Distance Away from Channel

[AustonW]

Got a quick question, how far will a bass travel away from a creek or river channel? For instance, fishing docks on creek arms, how do you judge which docks are best? The ones closet to the channel? Or say fishing offshore, how far away from the river channel do you look? I’m still new to bass fishing and am struggling to catch fish. I am really trying learn how to eliminate dead water and put myself in better spots. I fish at Walter F. George/ Lake Eufaula in Alabama and feel like their is a huge amount of dead water away from any channels. Thanks guys. 
 

[WRB]

Do you have a boat with a sonar unit?

Summer warm water period your lake develops a thermocline. Warmer surface water being lighter weight sits on top of cooler deeper water creating a layer called a thermocline. Bass don’t like to go deeper then the thermocline layer when it has developed.

Basically you can eliminate water deeper then a thermocline.

For example the layer could be at 25’ no reason to fish or look deeper water.

River channels and long under water points that drop into the channel are only important above the thermocline.

If a channel swing break at 25’ to 30’ is close to shallower water with a dock bass tend to located there. 

How far will a bass travel is related to the bait fish nearby, Bass stay close to their food source.

Tom

 

[AustonW]

I do have a boat with graphs. I think I’ve been able to establish where the thermocline is on what few trips I’ve been able to go fishing. My main issue is being able to eliminate dead water horizontally across the lake rather than vertically, if that makes sense. I know bass use channels to travel between shallow and deep water, but I guess my question is how far will bass travel away from that channel. The best way I can explain it is, in a wide creek arm off the main lake, if the channels is mainly to the right side of the arm than the left, will the majority of bass hang out on the right side closer to the channel? I know they follow bait, but wouldn’t the bait stay closer to the channel as well? I apologize for the long winded posts, but you guys are the only ones I have to ask. 

[Deleted account]

234 feet 9 1/8 inches.

[Scott F]

There is no definitive answer to your question. Some bass may never go near the main river channel and some may never leave. Some go back and forth following underwater structures or they may go in any direction. It appears that many anglers are looking for a set of rules to follow to insure success. What you read is others anglers theories about what they think the bass are likely to do, but bass don’t read these articles and are going to do what they want. Successful fishermen spend time figuring out what the fish are doing on their lakes and rivers, trying different theories until they find what works on that particular day. Tomorrow, they could be doing something totally different and you have to start all over again trying to figure them out.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, AustonW said:

I do have a boat with graphs. I think I’ve been able to establish where the thermocline is on what few trips I’ve been able to go fishing. My main issue is being able to eliminate dead water horizontally across the lake rather than vertically, if that makes sense. I know bass use channels to travel between shallow and deep water, but I guess my question is how far will bass travel away from that channel. The best way I can explain it is, in a wide creek arm off the main lake, if the channels is mainly to the right side of the arm than the left, will the majority of bass hang out on the right side closer to the channel? I know they follow bait, but wouldn’t the bait stay closer to the channel as well? I apologize for the long winded posts, but you guys are the only ones I have to ask. 

If you find the thermocline that eliminates any deeper water everywhere in the lake horizontally.

Your lake now has more Hydrilla aquatic plant growth the past decade then when I last fished there. As I recall near the dam on the left side had long underwater points that extended nearly over to the right side looking at the dam. I would take some time and meter that zone to determine the life zone and locate bass.

We are now approaching summer to fall transition seasonal period when everything changes. I don’t recall if your lake has a turnover eliminating the thermocline? Turnovers occur as the surface water cools to about 65 degrees or so, mixing the water layers.

Tom 

 

[Deleted account]

2 hours ago, Scott F said:

There is no definitive answer to your question. 

+/- 1/32" of course...

[AustonW]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

If you find the thermocline that eliminates any deeper water everywhere in the lake horizontally.

Your lake now has more Hydrilla aquatic plant growth the past decade then when I last fished there. As I recall near the dam on the left side had long underwater points that extended nearly over to the right side looking at the dam. I would take some time and meter that zone to determine the life zone and locate bass.

