Fishing Skinny Water

I began fishing competitive kayak tournaments in 2018 and it was a trial by fire. I was new to fishing lakes and reservoirs as I had grown up walking, wading, and canoeing the small creeks and rivers of northeastern, Oklahoma. Obviously I was hooked fishing 12 tournaments excluding jackpots. The lakes were new and exciting and I had little to no experience on any of them. It was during that 2018 season where I learned what my strengths were for success. Small, moving water with hard to find access points. If it was available to fish I would locate an access point on the main inflow of the tournament lake and make that the focus of my tournament day. This water is routinely over looked by tournament anglers, but fished correctly can pay dividends on tournament day.   

1. Fish are more condensed       

Bass are creatures of habit and follow seasonal changes and weather patterns to migrate from deep water to shallow water and back again. However, in small rivers, and creeks bass are condensed to the width of the stream bed allowing anglers to find bites quickly. Also, bass rarely migrate far from their spawning grounds making a large population of resident fish stacked along the bank or the first drop off on a creek channel. More often than not a creek will hold multiple biggins several casts away.  

Small Creeks, large bass

   3 casts later

2. Cool water is less affected by sudden weather changes  

How many times have you had a pattern set for a lake and a huge cold front or rain came in and lock jawed your target fish? This seems to be a common theme to tournament fishing. You have steady weather the week before or the week of the event and several days before derby day the weather falls out. River and creek fish are used to cooler water temps and therefore are less susceptible to drastic changes leading up to lines in. Now I know what your thinking" "what if it rains and blows out the stream", this is true and does happen and adjustments should be made. However, creek bass generally don't care how cold or warm the air temp is, moving water does not drastically change to the air temp. In turn creating more predictable bass patterns. This water temperature aspect is easily explained by former Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Biologist and OKA board member Danny Bowen. " Groundwater temperatures in Oklahoma on average run from 57 degrees Fahrenheit in the panhandle to about 68 degrees Fahrenheit in far southeast Oklahoma so rivers, streams, and creeks: being fed mostly by groundwater: have more consistent water temps than lakes and reservoirs."     

    Moving water keeps a steady temp year 'round  

3. Current produces bites 

Current areas and swift moving water creates a great place for bass especially smallmouth and spotted bass to ambush prey and find cooling water during those hot summer months. During the dog days of summer you'll find serious bass anglers fishing offshore structure sometimes in the 20+ ft.  range and this does have its perks. For us who still like to catch the big ones on a spinnerbait or topwater look for deep pools with current along bluff walls, boulders, and wood. These areas can produce huge bass on moving baits for most the year. 

Current followed by big pools

Bluff walls and chunk rock

4. Use baits from the lake for the creek  

You probably have heard that a bass is a bass no matter where it lives and this is true. Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass are abundant across much of the United States and live in gigantic river systems, to small local lakes, and on down to the backyard farm pond and slow meandering creek. These bass no matter where they live are still predatory creatures and will eat near anything presented to them at the right moment. Many anglers will downsize their bait which is a mistake in my opinion. Keep normal size baits for great quality bites, some avid creek anglers will even upsize their swimbaits or spinnerbaits to search out the biggest bass in the pool.      

3/4 OZ Jig is the ticket for stained water

In conclusion successful tournament anglers are able to find the most best bites on a given body of water most of the time. With this in mind the creek can be a huge factor when narrowing down water for tourney day. However, there are always issues: no access, shallow water, impassible laydowns, or a good ole fashioned Oklahoma rain out. Keep the 4 factors above in mind do a little research and go catch em!  Tight Lines!