backwater to current transition

Anyone have any pearls of wisdom they would like to share (in a public forum) on the transition of bass post spawn? I have struggled some trying to figure out the “highway” they use when going from a backwater, most of which down here have a silted in mouth, to the main river or running slough summer hideouts. I believe many fish stay in backwaters, but also many hit the river. Has anyone read a good tracking study they would care to share, or personal thoughts?? (pm accepted if not wanting to post it on the forum .

Just to be fair, my thought is that many fish head out to current as the water heats and loses O2. If there is good vegetation, they are more likely to stay. Down here (pools 14-17) weeds are at a premium and many backwaters were heavily silted by the flood of 93, which makes them a virtual mudhole for much of the summer. I feel many fish head out to current, but i cant find a logical route for them to get to where I catch them in the summer (ie I usually catch fish far away). Sorry to be long winded, its cold and the water is hard

what?

Here’s my guess….Post spawn bass might attach themselves to the same secondary points as prespawn bass. For winter patterns, primarily the “deepest most vertical edges adjacent to shallow flats” (quote from Iaconellis DVD) then as the spawn begins, fish move to secondary points staging there as the water temp continues to warm. Once the spawn ends, I think fish will at these secondary points for some recovery time. In a natural lake, outside weed edges come to mind ? The tip I might have since you mentioned Silt is to locate the change in composition of the bottom. You may find a variance in depth or composition & focus on that first as your traveling highway.

I guess what i am trying to say is that during prespawn, spawn and postspawn the fish seem to be either staging or on beds in out of current backwater areas. Seems to me that that this bite turns off with hot weather but I cant seem to re-connect with the fish as they migrate ( i am assuming out to current since they seem to be gone from the spawning/backwater areas). I think i have difficulty because on a lake it makes sense- coves->secondary points-> creek channel (deep weed line in natural lakes) but most of the backwaters dont have that shallow to deep transition and in fact get shallower toward the mouth. I guess its hard to explain but I think Theodore Nugget understands what im asking.

JJ, we have talked about this and you know that I do not have it completely figured out. One thing is for sure though, the River down here is a bit different than upstream.

Hey TheodoreNugget, How is that Ike DVD,learn anything??

I thought it was perfect. Well worth the money. It covers the basics which we all need to get back to once in awhile.. With this new lure & that new technique and this & that.. it’s nice to just kick back & say.. yes, that’s right.. “I remember that”. I’d call it a high level overview. It worked for me

I had a couple “sweet spots” this May-June which really held big fish after the spawn. I think the area they were primarily spawning in was at least a half mile away, but I’m sure a few spawned in the small pockets along the way. There are some big weedy bays close by, and The place I am fishing is a wide, shallow slough with current that bottle necks down before a huge laydown, and deeper 5-7′ of water. I was fishing the shallow part in 2-4’…Everytime the water came up a few inches, BAM it was really on in there. It was always on, but a little extra current flow really bumped it up a notch. another interesting thing- this spot seemed to be holding more fish in mid-late summer also, more on the transition into fall. Not only is this spot close to near by spring spawning bays, but its also very close to a deep channel with undercut banks where they can cruise in the summer. They seem to move in to the bays for the spawn, and come out and stop in this area post spawn, and then move on to the undercuts and sort of scatter in the summer, and come the transition to fall…they are back up again before getting up shallow, and you guessed it…moving back out again I haven’t fished this spot prespawn, but I feel that it could produce some good fish. In general, I like to find areas close to where the believed spawning place is and another key is to find some bait. A lot of sunfish were busting on the surface when I found this spot, and a swim jig in a sunfish matching color was the way to go.