We are now approaching summer to fall transition seasonal period when everything changes. I don’t recall if your lake has a turnover eliminating the thermocline? Turnovers occur as the surface water cools to about 65 degrees or so, mixing the water layers.

Tom 

 

Thanks Mr. Tom. I understand what you’re saying now. If the thermocline is, say 25ft., eliminate water deeper than 25ft. all over the lake. 

 

2 hours ago, Scott F said:

There is no definitive answer to your question. Some bass may never go near the main river channel and some may never leave. Some go back and forth following underwater structures or they may go in any direction. It appears that many anglers are looking for a set of rules to follow to insure success. What you read is others anglers theories about what they think the bass are likely to do, but bass don’t read these articles and are going to do what they want. Successful fishermen spend time figuring out what the fish are doing on their lakes and rivers, trying different theories until they find what works on that particular day. Tomorrow, they could be doing something totally different and you have to start all over again trying to figure them out.

Mr. Scott, I completely understand that there are no hard set of rules to go by. But as a new angler, I would think there could be places I could go to first that would have a higher percentage to hold fish than just picking a random spot and hoping I might catch a lost roaming bass. I understand some bass may never use a channel to move, but from all that I’ve read and heard from others, the majority do. I’m not asking for a specific number, just a simple answer if my chances would be greater staying closer to a creek or river channel. And I also realize that it’s all dependent on weather, time of year, etc. . I am, by no means, trying to sound like a smart butt, but I’ve talked to a lot of anglers trying to learn things and the majority answer just like a politician. They talk all around your question and never come close to answering it. I apologize if this post comes off as rude as I have no intention of it being that way. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Correct on the thermocline, I watched the thermocline stay at 15ft across the entire say 150 acre portion of a lake I fished yesterday.    Certain points during that 150acres were as deep as 34ft.    I could see baitfish at times below the thermocline, but wasn't marking Bass.    Most of the Bass I saw throughout the session were suspended in between 5-10ft off of flats from the main lake channel......they didn't offer at several different types of bait I threw at them.    I then moved up shallow and caught a really nice fish, and lastly I moved to deeper structure in about 10-12ft of water and caught a few.     While I caught one really nice fish, I failed to crack the puzzle in my overall assessment. 

 

The only thing repeatable about my session yesterday was eliminating the horizonal space like WRB stresses in so many of his posts here.    Those suspended fish off the flats of the main lake channel might blow up my CBs, and slow rolled chatterbaits the next time out.    Everything changes, Bass fishing in that regard is extremely dynamic, and I'd also say nuanced.   Subtle things make huge differences sometimes, other times they whack just about anything you throw seemingly.    

 

Bass fishing is like a game that regardless of if you beat it or not that day, it automatically resets the next day.    You have to solve the new "game/puzzle/code" each time out, every time out....with almost no exceptions.   This is why structure matters way more to me than movement of the fish.  The structure doesn't move, but the fish do.   It's way easier to catch Bass when I focus on finding the structure, than when I try to find the fish themselves.      Just my 2cents, not an expert like some of those who have weighed in already

[AustonW]

9 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Correct on the thermocline, I watched the thermocline stay at 15ft across the entire say 150 acre portion of a lake I fished yesterday.    Certain points during that 150acres were as deep as 34ft.    I could see baitfish at times below the thermocline, but wasn't marking Bass.    Most of the Bass I saw throughout the session were suspended in between 5-10ft off of flats from the main lake channel......they didn't offer at several different types of bait I threw at them.    I then moved up shallow and caught a really nice fish, and lastly I moved to deeper structure in about 10-12ft of water and caught a few.     While I caught one really nice fish, I failed to crack the puzzle in my overall assessment. 

