Winter 2020
®
BREAKING DOWN
BRIDGES
for transitional bass By Glenn Walker
A
common fish holding structure that is on
many of our lakes or rivers are bridges. These
manmade structures not only connect humans and allow us to drive our vehicles across the water, but they
also connect one section of a lake or river to another. This
area where a bridge is located is a great funnel or pinch point
for bass to push bait and feed as they transition from one
section of the lake or river to another.
The structure available for anglers to fish around bridges
begins with two key items, the riprap bank on the shoreline
approaches to the bridge and then the bridge columns itself.
The columns may be concrete or wood, depending on
the bridge, but either way these create a current break for a
bass to sit behind and grab an easy meal.
It is no secret that the riprap banks by bridges
hold bass, they hold heat, and so as the water
temperatures drop, they are ideal fish holding
locations as the warmer water temperatures bring in baitfish or crawfish for bass to eat. But the key factor with any bridge is figuring out how the current and water depth around the bridge will position the bass.
By looking at the lake mapping on your electronics, you can see where the creek channel or deeper water is by a bridge. For me, I use Humminbird LakeMaster lake map.
To get started, I begin by fishing near a bridge where that deeper water butts up to the riprap or bridge column itself.
Usually one side of a bridge is better than the other, based on how the current is hitting. Likely a bottleneck occurs on the creek side of the bridge, as there is more flow present and there is a direct impact from the current. Many
times a bridge is only productive if there is current,
so paying close attention to the flow is important.
If I’m unfamiliar with a certain bridge, I’ll
first idle along the shoreline on each side of the
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Photo: Tyler Mohr/Providence Marketing Group