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Feeder Creeks/Sloughs #11547376 04/17/16 02:40 AM
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Radar19871 Offline OP
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Hi all, first post on this forum, been doing a-lot of research on here. As with most I am learning things every trip.

Had a tournament on Livingston this weekend, and have some questions, wanted to see if people where willing to share their knowledge/opinion.

I pre-fished several days, and greatly struggled to catch ANY fish. On the final day I finally decided to head into a small feeder creek, mainly to get out of the wind. Well I was finally catching fish, but I did not start catching until I was probably a quarter mile into the creek, and continued seeing them past the bridge. Now there was very good depth in this creek. Then I went to another creek with not near the water depth, but after I plowed through the silt to get into the creek it was 2-4 feet with a few 7 foot holes. There was a TON of shallow bass less than 1', i saw one easily 7 pounds, I am not sure if they where on beds or just shallow.

Now the questions.

There is a a TON of contradicting advice/"Facts" on shallow water/deep water bass. Many Articles I read state Bigger bass will usually always be deeper, with few exceptions. Others say there is always good bass shallow regardless of season. Now I know almost all the bass are shallow on Livingston, so it may be a bad example, but was just wondering thoughts on this. Also, how far will the bass travel up these small feeder creeks if the depth holds? it seems like this would a very consistent producer if these are resident bass, although it also seems like they could be fished out by tournaments rather quickly. Is the bass in the creeks only a seasonal thing?
I have never seen a top level tournament show someone going way up a feeder creek, Even if the entire field is struggling. Is this due to they don't feel like any size will be there?

Lets take Rayburn, Is going far up creek channels/sloughs a good tactic on Rayburn, would it be seasonal? or just not a good idea. I am not talking about major creeks like Caney, but where Caney would choke down to a very narrow small creek and deepens back up. (if Caney does that I've never looked.)

Sorry if some of this doesn't make sense

Last edited by Radar19871; 04/17/16 02:43 AM.
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Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11547382 04/17/16 02:44 AM
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Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11547396 04/17/16 02:52 AM
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Radar19871 Offline OP
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By the way I watched the Honey Hole video on Lake Limestone, this is exactly the type of creek I am talking about. But as they stated they where "resident" bass. This is my mind would mean a few guys fishing tournaments could go take any decent sized fish out of there to weigh in, and ruin it in no time if big fish where not moving in to fill the gap. You are just waiting on the shorts to reach 14" and then be taken out again lol.

Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11547436 04/17/16 03:13 AM
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You should read John Hope's book "Tracking Trophy Bass", but to surmise as best I can recall.

Bass live in layers. Shallow, mid and deep. They rarely move from one layer to another except maybe while in the act of chasing a meal or to spawn. The mid depth fish are the least pressured on the lake. Anglers tend to fish deep or shallow but few focus on the 8-15 foot mid depth level.

Bass migration is a myth. Bass on the north end of the lake don't suddenly say "Hey, the shad are huge down by the dam! let's go check it out". Bass will normally live their life within a very short range or area of the lake.

Fish that were fitted with transmitters were caught and moved to other parts of the lake. Most fish over 2-3 lbs returned to their home area within a few days. This means that most tournament sized fish are likely to return near where they were caught. Juvenile bass or some of the smaller ones may establish a new home.


Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: K.D.] #11547444 04/17/16 03:18 AM
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Originally Posted By: K.D.
You should read John Hope's book "Tracking Trophy Bass", but to surmise as best I can recall.

Bass live in layers. Shallow, mid and deep. They rarely move from one layer to another except maybe while in the act of chasing a meal or to spawn.

Bass migration is a myth. Bass on the north end of the lake don't suddenly say "Hey, the shad are huge down by the dam! let's go check it out". Bass will normally live their life within a very short range or area of the lake.

Fish that were fitted with transmitters were caught and moved to other parts of the lake. Most fish over 2-3 lbs returned to their home area within a few days. This means that most tournament sized fish are likely to return near where they were caught. Juvenile bass or some of the smaller ones may establish a new home.


I completely agree. Big adult bass don't migrate around the lake. Find an an area that has a good shallow flat with lots of cover and deep structure close by and you've found a spot that will consistently produce quality fish.

Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: NTX Fisherman] #11547486 04/17/16 03:41 AM
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This is my normal thinking as well, which is what lead to my question. It seems these creeks would be more popular spots. some of them are only 10-30 yards wide, tons of laydowns, the water can sometimes be many times more clear than the normal lake water color, and can alternate from Deep to shallow for miles. You have all the ingredients Deep water access/cover, shade/shallow water access/and plenty of food supply by the lizards, frogs, insects, not to mention the baitfish. Much easier to pick a creek like that apart for all the depth ranges the fish may be desiring at the time. If large bass will indeed return to these creeks, it would seem that would be a much more consistent area to keep track of residing fish, then say trying to track a school around 6 mile at Toledo.

I also know the saying goes bass stay shallow in normally stained lakes, "Livingston, Lake Houston, etc" and will go deeper the more clear the lake is.

I fish a very small lake in SA that can at times has very clear water. There is an area of the main lake that has great structure 15-25FOW, Boulders and Stumps off the side of a bluff, for several hundred yards. Have carolina rigged this for days and cannot get bit. Can go into a shallow feeder creek off the main river channel in dead of summer and catch 5+ pound fish in <2FOW. What would make this faily clear lake, one of those "shallow water lakes." I'm am speaking of Lake Mcqueeney BTW.

I believe I have read excerpts from the Book contained within other articles. The confusing part is the contradicting articles stating, "as bass grow older and larger then tend to become more deep water oriented" or something to that nature.

Which brings up a semi relevant question. Last summer I had a blast catching some fish in 42FOW. I have read the fish stay in the same depth generally because they cannot experience the pressure changes in their bladder that rapidly. If an angler is catching fish in 30+FOW and live welling them for a weigh in, are they essentially killing the fish? maybe not immediately but shortly after release.

Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11547498 04/17/16 03:52 AM
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Big female bass are much like big female women, they are slow to move and pretty lazy. Generally their biggest cares are bearing children and eating.

Thus, a fat lady would live in close proximity to her breeding grounds, her living quarters and her refrigerator.

Bass are the same, find an area with deeper water, lots of forage and spawning flats close by.


Like people, bass do not get big and fat by moving around a lot.


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Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11547534 04/17/16 04:20 AM
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What's frustrating about bass fishing is they don't read the same books we do... If any...

A lot of times, you'll see them generally doing what we think they should do, but other times, on a given lake they will consistently break the rules. That's where putting in your time on different bodies of water to see how they react and relate to cover will pay huge dividends.


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Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11547554 04/17/16 04:35 AM
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Originally Posted By: Radar19871
This is my normal thinking as well, which is what lead to my question. It seems these creeks would be more popular spots. some of them are only 10-30 yards wide, tons of laydowns, the water can sometimes be many times more clear than the normal lake water color, and can alternate from Deep to shallow for miles. You have all the ingredients Deep water access/cover, shade/shallow water access/and plenty of food supply by the lizards, frogs, insects, not to mention the baitfish. Much easier to pick a creek like that apart for all the depth ranges the fish may be desiring at the time. If large bass will indeed return to these creeks, it would seem that would be a much more consistent area to keep track of residing fish, then say trying to track a school around 6 mile at Toledo.

I also know the saying goes bass stay shallow in normally stained lakes, "Livingston, Lake Houston, etc" and will go deeper the more clear the lake is.

I fish a very small lake in SA that can at times has very clear water. There is an area of the main lake that has great structure 15-25FOW, Boulders and Stumps off the side of a bluff, for several hundred yards. Have carolina rigged this for days and cannot get bit. Can go into a shallow feeder creek off the main river channel in dead of summer and catch 5+ pound fish in <2FOW. What would make this faily clear lake, one of those "shallow water lakes." I'm am speaking of Lake Mcqueeney BTW.

I believe I have read excerpts from the Book contained within other articles. The confusing part is the contradicting articles stating, "as bass grow older and larger then tend to become more deep water oriented" or something to that nature.

Which brings up a semi relevant question. Last summer I had a blast catching some fish in 42FOW. I have read the fish stay in the same depth generally because they cannot experience the pressure changes in their bladder that rapidly. If an angler is catching fish in 30+FOW and live welling them for a weigh in, are they essentially killing the fish? maybe not immediately but shortly after release.


Look up Donald Harper's posts about this general subject. He has an old-school approach that I wholly embrace. Bass need both shallow water and deep water every day - they move between those zones pretty predictably on normal sunny days. Feeding shallow in low light, hiding in deep water later in the day. It doesn't matter if it's in a creek or not. But the more cover the better.