 

The only thing repeatable about my session yesterday was eliminating the horizonal space like WRB stresses in so many of his posts here.    Those suspended fish off the flats of the main lake channel might blow up my CBs, and slow rolled chatterbaits the next time out.    Everything changes, Bass fishing in that regard is extremely dynamic, and I'd also say nuanced.   Subtle things make huge differences sometimes, other times they whack just about anything you throw seemingly.    

 

Bass fishing is like a game that regardless of if you beat it or not that day, it automatically resets the next day.    You have to solve the new "game/puzzle/code" each time out, every time out....with almost no exceptions.   This is why structure matters way more to me than movement of the fish.  The structure doesn't move, but the fish do.   It's way easier to catch Bass when I focus on finding the structure, than when I try to find the fish themselves.      Just my 2cents, not an expert like some of those who have weighed in already

Thanks for the reply. I don’t get to fish a lot so I wanna increase my odds as best I can beforehand. 

[RDB]

On 9/6/2022 at 8:01 PM, AustonW said:

For instance, fishing docks on creek arms, how do you judge which docks are best? The ones closet to the channel? Or say fishing offshore, how far away from the river channel do you look?

Channels are channels…it’s typically the unique features or inconsistencies that are the prime spots.  It could be a swing against a point, a spawning flat, a bank, a rock pile, a stump, etc. etc.  A dock certainly might qualify as something unique.  As far as distance, there is no answer but if my focus is on channel or ledge fishing, I am not going to venture far from those structures.  I’m also probably not going to start my search in the middle of the lake.

[Bird]

Summer time, the deeper docks and the first docks.

[scaleface]

You are probably not going to get the answer you are looking for . Channels on the lower end can be so deep they are irrelevant . If they swing close to bank then there will be steeper banks . Sometimes that is good . I usually seek out the docks on flatter banks . Those banks can be far away from any channel .

 

 

[roadwarrior]

I fish the buoys on the Tennessee River. These generally define the navigational channel.

One one occasion I hooked up with my biggest smallmouth ever:

 

 

[AustonW]

On 9/11/2022 at 7:06 AM, scaleface said:

You are probably not going to get the answer you are looking for . Channels on the lower end can be so deep they are irrelevant . If they swing close to bank then there will be steeper banks . Sometimes that is good . I usually seek out the docks on flatter banks . Those banks can be far away from any channel .

 

 

You bring up a point that I’ve been wanting to ask. The main river channel and even a lot of the creek channels are super deep on Eufaula. Taking the thermocline into consideration, the bass could never make it to the channels. So what do they use to travel by then? Do they suspend above the channels? Sorry For asking so many questions. 

[Choporoz]

Bass movement is fascinating,  but thoroughly frustrating.   There was a tagging study, I think in OK, that was studying tournament fish to see how they reacted after being brought to weigh in and released there.  I found the data quite interesting,  but not in any way that helps my fishing much.  Some fish travel miles in a short period....some don't go anywhere, really.  I am no smarter about predicting where individuals or schools of bass will go from one day to the next.  Today, a main channel will be totally dead water, and 24 hours from now, it could have millions of baitfish and huge schools of bass

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Bass movement is fascinating,  but thoroughly frustrating.   There was a tagging study, I think in OK, that was studying tournament fish to see how they reacted after being brought to weigh in and released there.  I found the data quite interesting,  but not in any way that helps my fishing much.  Some fish travel miles in a short period....some don't go anywhere, really.  I am no smarter about predicting where individuals or schools of bass will go from one day to the next.  Today, a main channel will be totally dead water, and 24 hours from now, it could have millions of baitfish and huge schools of bass

Lmao, this is exactly what I fell alseep to last night thinking about.

 

I was thinking why some rich Bass fisherman if nothing else hasn't funded a huge study on LGM Bass movement.     Hard to believe these major studies haven't been done on a wide scale.   They've been done for Billfish extensively, Killer Whales and Great Whites as well.....if they can do it with those Mammals, and Fish, they can do it with Bass surely.

 

This was two days ago off the main lake channel as you alluded to.......millions of threadfins that will be in a totally different place in a hour, a day, and week from then. 

