Fishing Deep Water Under A River Dam?

[kLuo]

I've recently been trying to fish under a dam (where there is water constantly flowing over it) for all kinds of bass. The river is in PA, is decent sized and right under the dam it is about 20 feet deep. This river is known for the striper runs, but I am also targeting largemouth and smallmouth that live around the area. There is a rocky bottom underneath the dam and snags are fairly frequent.

I will be fishing from shore so my range is limited. What kind of baits work well in these conditions? Should I be fishing right under the falls or further away from the dam? How deep will the fish be?

[roadwarrior]

Striper will be in the turbulent water, bass will be on the outside edges and further downstream.

Best lures are small swimbaits: Hollow Belly, Shadalicious and Keitech Swing Impact Fat. These are

VERY effective and rarely hang up.

[tomustang]

How wide is the dam? Is their a fish ladder on one of the sides?

[Crestliner2008]

Roadwarrior is spot on, but you can also use a 1 oz. spinnerbait. One of the very best striper baits (in CT & MA) is the Storm 5" Wildeyed Swim Shad. You will loose some though, as they have a large open hook. RW's suggestion is probably your best to deal with the snags. It's just hard to get heavy enough (1/2 - 3/4 oz.) swimbait hooks sometimes.

[kLuo]

How wide is the dam? Is their a fish ladder on one of the sides?

The dam is 90 feet wide, and there is a fish ladder on one side. However, you are not allowed to fish within 100 feet of the ladder so I typically fish the other side that doesn't have a ladder. The dam is also diagonally placed so that the side with the fish ladder is shallow, and the other side is deep. This dam is the first dam the fish encounter during their migration, so most of them do not make it up the ladder.

[kLuo]

Roadwarrior is spot on, but you can also use a 1 oz. spinnerbait. One of the very best striper baits (in CT & MA) is the Storm 5" Wildeyed Swim Shad. You will loose some though, as they have a large open hook. RW's suggestion is probably your best to deal with the snags. It's just hard to get heavy enough (1/2 - 3/4 oz.) swimbait hooks sometimes.

Is it really necessary to get such a heavy hook? The heaviest swimbait hook that I own is 1/4 oz.

What retrieves generally work well? Should I let the fast current push the bait downstream while twitching? Or hop it off the bottom?

[jokerjp]

I believe the heavy hook is being suggested for casting distance, if that's not an issue for you then you should be able to go lighter.

[tomustang]

The dam is 90 feet wide, and there is a fish ladder on one side. However, you are not allowed to fish within 100 feet of the ladder so I typically fish the other side that doesn't have a ladder. The dam is also diagonally placed so that the side with the fish ladder is shallow, and the other side is deep. This dam is the first dam the fish encounter during their migration, so most of them do not make it up the ladder.

That doesn't give you much room considering the pa law about ladders. Depending on the runoff of the water I would guess the bottom is riddled with debris from flooding, since you say snags are very common, I would also guess there is more carp and hog suckers present than anything else. What you can do is get some cheap hooks, bullet weight and some cheap stick baits and try to survey your casting zone, that way if you snag you won't lose anything costing too much. I would suggest to find the channel a bit down and look for the bass around it. I have two dams similar but not as deep and bass hang out 15ft from the dropoff. If you want you can PM me the dam area so I can check it out or find some info for you