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Hanging Out with Stream Fish (Video Included)

Wade's World Fishing: Fish are predictable creatures, in lakes, rivers, and small streams – wherever they live! All anglers have to do is learn to “read” the water and know where fish should be, then present an appropriate bait with a lifelike action. The fish will take care of the rest.

In streams, bass, small sunfish, catfish and other species hold in very predictable locations. They stay where food is available, where they have some protection from predators, and where they don’t have to “work too hard to earn a living.” So, what does all this mean? Where, specifically, should anglers look for fish in small streams? Focus on the following three categories of spots, and you should get plenty bites.

• Riffles/pools – Many small streams consist of series of riffles and pools. As a stream’s gradient falls, it forms shallow riffles and deep runs. The shallow riffles empty into deep pools at the downstream base of the riffles. Fish love to hang just below these riffles in the pools where the current is washing food to them. Focus on eddies adjacent to the swift water.
• Cover objects – Stream fish lay under logs, beneath root wads, along weed edges, behind rocks and near other cover objects. Here they are protected from predators, and they are also hidden from prey. When a minnow, crawfish or lure swims by, they pounce on it.
• Outside bends/undercut banks – One spot overlooked by many wading anglers is where the stream channel makes a bend, and the bank on the outside of the turn is deep, washed out and exposed to moderate current. In such a situation, fish will lay close to the bank (by the edge of the current) to watch for food.
• Deep holes – Catfish, redeye and other species prefer the slower water of long deep runs. Such runs typically trail downstream from the end of a pool below a riffle. Usually in these runs the stream channel is straight, current is slow and the water is too deep to see the bottom.

On any given day, anglers should try all the above options and try to discover the best “pattern” (types of spots are producing the most bites). Then, by concentrating on casting to similar places you can maximize your fishing efficiency.