Fat girls are lazy and don't want to move far between night/low light shallow feeding and deep safety. They're not going to leave an area that has everything they need depth/cover/structure wise just because the water has reached 69.35 degrees and the shad are moving shallow.

To catch them all day you will need to be in both 3 feet and 30 feet.

Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11547584 04/17/16 05:09 AM
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See if this doesn't provide you a little more info

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/hope_chronicles.html

Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: K.D.] #11548268 04/17/16 05:20 PM
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Great Article, Hard to argue with information presented in that one. Strange it completely contradicts the information many articles state that big bass are found deeper, but how do you argue with GPS tracked fish.

Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11548616 04/17/16 08:23 PM
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I love shallow water fishing. The spawn is an excellent time to find the big Bass that live close by. I always picked the 60 best spots I could find on the lake that I was learning. I fished 3 each morning until they were all covered. My baits of choice was a spook, spinner bait, fluke and jig. Out of these 60 shallow water spots you will only find 3 large Bass producing spots. I like to consider these 3 spots the best that I could find.

These bass live on the first steepest drop near those 3 areas. As said by others they do not move very far and mark their territory on the way to the shallows each morning to feed. Each big bass moves from that comfort zone to the first bush, to a stump, to another bush or rocks and feed along the way. Some make it to the shore line cover and use that cover for structure to ambush from moving parallel with the shore feeding up. Some of these quality fish never make it to the shore. Once they feed up they will return using all the same pieces of cover on that route to return to their comfort zone.

From this information gathered I would search for every piece of cover on that migration route to the shallows. This will allow you to hopefully keep catching fish in the Mid Range depths. Your electronics today will allow you to locate these pieces of cover very quickly. It is important and much easier to know there is a bush out there that is your target without having to fan fish to find it.

Once they return to the comfort zone which is the steepest drop to deep water, they are at rest most of the day. What you want to look for is heavy cover on the up side lip of these drops. This gives them a little snack bar to use when they do not want to travel and the bait is in this cover. These deeper fish are definitely catchable. The ledge fish holding just below the lip during the intense light of the day are very difficult to catch. Cover makes all the difference in producing or not producing. Lack of cover deep just makes it seem like the good bite you had going on in the shallows and mid range spots just went away. For what it is worth it DID. Find the deep cover on the drop and keep catch the deep fish.

My goal on a new lake was to work it hard fish 60 spots at each level to find the 3 best spots at each level.
- 3 best shallow
- 3 best mid range
- 3 best deep
With 9 of the best spots on the lake you will always have fish on one of those. Spend your day wisely with:
- First 2 hours on your 3 shallow water spots
- Second 2 hours on your 3 mid range spots
- Last 3 or 4 hours on your deep water spots.
I always took what I could get and never hammered the fish on any one spot just because they were there. I use all 9 spots every day unless it was cloudy or storming and that is a whole another story.

I can help you with your first best 20 shallow water spots and the baits to search for them. Just give me a shout.


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Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Donald Harper] #11550540 04/18/16 07:02 PM
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First a thanks to Donald for an awesome post,

So I think I am picking up what you guys are putting down. On Lakes like Livingston/Lake Houston, where the bass supposedly stay shallow year round. Do they really not move deep at all, or are they just near impossible to catch when they do so you might as well not fish for them?

Would you still look for the choke points and flats near deeper water like you would on any other lake, or is the deep water access not as important seeing as they "stay shallow always"

Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11550581 04/18/16 07:25 PM
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Mr. Bass lives at all different levels all over the lake. You have to learn how to fish for them depending on the depth you find them. You have to determine if they are just there feeding on bait balls or is that where they live. The deeper you adventure out to fish for them the harder it becomes to get them to bite. Deep water Bass holding on ledges at 30 ft. with no cover on top is a whole new ball game.

Finding Bass as shallow as you can in the back 1/3 of the coves will allow you to follow them to a less deep comfort zone where they live. Also the abundance of cover back there will up your odds of locating there resting areas that have heavy cover on the top lip of the drop. These fish will be much more cooperative.


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Re: Feeder Creeks/Sloughs [Re: Radar19871] #11550777 04/18/16 09:23 PM
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You can throw all that info out the door on lake worth, they don't know what mid and deep water is. On all other lakes that's good info.


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