start of the tail-out. Make casts perpendicular to the boat’s position. The current will sweep the lure/bait downstream during your retrieve.
I like to start off with some sort of minnow-imitating bait, either a soft or hard jerkbait, imparting jerks/twitches to the lure as it swings in the current. When the lure is immediately downstream of the boat, allow it to hang in the current while continuing to twitch it. Most hits will happen during the swing, but some will occur while you allow it to hover behind the boat.
After showing the fish a minnow-imitating bait, you can often pick up a few more bites by switching to a bottom-oriented offering such as a jig or crankbait. Repositioning the boat —such as allowing it to drift farther back in the tail-out before re-anchoring — can put you in front of a whole different group of fish.
If you’re fishing a trout stream, or wading-size smallie creek, the same principles hold true. For instance, you might start out dead drifting/twitching a Woolly Bugger, and then change over to swinging soft-hackles.
Or casting a floating Rapala, followed up with a small soft swimbait.
As summer gives way to fall, gamefish that call flowing water home start grouping up. Tail-outs are a prime place to find numbers of them.
Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle
