The Bass Insider Issue 1 September novice anglers every now and again you will understand that your main goal is to put these individuals onto fish. To many times we focus on showing them how to fish shallow water structure and we forget about channels. I mentioned to another Sealine member that I was privileged enough to introduce an angler to bass fishing that is today under the top three in South Africa. I took the person to Witbank dam and unfortunately, or rather fortunately I would say, the shallow water bite was not on. We ended up fishing a creek channel with Carolina rigs and caught 30 – 40 bass, needless to say he was hooked and look where he is today! River channels are very complex systems. Several variables are involved: Depth Ranges, Water Clarity, Amount of Current, Presence or Absence of Special Features like vegetation, timber, bottom content and seasonal patterns of the fish. All these things affect bass’ locations along channels and determine what anglers must do to catch them. WHEN TO FISH RIVER CHANNELS Knowing when to fish river channels is the first key to success. Except during spawning time, I believe in most dams most of the time, more bass will be deep than shallow. True, some fish will stay in shallow water all year long. But from the end of spawning season to the beginning of the next, the best odds are on the channels. Bass locations and fishing techniques for channels vary greatly between warm weather and cold. Following pertain to warm-water conditions only. BASS LOCATIONS ALONG CHANNELS After learning when to fish channels, you must know where to fish them. Approaching channels haphazardly will lead to confusion and frustration. You must be systematic in your approach to searching out this complex structure. For anglers fishing competitively the time to do this is not on competition day, you have to take time to go and do homework and find these areas before competition time. Always look for an edge that drops off into deep water. Typically this is
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