Bank Fishing In Swift Current: Go With The Flow, Catch More Fish
Story and Photos By John Neporadny Jr.

Fishing from the banks of a dam tailrace always kept me in suspense when I was a kid. I just never knew what I was going to hook next when I fished below dams on the Mississippi River and Carlyle Lake in Illinois. Most of the time we caught crappie and white bass, but my other catches from the tailraces included walleye, sauger, largemouth bass, yellow bass, catfish, carp, gar and paddlefish.

Whenever Alabama guide Brad Whitehead wants to fish for a couple of hours after work, he leaves his boat at home and heads for the tailraces below Wheeler or Wilson lakes. This allows him to spend more time catching crappie, white bass and sauger without the hassle of launching and loading his boat.

When he was a kid, Oklahoma guide Todd Huckabee also enjoyed catching crappie and white bass while walking the tailrace banks of reservoirs in his home state. Through his years of fishing tailraces, Huckabee discovered fish stay close to shore since the tailrace banks are usually steep.

"People can take the techniques they use in spring to catch crappie in the shallows on lakes and catch fish the same way below dams anytime of the year because the fish aren't going to be way out in the tailrace," advises Huckabee. "They will be fairly close to the bank most of the time."

Missouri angler John Vernon has spent several decades bank-fishing the Bagnell Dam tailrace below Lake of the Ozarks. He catches crappie and white bass throughout the year as long as some current is flowing.

Winter is Huckabee's favorite season to fish the tailraces because the water stays about the same temperature throughout winter and the fish aren't affected by the cold weather as much as the fish above the dam.

He also catches crappie and white bass from the tailrace in the hot weather until late summer when stagnant water from the lake bottom starts flowing through the dam.

Whitehead favors fishing the tailraces for crappie, whites and sauger from fall to late spring.

Bank-fishing in dam tailraces can be a productive, yet inexpensive way to catch panfish throughout the year if you can learn how to read the water. Although the experts differ in their tactics for fishing current, they all agree that bank-fishing in the tailrace is a waste of time if there is no flow from the dam.

Seams And Eddies
If water is flowing from the dam, reading the current becomes the key to finding fish in the tailrace.

"The best way to find the best area is to put a cork on with a couple of jigs below it," recommends Huckabee. "You don't have to have it at the right depth during the finding stage. Throw it out there, let it drift down and watch the pace that it is moving and you will find these little seams. A seam is where water going downstream meets water that is going upstream, but it is not an eddy where the water is twirling around. Everybody can recognize an eddy, but the seams are where a lot of the bigger crappie hang out."

The seams are semi-slack water areas where the fish can get a respite from the current.
"Those fish can hop over on the downstream current and go downstream and then can hop over in the upstream current and come right back to the same spot," says Huckabee.
Current velocity is also a key to finding the hotspots in tailraces.

"I like it real strong because it keeps the fish from scattering out," says Huckabee.

He believes a strong flow causes fish to stay in the seams and eddies.

A strong current also makes it easier for Vernon to find tailrace panfish. He notices the fish move shallower along the rocks during heavy current, especially when all the floodgates of Bagnell Dam are open.

Slack-water areas behind rock jetties, wing dikes or large boulders are key spots for Whitehead when he's fishing from the bank of a tailrace. One of his favorite tailrace spots is a boat ramp in a sheltered harbor.

"The main reason that spot is so good is the shad pull in there and get out of the current," he discloses.

Whitehead notices he catches more crappie from these areas from fall through spring. White bass tend to move into the boat-ramp area during summer. Even though this spot is protected from the main current, there will still be some water flow and an eddy present in the harbor. Whitehead targets the edge of the eddy to find crappie.

"If I find a log or a stump in the eddy, that makes it even better," he says. "If the flood gates are open, floating debris, logs and brush will shift into those eddies and stay there because nothing can push it back out. It makes a perfect natural place for the fish to stage and feed. I do my best standing on the bank when they have all of the units of the dam open."

Lure Presentations
A bobber and double jig setup is Huckabee's favorite trick for catching tailrace panfish from the bank. When he's fishing 6 feet deep or less, Huckabee selects an egg-shaped plastic bobber for his jig tactics, but he switches to a slip-float when drifting his jigs in deeper water. He attaches two 2-inch Yum Vibra King Tubes on 1/8-ounce Crappie Pro jigheads (set about 12 to 18 inches apart) below his bobber. Huckabee varies the colors of his jigs, usually employing combinations of white-and-pink and black-and-chartreuse for his tandem rig.

His tackle for tailrace fishing includes a 10-foot Quantum Xtralite XP Todd Huckabee dippin' rod and Quantum Energy PTi spinning reel spooled with 8- or 10-pound test line.

While fishing the eddies, Huckabee keeps his bobber in the whirling water and barely twitches his rod tip to slightly move his jigs. When his rig is moving back and forth in the current seams, Huckabee keeps the slack out of his line and lets the current do all the work.

"The water is actually moving the jigs around for you then," he says.

If he thinks the fish are holding near the bottom, Huckabee removes his bobber and retrieves his double-jig rig at a steady pace with the current.

"The long rods are a huge advantage when you are fishing below dams without a bobber," he says. "That long rod will help you raise up your line higher when you reach those areas where you keep getting hung up, and you can keep the same retrieve speed. That way you can catch some fish that you wouldn't have normally caught because you would have just burned your lures back to get it out of that spot."

The double-tube jig system without a bobber works best for Vernon when fishing from a tailrace bank. He opts for tubes in red-and-chartreuse and purple-and-white color combinations with 1/8-ounce jigheads that he ties about 18 inches apart on 8-pound test line.

The tailrace veteran keys on the eddies and varies the speed of his retrieve depending on the strength of the current.

"It is always better to fish in the eddy or downstream slightly," he reveals. "You also have to keep the jigs moving the whole time or you'll get them hung up."

Using a countdown method after casting helps Vernon avoid losing too many jigs to hang ups.

"If you count to 10 seconds and get hung up, try counting to only eight or nine on the next cast," advises Vernon.

Once he finds the right count that triggers strikes yet keeps his lures away from snags, Vernon uses the same count on the rest of his casts.

Line watching also prevents Vernon from snagging his jigs.

"Watch the speed of your retrieve, and if your line starts to slack, that means you're going to get hung up right away," says Vernon, who avoids hanging up by giving his rod a short yank to straighten out the line and to pull the jigs away from the rocks.

Bumping a chartreuse-and-blue or chartreuse-and-lime Yum Walleye Grub along the bottom produces best for Whitehead when crappie and white bass congregate in the eddies of boat-ramp harbors. He attaches the grub to either a 1/16-ounce Southern Pro jighead for fishing in light current or a 1/8-ounce model for stronger current. Tackle for his jig technique includes a 6-foot B'n'M spinning rod and Pflueger Trion GX7 spinning reel filled with 6-pound Silver Thread line.

In strong current situations, Whitehead casts his jig to the edge of the current and lets it drift with the flow for a more natural presentation.

"The water will kick it around and push it back up into the eddy," Whitehead explains.

Since crappie and whites are usually positioned in the center of the eddy, the lure drifts right into the strike zone. Whitehead then proceeds to lift and drop the jig through the eddy if the initial drift fails to trigger a strike. If the current is light and the water level is falling, Whitehead abandons the bottom-hopping presentation and retrieves his jig at a steady pace.

If you're limited to fishing from the bank, then get a 5-gallon bucket (for holding your fish), grab a rod, reel and a small tackle box full of jigheads and soft-plastic tubes and grubs, and head for the closest dam tailrace in your area. You're bound to catch plenty of crappie and white bass and whatever else swims in the tailrace.