Try Sand-Break Pattern For River Smallmouths

By David A. Brown
Special to BassFan

When talk turns to major rivers like the Mighty Mississippi, we tend to first picture the main channel carving its course across the landscape. However, the real character and, indeed, some of the better fishing opportunities, occur in the myriad of backwater channels – the very essence of a productive scenario known as “sand breaks.”

Existing elsewhere, but exemplified in the upper Mississippi, this classic ambush setup owes its creation to the daily current flow that carves abrupt drops along the edges of sand bars facing the main channel. Minnesota pro Seth Feider often targets these areas for the smallmouth that run the deep-water boundaries in hopes of grabbing current-borne forage tumbling over the edge.

It’s all about the angles. Fish mostly patrol the depths and look shallow to spot vulnerable prey.

“Those fish like to use the break as an ambush point,” Feider said. “They’re sitting up against that sand and anything that comes over the edge, they have it pinned against the surface.”

Feider said the tops of the backwater lake where multiple fingers of water trace a meandering course comprise a textbook sand-drop scenario. Otherwise, anywhere he finds bars and islands along the main river channel will suffice.

Although it’s not always a high-percentage deal, the sand-break pattern definitely holds significant potential.

“You have to fish a lot of them to find the ones that are holding fish, but the nice part is you can fish them really fast,” Feider said. “You can find out pretty fast if there are fish on them or not.

“You can go to some and catch a lot of 2-pound fish, but the ones with the better fish you might only get three to five bites. There are some where you can catch 10 to 15, but they’re smaller fish.”

In most cases, it’s the classic quantity or quality decision; but Feider said a true gem, could produce 10 consecutive 2-pounders followed by a 5-pound kicker. It’s simply a matter of hitting enough spots to find a group of good ones.

With a vast number of sand breaks from which to choose, Feider said he selects his targets based on two main criteria: water depth and current.

How Much Water

Regarding depth, Feider said there’s definitely a sweet zone in which fish can reach forage and fisherman can reach fish.

“Obviously, if the sand is dry it’s too shallow, but you don’t need a lot of water going over the top – maybe just a couple of inches,” Feider said. “But at the same time, too deep isn’t good either.

“From a couple inches to a couple of feet is the optimal depth zone. Once the fish have 4 to 5 feet of water on top of them, typically, that’s not as productive because the baitfish can go right over them and they can’t get up to the surface in time. When the water’s too deep, it’s just not compact enough; it’s too wide of an area.”

Think of it like idling up to a boat launch dock that stands about a foot higher than your steering wheel. At that level, you have no trouble grabbing the edge and reaching a cleat from your seated position. Now, envision sliding up next to an industrial pier standing 10 feet off the water – tougher to reach that one.

Feeling the Flow

Depth and current strength. Feider said he judges the latter with boat control.

Current flow varies with natural and manmade forces from rains and wind to dams opening and closing. Too little water movement and the waning opportunity causes fish to lose interest. Too much and the situation becomes untenable.

“There can definitely be too much current,” Feider said. “As long as you can hold on the spot with your trolling motor, it isn’t too much. But if you get to the point where you have to run your big motor to hold on it, that’s probably too much current.”

Feider favors a sand break where a secondary channel flows through a gap between islands or sand bars. Additional current helps push forage from the backwater, but these lesser channels are more than food delivery services – they actually pile up the sediment from which sand bars are formed.

Moreover, the backwaters are where you find most of the vegetation concentrated, so water flowing across the sand breaks is typically well-filtered.

“It’s the only thing that clears the water,” Feider said. “If there was no grass, the river would be chocolate milk end to end.

“If the water’s low and stable, everything’s pretty clear, so it’s wide open. But if you do get a bunch of rain that has the water muddied up, those drops that are just downstream from the big grassy area are going to be a little clearer and that becomes more key.”

Take it To 'Em

Feider prefers a Storm Chug Bug because he can quickly cover water and find aggressive fish. Also, in tournament practice, he can determine fish size without sticking them, as opposed to a jig or a tube where he’d have to crack one to get a look at it.

When he’s trying to catch fish, mixing up the bait selection by working in a swimbait, swimjig and bottom baits like tubes, football jigs and Carolina rigs allows him to show the fish a diversity of looks and determine what they want.

With any bait, proximity matters and Feider wants to be close enough to cast well onto the top of the sand flat without sitting over the fish.

“You definitely have to land on top of the break and bring your bait down, even though the fish are sitting on the edge,” Feider said. “If you throw right to where the fish are sitting, you don’t seem to get nearly as many bites as you do if you throw past them and bring it to them.

“I catch almost all of my fish by sitting downstream of a sand break and fishing up. You get a lot of bites that way, because that’s the way the fish are looking.”

Flats with a foot or two of water on top often see fish moving over the break and staking out shallow ambush positions. Noting that the fish are most likely to do this during low-light conditions of morning, evening and cloudy periods, Feider said this behavior bespeaks the true brown-fish nature.

“It’s just a conveyer belt of food and getting farther up on the break, they get first crack at whatever comes by,” he said. “Smallmouth are greedy!”