Whether It's Walleye or Bass, Always Pick at the Edges

I asked a buddy for a basic tip on locating walleye and he got a little edgy with me. No doubt, anglers like to hold their cards low, but looking past the wordplay, edges are one of the most consistent elements of fish location.

Sure, a lot of details, from meteorology to seasonality to fishing pressure factor into the equation, but when in doubt, start with edges. That term – “edge” – means different things in different scenarios, but in its most basic form, the worm describes some type of environmental separation that fish favor.

Examples are plentiful, but here are a few scenarios most of us will recognize.

Current Seams

It’s opportunistic feeding 101. Water breaking around obstructions create distinct margins of fast-moving water passing slower areas. Typically marked by frothy edges, or at least noticeably turbulent edges, these areas allow predators to sit in the slack zones and pick off current-born prey.

This deal works for everything from rainbow trout to largemouth bass. For the latter, a dam or spillway tailrace presents numerous opportunities.

Prime example: When I joined professional bass angler Drew Cook for a morning on the Upper Mississippi’s Pool 8, we spent some time working the current seams forming through the Onalaska Spillway’s tailrace. Swimbaits and topwaters brought a couple largemouth to the boat, but the most memorable moment was one that yielded no photo opps.

Cook fired his surface walker toward an outside seam on the spillway’s west side and almost immediately the water erupted as no less than half a dozen huge smallmouth bum rushed the bait. The ravenous fish clearly mistook the plastic form for the baitfish flowing through the seams and even though they collectively thwarted one another’s efforts, it was one of those moments you never forget.

On a smaller scale, one of my favorite land-based spots is the Madrid Dam on the Grass River in the namesake Upstate New York town. Casting access is limited to a small overlook platform on the north bank, so I’ve learned to target the obvious current seams breaking around the chunky point and protrusions of the natural contour.

Perpendicular casts in moving water are not ideal, but when I hit a seam just right and keep a little swimbait moving at the right speed, I can swing through the strike zone to entice a mix of smallmouth and rock bass.

Ledges

Although seldom a perfectly straight line, the margin at which a flat or a major contour plunges into the creek channel or river channel represents a summer bass magnet. That’s traditional stuff, but in recent years, live sonar advancements have shown how many fish suspend off those edges.

There’s a time for the deep-diving crankbaits, football jigs and swimbaits, but there’s also a time for a jighead minnow and both types of fish are there because of an edge.

Outer Trees

On lakes and rivers dense with cypress trees, savvy bass anglers know that smaller clusters isolated from the often vast, shallow forests can be the real gold mines. Particularly in the prespawn period, these detached edges serve as staging areas.

Transitional Banks

Bass instinctively gravitate to changes in their environments. Maybe it’s a progression into and out of spawning area, or it could have something to do with local feeding, but banks that transition from big rock to chunk rock, chunk to gravel, gravel to sand or clay often seem to attract the fish.

Find a bank with a rock vein or a rock slide extending into the depths and that’s definitely worth some attention. 

Grass Mat Intrusions

Floating rafts of hyacinth, pennywort or dead reeds or tules choke out rooted grass growth. This leaves distinct caverns below, so punching the borders often yields a heaving connection.

Notably, in tidal waters, rising water allows fish to expand far inward, but once the outgoing cycle drains the inner section of a grass mat – or pad field – the fish pull to the outer edge. Adjusting your focus to this deeper border keeps you in the hunt.

Fall Migration Route

The autumn months mean two important things for pro angler Jason Christie – deer hunting and bass feeding. For the latter, he likes the flats adjacent to deep water, especially the ones off the main creek channel. 

As Christie points out, these are the areas where the fish moving up from their summer haunts will first settle as they transition into their fall feeding patterns. The shallower flats, which gradually expand heading into a creek arm or a pocket offer strategic feeding opportunities, while also providing the comfort and safety of deep water proximity.

So how about that entry-level walleye location tip? Something to share with novices like a Florida angler relatively new to the toothy fish deal?

Find your healthy grass beds, follow them out to their deep water drop-offs and work the edges for savvy predators that lurk along the boundaries to pick off baitfish that wander too close.

Seasoned walleye pros will probably roll their eyes at such simplicity and that’s cool. But basic as it is, that advice not only gives beginners a gateway to their inevitable walleye addiction, it perfectly illustrates the point that edges frame the game.

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