 

I know next to nothing on the mysteries of how far, why, and when Bass travel outside of the seasonal and spawn stuff.    The level of knowledge yet to be uncovered is massive in this area.   

3 hours ago, AustonW said:

You bring up a point that I’ve been wanting to ask. The main river channel and even a lot of the creek channels are super deep on Eufaula. Taking the thermocline into consideration, the bass could never make it to the channels. So what do they use to travel by then? Do they suspend above the channels? Sorry For asking so many questions. 

This time of year for example at least on the Coosa impoundments, the big Alabama Bass (5lb+ fish) move into the feeder creeks off the main lake channel.

 

They suspend in the middle of these creeks right above where all the fallen leaves sink to.   In just a single little feeder creek that is maybe 100yd deep by 50yd wide you can catch several trophy Spots.

 

These fish are ambushing baitfish above them, and are using the leaves to hide in.    We use big Rattling Rouges with suspend dots on them to reach the correct depth.   

 

The only reason I know this is because of former Bassmaster Classic runner up Dalton Bobo showed me it.    He had figured this pattern of movement out long before FFS/livescope or Side imaging.  

[AustonW]

I know I’m asking questions that can only be answered by theories and not with hard facts. I’m a curious person by nature and like to know how everything works. It boils down to me just having to get out on the water and figure out my own theories, but it’s just super frustrating being a beginner and going out and not finding fish, or more so catching fish. I feel like I’ve wasted what little time I do have to fish idling around over dead water. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

6 minutes ago, AustonW said:

I know I’m asking questions that can only be answered by theories and not with hard facts. I’m a curious person by nature and like to know how everything works. It boils down to me just having to get out on the water and figure out my own theories, but it’s just super frustrating being a beginner and going out and not finding fish, or more so catching fish. I feel like I’ve wasted what little time I do have to fish idling around over dead water. 

Now imagine how frustrating it is for somebody who has been fishing for Bass for 25yrs like myself ?

 

Take comfort in the fact that everybody who has weighed in on this thread shares those same frustrations.   Nobody has the answers to the really important questions we want to find out, and until then we're all left to our own theories, and experiences being on the water.

 

[WRB]

Man made impoundment are reservoirs with dams build for water storage, flood control and some for power generation.

Reservoirs are basically classified by the terrain where located.

Mountain terrain are Highland, hilly Hill Land, flat plains Flat Land, coastal low land Low Land and and deep steep rock River canyons Canyon. 

To understand what a reservoir looked like without water before dammed look at topographic maps and the surrounding area.

Dams are usually built where the incoming water is running down hill at a steep narrow area to hold back the maximum water storage. The lake bottom may have been a populated valley with usually farms, roads, bridges over the river and streams etc.

Rivers meander like a snake carving out a twisting channel and will be the deepest area in the valley floor from start where enters and at the dam where it exists.

Water isn’t stationary, it moves creating current seeking the least resistance. Wind creates current, rain run off creates current and power generating dams pull water creating current. The water wants to follow the original river channel regardless how deep it is.

Consider streams or creeks that carved their own steam beds between ridges as smaller rivers that taper down into the main river channel. We call these ridges points and they interrupt water flow creating upwelling changing water temperatures and disrupt thermocline when one exists.

The bass may not be hundred feet down along the main river channel, although often suspend over it for cooler water and current with pelagic baitfish migration with the plankton flow caused by the slight current or wind.

This is where sonar is such a helpful tool to located baitfish and bass near the structures like long underwater points, humps and saddles and channel swings creating steep structure elements.

So yes, deep channels do affect predators fish like bass. Don’t over look Channels in shallower creek arms.

Tom 

 

 

[scaleface]

5 hours ago, AustonW said:

You bring up a point that I’ve been wanting to ask. The main river channel and even a lot of the creek channels are super deep on Eufaula. Taking the thermocline into consideration, the bass could never make it to the channels. So what do they use to travel by then? Do they suspend above the channels? Sorry For asking so many questions. 

