Can someone give me some pointers on this?
maybe a link to a map of lake with a channel and creek and a drain?
the drain is what is throwing me off

I call a drain any wash that comes off the bank and runs out to a creek channel leaving a draw are depression on the bottom.Amistad has many of these running off the hills into the lake.

Creek channel on lake usually marked on maps. Then there is feeder creeks that come in from the coves. Drains, washes, ditches are usually formed as a result of rainwater run off. Water runs downhill and any mid lake hump or even a point will have a runoff. If the contour map definition is good enough you will see instances where at the bottom of a drainage you will see where sediment accumulation has formed a point.

Even main creek channels will have places where water erosion creates a ditch which may not show up on a map. Some of my biggest bass at Fork came from a ditch running into a feeder creek.

Drain is like a ditch or small creek channel

so if a creek channel was running north to south then the drain would be say running east and west kinda towards the creek channel?
like when it downpours and water runnins down the ditch to the lowest point which would be the creek or draw?
water running down would create the ditch or drain?

Really ? You don't know a ditch from your a$$ and a hole in the ground.

O dear lord. Pretty much what you need to know is that their is a main Lake river channel/or creek depending on what you want to call it. Then branch off that river/creek is smaller river/creeks these rivers/creeks typically run east to west info what some people call a slough or creek arm. There are smaller drains and ditches that come off these rivers/creeks these are created by water run off weather it was run off around a creek bend where the outside bend was flooded creating a drain/ditch or from water run off into the lake. Not allot of these "drains" have been created based on water run off into the lake they were created when the original river/creek existed and water would run on and down the land around the river/creek and into it. Bass use these rivers, creeks, drains, and ditches to move from deep water to shallow water they also use it as an ambush point to catch prey. The outside bend of a creek will usually be steeper and have a washed out underside. If the creek has trees on it the root systems of the trees will be more exposed, this is because before the lake was impounded the outside bend in the creek experienced more pressure from the running water than the inside bend it. the inside bend is gonna be flatter and more have less of a defined drop. If you would like to visualize this go find a local neighbor hood with a small creek running through it. walk the creek most will be relatively dry. when you get to a bend notice how the outside bend is deeper and has a portion of land cut out where the water rushes up against the band. Then look at the inside bend and see how its flatter and the drop off is slighter. Hope this answers your questions regarding these so called "bass highways" If someone with more detailed or accurate knowledge wants to dispute what I just said be my guest.

sounds like you are the one who likes a$$ deep donkey based on your name...... Just saying

This is a drain

Calm down Jake, lets go fishing

Very good explanation.
The way I was taught. A drain is just a runoff from rain water. most of them on lakes like Amistad are to steep to hold water above the lake level. However the ditch made by the drain will continue out into the lake. Where it deposits fertile soil to grow aquatic vegetation. A true creek channel may have water coming into the lake at anytime. It can hold water above the lake level. It's also a great place to fish where it continues out into the lake.
By that definition; A creek channel and a drain are not the same,.

Hope this helps you Bass Buster 1.

Erosion From rain= ditch. Take picks when lakes are low.
Lots of them on Ray Roberts.

A Ditch can be natural or man made and is just a depression usually adjacent to a flat that allows water to run off and accumulate. It does not necessarily have to run into a creek or river or drain. Think of a ditch along side of a road. So, a submerged road bed usually will have an adjacent ditch.
A drain is a deeper channel or depression formed from adjacent higher landscapes that usually flows into a creek channel or river. For example, two hillsides have a drain between them. You can find this with your sonar, side imaging on the water, but also look at the landscape around the area you are fishing and try to imagine it extending into the water. Hope this helps!

that just bout covers tha drain thang . Let's don't even get into drainO