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Now that you have found the spots you think are the right places to look, now is the time to get out and check them out. The holes and ledges you found on the maps and charts are the first places to look, see if the flats off the places are the right places to look for spawning fish for spring, and food flats in fall. These areas are key spots to target in the right time of the year. The structure and wing dams are the next places to check out. These will depend on current flow and water levels. When the water is lowest is the time to check them out. This will require you to spend some time running the rivers and looking and taking notes. Make sketches and take good notes on how the water flows around these objects. Remember this is tidal water and the current will change all the time. Each time the tide changes the current will flow against the object in a different direction .note how the current ebbs and forms eddies around the objects. Wing dams are the next things to look at. A true wing dam is the sides off a dam along the bank used to keep erosion from eating the shore away. This term has been adopted by fishermen to describe any man made form that sticks out into the water from shore. Old pier posts and pillions collect debris in storms and in floods and will make a good place for fish to hold. Any of these that are close to or run into a drop off are the best places to start. Once you find the ones that have fish on them and fish holding off the structure you need to fish these areas and learn how to set them. I will try and point you in the right direction with simple ways to work them but you will need to set them your self to find the right way to set it up.

Lets start with this simple set up. Find the hole you want to fish and go up river from it several yards. Look for something that makes it different from the others, .there will be something even if it don’t look like it, go a few yards farther and anchor. Use your anchor line to move your boat over the hole till you set it the way you want. By moving the anchor line to a different spot on the bow or front gunwale you can move the boat up to several feet in one direction or another. Once you have the boat set where you want it, look at how the current flows around this hole and where the current makes changes. These changes are the target areas. Remember that these areas are down some from the actual edge on the bottom, the current will cause the surface changes to be down current a yard or two from the actual spot. Cover these area well. I set up to 12 rigs on some holes but that is excessive on most. Three or four rods will cover an area well. After 15 to 20 minuets with no action then move the boat some with the anchor line again. Reset the hole. When setting a hole for the first time you need to give it time, don’t expect to hook up in the first 15 minuets on every hole. You may need to move the boat to a different location on the hole and reset again. I have had to work a hole half a day to find the right setup. The way you set the hole is up to you however a simple set up to cover and check the hole is this. It’s a four rod spread. Two outside rigs are simple bottom rigs you normally use. The two middle rods are set up with three way rigs. One at 24 inch depth and one at 36 inch depth. These rigs will cover the entire areas needed to find out if the hole is productive. You may come up skunk on the first outing to this hole but you will need to do this several time at different stages of the tide. The hole may not hold anything on the incoming tide but may have more than you handle on the out going tide.

Check these holes out and have your questions ready on how the current will change a hole and how to adapt to these changes.