Thats a hard one for me to answer . If there is something to follow like a point , fence rows, trees , break lines... they may use those as roadways . If there is nothing to follow doesnt mean bass are not present in the area .

[WRB]

IMO bass don’t need structure elements to navigate from point A to point B and often swim across very deep water to do this. Tracking studies over the decades prove this as fact.

Thermal breaks and water color changes can be as important as physical structure and or cover breaks. 

Find the prey source bass are never far away.

Tom

[RDB]

7 minutes ago, WRB said:

IMO bass don’t need structure elements to navigate from point A to point B and often swim across very deep water to do this. Tracking studies over the decades prove this as fact.

Thermal breaks and water color changes can be as important as physical structure and or cover breaks. 

Find the prey source bass are never far away.

Tom

That may be true in deep waters (not sure) but most of the information and studies I have read indicate that bass typically use sign posts in their travels.  The sign posts can vary in nature but their movements are typically not random and usually fairly consistent.  Deer and many other game animals travel in a similar manner.

[WRB]

The longer you fish for bass it seems what we thought we knew the green fish proves us wrong.

I have been bass fishing 70 years and observing behavior since then. When 12 watched a big school of bass swim across Lake Havasu  about a mile water over 200’ deep, no sigh posts. This disproved to 2 myths 1) bass don’t school and 2) bass need structure element to migrate.

Mike Lembeck, a fishery biologist, studied wild big LMB by radio tracking them over several years. What he discovered is big bass often suspend over deep water far away from shore in groups. Mike studies were performed in the 70’s with the late Bill Murphy in San Diego lakes. The bass would come and  go joining randomly. How did they know where to go in water over 150’ deep? that remains a question.

Today bass anglers using Live Scope technology are discovering bass off shore like Mike did 40 years ago, all over the country. 

Deer are not predators and travel routes for concealment for their safety. Predators hunt prey by ambushing them along established routes. Birds, some insects and fish can migrate miles using instinct guidance not fully understood.

Tom

[RDB]

51 minutes ago, WRB said:

The longer you fish for bass it seems what we thought we knew the green fish proves us wrong.

I have been bass fishing 70 years and observing behavior since then. When 12 watched a big school of bass swim across Lake Havasu  about a mile water over 200’ deep, no sigh posts. This disproved to 2 myths 1) bass don’t school and 2) bass need structure element to migrate.

Mike Lembeck, a fishery biologist, studied wild big LMB by radio tracking them over several years. What he discovered is big bass often suspend over deep water far away from shore in groups. Mike studies were performed in the 70’s with the late Bill Murphy in San Diego lakes. The bass would come and  go joining randomly. How did they know where to go in water over 150’ deep? that remains a question.

Today bass anglers using Live Scope technology are discovering bass off shore like Mike did 40 years ago, all over the country. 

Deer are not predators and travel routes for concealment for their safety. Predators hunt prey by ambushing them along established routes. Birds, some insects and fish can migrate miles using instinct guidance not fully understood.

Tom

Believe what you want to believe.  Just because a fish under certain circumstances displays behavior different than the norm doesn’t make your statements proven.  I would think someone with your worldly expertise would know that.  It is an absolute fact that bass typically use signposts to travel...just like humans and almost every creature in existence.  To suggest that bass (or any animal movement) is random is nonsensical.  You always share your 70 years of knowledge when challenged but you are absolutely wrong.  I don’t expect you to admit it…I don’t think I have ever seen you admit to being incorrect on anything since I joined.  Doubling down doesn’t make your supposed myth busting statement any more accurate.

 

P.S.  And just because they suspend in deep water doesn’t mean they are not relating to something whether it be a creek channel, hump, etc. etc., etc.  It is highly likely that the VAST majority of the bass got there through a relatively consistent route and they will likely return via a consistent route.  You often share the saying about the percentage of water that holds fish, yet this position seems to be pretty contradictory.