KAYAK KORNER: GETTING UP THE CREEK WITH A PADDLE

Editors Note: iBass360 is pleased to feature this kayak angling article co-written by not one but the last TWO Oklahoma state Kayak Anglers State Champions- defending 2023 State Champion Shane Moore, and 2022 State Champion Zachery Warren ( Old Town Pro Fishing Team) .

Some kayak anglers started as kayak paddlers. Some kayak anglers downsized from boats to a kayak. Others graduated from wading and bank fishing to kayaks. Whatever your path to kayak fishing, you intuitively experienced one indisputable fact- kayaks are great for getting into and maneuvering around “skinny” water- those shallow, narrow, stump or rock strewn, overhang areas inaccessible to boaters and bankers. This is the very reason we fish in creeks. Let’s take you “up a creek” WITH a paddle for more insight.  

The fact that creeks often offer great spawning habitat means bass are native to creeks. Throughout the south, west and southwest there are not many natural lakes. That includes our home waters in Oklahoma. Bass were living in the creeks and rivers long before flood management, power grid needs, and recreation dictated the proliferation of the impoundments we now call lakes.

Skinny waters have a positive impact on the mindset and focus of a fisherman. It can be daunting launching on a big main lake with hundreds of acres of water of all depths stretching out before your eyes. This often leave us scratching our heads wondering “Where to begin?” It takes time to break down that kind of situation from both a structure and presentation standpoint. You take your first pedal or paddle and ask, “where and how do I target bass?”  When you launch in a creek arm, things are a lot clearer- the water is narrow and in good creeks current breaks, docks, rocks, weed beds, pads, and laydowns are easy to access, and you know that cover is holding bass. 

In our experience, bigger lakes usually have multiple creeks feeding in, but there are certain criteria that make the best creek arms stand out and that help you prioritize the best from the rest. That “best” creek is usually wider and deeper than the other arms and feeders. We call this one the "main” creek, and we generally stay away from that one unless it’s the only available option. While the “main” creek may hold the bigger bass, it usually gets a lot of pressure from boaters. Therefore, when searching google maps, we want to find a creek that ONLY a kayak with 6-9 inches of draft can get into- a feeder creek whose current and rate of flow has pushed sediment to the mouth- or at least has this shallow transition from the main lake most of the time. Ideally the sediment bar that has formed is too shallow for boaters to navigate. Most of the time it goes from a depth of 1 foot or less for the first 10-20 yards, then drops to more normal creek depths as you pedal/paddle in further.

The first time in, you need to note or “map” depth and cover. As we paddle the creek, we’re constantly checking the depth on our graphs and looking for obvious cover. There’s no perfect depth to look for because all creeks are different, but it is important to know the average depth so when we come across a deep hole it stands out. About 4 ft. is a good average and anything deeper is a hole, old roadbed, or something that will act as a bass “highway” worth fishing. Water clarity also is a key factor when fishing creeks. Find the dirtiest, nastiest creek in the lake and you will find bass. Baitfish tend to be more prevalent in these dirty creeks and we all know if we find baitfish we will find bass.  

So how do you break down a creek? The time of year is an important criterion in your analysis. Pre-spawn/spawn/post-spawn will each yield a different answer as to the suggested approach to fishing the creek bass because at these different times they will be in different places- sort of everywhere and nowhere if you don’t take the right approach. We have found that the bigger bass tend to stay between the mouth and the first channel swing. In post-spawn this year checks were cashed just traveling back and forth all day between the mouth and the first channel swing.

High summer is when we focus on channel swings. These swings will have deeper water. The same way someone would fish a ledge on the main lake is how we fish these “swings”. The only difference is that in the skinnier water it takes almost no time to find out if a particular swing is holding fish or if you need to move on to the next swing. We placed in the top 10 in several high summer tournaments using this method.

Fall can get a bit tricky but it’s a great time to fish in creeks. Head all the way to the back and try to find the last “deep” hole before it gets too shallow or narrow to navigate. Bass will school up there and when you find them it’s a lot of fun. Last year saw a 1st place finish using the method and finding a big underwater rock with deeper water around it that allowed the winner to fish most of hour that 2-day tournament dragging a jig over that rock. The bass would hammer the jig as it fell off the rock into the deeper water.  

When it comes to baits in creeks, we recommend jigs, jigs, and more jigs! There isn’t a moment on the water that we don’t have at least 2 jigs tied on. When in a new creek, start throwing a swim jig in and around cover, mixing up retrieve speed until you get bit.  This is a good creek search approach. We are very particular about what swim jigs we use because they should be versatile regarding their action and their ability to move through the gnarliest cover without getting stuck. Creeks have the widest variety of obstacles from those presented by mother nature to the shopping carts and tires dumped by careless humans. A versatile jig should have a strong hook and skirt material that will flare at the slightest twitch of my rod/ This usually means it should be hand tied. The swim jig we recommend for these situations is the Chattahoochee Jig Company. With their Arky head you can pitch, flip, swim, or hop it as the structure changes and adjust the weed guard to how you need it.

When creeks have a lot of rock the Bass Patrol football jig is the jig of choice as its hooks stay sharp, the skirt does not tear, the paint resists chips, and the action gets bit. From our perspective, jigs are the way to go in creeks and from what we observe in our tournaments, jigs seem to win more money than any other bait due to their ability to generate big bass bites.

If we move away from the jig in a creek situation, the bait of choice is the square bill. It has great ability to trigger bites. When we’ve hit every laydown and still can’t get bit on a jig or square bill, pick up the old school Texas rigged Senko for those finicky, stubborn fish. The Senko is also a good option when fishing your way out of the creek to pick off the stragglers who did not bite on the way in because they were looking to be finessed.

Creeks hold fish, and for kayak tournament anglers, they often hold the key to more points and higher checks. They are certainly a place where you can #LiveThePassion!