Submerged Ditches and why they can be hot spots

[Moose1am]

Ever since I started reading Fishing Facts Magazine back in the late 1960's I have been looking at the land differently. I drive down the highway going to KY lake and look at the window and think what the land would look like if the fields were covered with water. I have been doing this for a very long time.

Just this afternoon I was driving across town and noticed a big ditch running though this farmers field. The field was neatly plowed all the way up to the edge of the ditch. But the plows could not go into the ditch. Therefore the small shrubs and early bottom land forest growth plants were surviving along the edge of the ditch. I though of Patoka Lake that was filled so fast that the DNR and CORP of Engineers didn't have time to cut down the flood plain trees before the lake filled up with water above the State HYW 145 area. Those ditch's were full of brush that didn't get cut down or plowed under. Find a big ditch that runs from and though a shallow bay out to a spot where the river comes close and you have a good fishing spot. Buck Perry a veteran fisherman and engineering professor coined some of the terms still used today. Structure and breaklines and breaks on the breaklines were some that he talked about. You will find that good spots have immediate access from the shallow feeding areas to the deeper water of the area. Put this though together next time you see a ditch filled with small scrubs going though a farmers field. Some of the past farmlands are not underwater at KY Lake and at Patoka Lake and other lakes thoughout IN.

Regards,

Moose1am

[stratosjoe]

Good observations, Any thing a person can do will help. I am amazed at how some old lakes have changed over the years but fish still hold on those spots. again good post Moose.

[elnutsmalljaws]

I thought I was the only person with this disease. Guess there are many more like us out there. I find myself wondering which jig or c rig creature bait to throw at them as well.

Tight Lines