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Economizing Scope and Improving Results
By Noel Vick
Bill Plantan, an impassioned
river buff, often speaks about this guy who owned a big boat – the fast
and glass sort – and nearly exclusively launched it on big water. One
day, for whatever reason, he bought a canoe, a River Ridge Custom Canoe,
and thus began a new chapter in his fishing career. As it turns out,
that chapter evolved into a book, because once he learned how to fish
moving water, well, that big boat never saw big water again.
 “He
mailed me a letter the other day,” Plantan said enthusiastically. “In
it, he talked about a December 1st float on the Upper
Mississippi River where he and a partner caught 40 smallies, including a
20 incher.”
In fishing, that’s an epiphany.
Plantan’s own
fishing-methodology has evolved to where he only fishes lakes that are
petite and tricky to access, and water that surges across the landscape,
namely rivers and streams.
“Moving waters are my foremost
targets – big and small ones. I’ll put a canoe in anything with
current,” said Plantan, laying out a template for ‘his kind of fishing.’
The reasons for electing waters
with current are manifold. In no particular order of significance,
Plantan first points to the reduced boat traffic. Rivers and streams
attract fewer boaters, period.
And then there’s the weather
thing. Current dwelling fishes are less affected by atmospheric shifts.
Swings in barometric pressure greatly influence activity in lake-going
fish, but for the most part, that’s not the case in current. Although,
according to Plantan, incoming spates of low pressure trigger
feasting-scenarios faster on rivers than lakes, albeit for shorter
durations.
“On rivers, baitfish will
physically rise on the front side of a storm or other low pressure
event, and that really turns the fish on, especially trout, and
sometimes smallmouth bass,” Plantan said.
Wind is yet another factor. The
comparatively narrow and elevated banks on rivers and streams buffer
winds and yield fishing opportunities even when nearby lakes are too
rough to navigate.
Multiplicity is a frequent
upside of moving water too. Few fishing trips are relegated to a single
species. Walleyes often intermingle with northern pike, sometimes
catfish, and brutish smallmouth bass have no qualms about sharing a pool
with a muskie. Even designated trout waters surrender bonus catches.
Finally, there’s the
availability factor. Most folks, no matter their place of residence, can
peruse a map and find a navigable stretch of moving water within an hour
of home. That claim can’t always be made for lakes, though. And in
regions where lakes dominate the landscape, rivers and streams often
trickle in virtual obscurity.
By now, Plantan should have you
salivating at the idea of drifting and casting a serene and scenic
waterway. Maybe you’re even thinking about ditching the 20-foot warship
for a humble canoe. But fortunately, canoes are relatively inexpensive,
so you shouldn’t have to sell the cruiser to own one.
So with intentions to float and
fish, the next step is selecting a flowage or suitable stretch of a
major system. “First off,” says Plantan “you need to know the ‘gradient’
of the river or stream in question.”
Are there rapids? Is the current
swift or lazy? Answers to questions like these will determine if the
tract of water is hazardous to pilot, possibly dangerous, or simply too
taxing navigationally for an afternoon of fishing.
(The website TopoZone.com (www.topozone.com
) is a phenomenal resource for mapping rivers and streams of interest,
as well as investigating your area for prospective moving water.)
The topic of gradients feathers
into Plantan’s next consideration which is ‘float time’: how long it
takes to travel from point A to point B.
“I usually figure about a mile
an hour, so an eight mile stretch would take approximately eight hours
to float. If you’re just canoeing, it’ll go faster, but that’s a pretty
fair average when you build in fishing time.
And if there’s any doubt, err to
the safe side. Don’t bite off too much water. Getting caught in the dark
on unfamiliar water can be precarious.”
Plantan also suggests that
canoeists plan for pickups and dropoffs well in advance. He likes the
two-vehicle program, where a second vehicle is planted – no pun intended
– downstream, at the concluding point. Afterward, the anglers, motoring
with canoe overhead, drive upstream to the originating point and launch.
Where available, canoe rental outfits provide similar services. Such
establishments are prime sources of river information as well.
Locating a navigable sliver of
current is child’s play. As Plantan asserts, “they’re everywhere.” But
his screening process cuts deeper, earmarking certain types of waters
under certain conditions.
“Most people automatically think
the decision to float one river over another is dictated by preference
of species. I prefer to let prevailing conditions guide me, not a
particular species.
I have a ball catching just
about anything.”
Plantan says the best overall
waterway to explore, regardless of species, unfolds below a dam. Fish of
all makes and models gravitate toward the supplementary depths, current
breaks, and wealth of food that dams provide.
“Fishing below a dam can be
really productive after a rainfall. The water upstream turns swift and
cloudy right away, but it takes awhile for the runoff to influence
clarity and current speed downstream, below a dam,” Plantan says.
The inverse applies to the days
following a rain event. “It takes two to four days, on average, for a
river to clear-out after a rainstorm. And once it does, the upper
reaches can really get hot while the lower stretches darken and the
fishing slows.”
Time of year is another
determinant in the selection process. In the spring, Plantan favors
fertile, darker-water flows, the sorts flanked by farmland and pastoral
shorelines. From a fishing standpoint, they’re the first to spark. By
midsummer, he’s off searching for clearer and deeper runs – ones with
limited vegetation too. Here, banks are typically studded with pines and
fortified with rock.
By autumn, Plantan fixes on
rivers with deep pools. Fish begin congregating in pools once water
temperatures approach the 60 degree mark. They frequently remain in
those slumbering areas all winter too.
Ultimately, what beckons Plantan
to current is the bite. It’s nearly bulletproof. Something’s happening
on some river or stream regardless of the weather or page on the
calendar. And in his opinion, and mine for that matter, there’s no finer
way to fish and experience moving water than from a canoe.
Editor’s note: River Ridge
Custom Canoes are available factory direct. To find out more about the
utmost fishing-canoe, call (507) 288-2750 and ask for a free brochure.
You can also learn more about the company and their products by visiting
www.riverridgecustomcanoes.com |
