Abstract
When all else fails on a late-summer day, head for the nearest bridge. Conditions tend to be favorable for fish under bridges, so the action is apt to pick up once you’ve had a bit of time to figure out the fish. Almost as importantly, conditions are better for fishermen under bridges this time of year, making the fishing experience more enjoyable.
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Shade is a bridge’s most obvious summer virtue, and it clearly is a big part of what makes these structures so attractive to fish. Far beyond blocking the sun, though most bridges offer significant structure at a big variety of depths, and most have creek or river channels cutting beneath them.
In addition, bridges often are built in narrow areas of lakes, which are natural funnels for baitfish and game fish and which also funnel wind or creek or river currents.
Because a good bridge offers such a variety of places for fish to hold, finding fish commonly takes a quite a bit of searching. Just because you fish four pilings without a tap doesn’t mean that you won’t hit the jackpot on No. 5.
If you think fish might be shallow, begin by throwing a Rebel Wee-R crankbait to the riprap and bouncing it off the rocks and swimming it past the shallowest pilings. You might also bounce a Texas-rigged YUM RibWorm across the same areas.
If the fish aren’t shallow begin working your way toward the center of the bridge, hitting each piling. Depending on the depth, water color and species make-up, you might pitch a BOOYAH Boo Jig, cast a 4-inch YUM Dinger on a light leadhead or drop-shot a 4 3/4-inch YUM Houdini Worm.
As you work toward the creek or river channel, watching your electronics becomes extra important. The fish may be suspended beside pilings, requiring you to fish a suspended drop-shot rig, jig a Cotton Cordell C.C. Spoon or count down a MUY Grub and swim it among the fish. Look for game fish and baitfish on the graph. An abundance of shad at a certain depth will tell you the depth where the most fish are likely to be holding.
As you fish a bridge, pay very close attention to where every strike occurs and to where you spot fish on the graph. Also pay careful attention to little details. Consider where shadows are cast, how the fish may be relating to the current and what kind of cover is on the bottom between bridge pilings.
At times, the fish may be spread from one end of a bridge to the other, but they may all be on the eddy sides of pilings, holding just out of the current and suspending 10 feet from the surface. Once you figure out that the fish want MUY Grub cast to the upcurrent side, counted down to the strike zone and reeled slowly past the piling, you can move from one piece of cover to the next, catching fish. At that point, you have it made in the shade.