Bays & Estuaries
If you're fishing in a bay or estuary, you better have a big tackle box. These bodies of water contain a mixture of fresh water and salt water. So they also contain a mixture of freshwater and saltwater fish. Make sense? Of course it does. Bays and estuaries can be fished from shore or from a boat.
Bays
Ocean bays don't have much freshwater influence. But because they are protected from severe ocean conditions, they become ideal nurseries for many species of bait fish and shell fish, which can draw bigger saltwater fish into the bays to feed.
Estuaries
Where the mouth of a river meets the ocean is called an estuary. Estuaries support saltwater fish such as tarpon, snook, redfish and striped bass. Other saltwater fish like shad, herring, salmon and sea-run trout can also be found in estuaries because they need to find sweeter or fresher water when it's time to mate. Freshwater fish like largemouth bass can also survive in the salty waters found in estuaries.
Weather can also affect the mix of fish in combined waters. Stormy
weather pushes fresh water from the rivers closer to the ocean, causing
freshwater to move farther downstream. And dry weather pushes salt
water and saltwater fish further upstream into the rivers.
Channels and Entrances
Anywhere water is forced to move through a smaller opening, currents run faster and dig deeper into the bottom. Fish will be attracted to these places because the water is deeper and the supply of food is more concentrated in the 'pinched' area.
Man-Made Structures
It's only natural, bait fish and other marine creatures gather around piers and pilings because they're looking for food and protection from currents. But they can't protect themselves from larger fish. And larger fish can't protect themselves from you.
Schools
Bait fish and even schools of larger fish can swim so close together they actually change the color of the water. Train your eyes to look for these moving patches of color and you will be rewarded for your efforts. Cast ahead and let your bait float to the school.
Ripples, Currents, Swirls and Sprays
Call it what you will, but it might be a fish. It might be bait fish feeding. It might be bait fish trying to jump out of the water to escape game fish. Or it might be bubbles and rings from a big fish that just went down to eat a minnow. Cast quickly and you might get lucky.
Birds
Birds fly above slow-moving bait fish. Get close and try to figure out if bait fish are dead or alive. If they're thrashing around, you should fish shallow. If they're wounded, fish deeper.
Ponds
Larger pools of water that form between incoming freshwater streams and the ocean don't contain too many fish. But food will bunch together at both ends of the lake where the stream feeds into the pond and out into the ocean. And where there's concentrated food, fish will look for an easy meal.
Outsides of Bends
When the river or stream curves, the faster water (which carries the food) moves to the outside of the bend. So fish look for food there.
Backflow (backwaters)
When the tide moves into a small inlet, or point, it slows down and moves in a different direction than the main flow for a short period of time. Fish will feed where the backwards flow slows down and the food settles.
