Input on locating fish and how I fished an area today

[Jdudley13]

I’m still pretty new to big waters, I just got a kayak at the end of the summer and have had trouble locating fish consistently. I grew up on smith mountain lake and locating on a bass boat is one thing, kayak is proving to be a whole other story. Planning to get a fish finder, but don’t have it yet.

 

I live in Charlotte and am starting to fish the Catawba River chain a lot more. I found a spot today that’s just off the river between the lakes. The temperature outside was around 60, I’m guessing water temperature isn’t far from that. The access I found was super clear water, I could see the bottom to around 4’ maybe. Depth in the main area was anywhere from a foot to maybe 6’. The area is packed with dead cat tails and grass with open channels all throughout. At one spot it opens up to the main river channel, not sure of the depth here but I could see some tree branches so I’m guessing maybe 10-15’. I had a green (bluegill imitation) swim jig and a T rigged swim senko tied on. I could see some really small baby bass etc swimming around but never saw anything of size. Today was mainly exploring but I got skunked. Is it worth my time to pick around the dead cat tails or should I just focus on the ledge where the river opens up? I’m thinking later this week I’ll throw a crank bait and likely will stick with a jig as well. 

 

Summary: Found an area off of the Catawba River, lots of dead grass and cat tails, super clear water. I know it will Be money in the spring, but am I wasting my time now? 

[papajoe222]

I'm not familiar with the waterway. Any idea what the water temp. is?  Also, is the river at normal pool?  Any current? Not knowing any of that, at this time of year I'd be looking for green vegetation, or a fairly quick drop to deep water. If the current is flowing from the shallow channel into the deeper main river, I'd start there and then look for anything breaking the current, or a change in depth.

[geo g]

I would look for areas with current close bye, depth changes, and outside weed lines.  I don't think you need a depth finder, as much as just looking for the obvious signs.  Look for downed trees, rock piles, small streams intersecting the the main water body.  Look at the contour of the land above water, it will often continue in similar fashion below the water.   Look for weed lines close to deeper water.  Big bass often hang on the outside edge close to the drop-off.  You can figure out a pattern without shelling out the big bucks.

[WRB]

You can use a pool thermometer with a cord to check water temps. If you have access to a swimming pool with known depths, cast a lure or jig and count it down to determine how many seconds it takes to hit bottom at varuios depths, example 1' per second without current.

Bass in cold water period, it's nearly December, go deeper. If you see baitfish the bass are nearby, use lures similar to the baitfish.

Tom

[nighthawk25]

If the bottom is relatively snag free, I'd try a blade bait. These can fished in a variety of depths and you can use them to gauge how deep it is. Another great clear/cold water bait is a jerkbait. Also don't forget the Ned rig.

I'd look for a steep dropoff and fish the blade and jerkbait.

[Jdudley13]

Water temperature is around 60 right now I believe. There is a small creek that feeds into the small flat area I started in. I did notice a couple of times that the current actually came back into that pocket pretty quickly, I assume this is when they were releasing water from the dam. It seems unanimous, I believe I’ll try to work the opening of the channel into the main river, I saw several trees etc and I would assume there is a drop off. 

 

This is google maps image doesn’t really do it justice but it’s an idea of the layout, theieelt islands inside the creek are actually all of the cattails. I also want to paddle around and check out deeper up the creek. 

 

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it!