Sandy Mounds Can Be Better Than They Look

By David A. Brown
Special to BassFan

Joey Cifuentes just can’t pass up a good bar; but don’t go calling his sponsors with defaming accusations. We’re talking about sandbars — the oft-slighted fish havens that this FLW Tour pro holds in high regard.

In most cases, these sandy mounds — sometimes interspersed with rock and possibly some rooted vegetation — are basically spoil banks from channel dredging. But whether they’re naturally occurring or manmade, Cifuentes knows they’re well worth a chunk of his day.

“A lot of times, there’s nothing to a sandbar, but it can still be very good,” Cifuentes said. “Fish like to relate to structure and a lot of guys overlook or ignore sandbars because they’re mostly sand; but there’s a lot more structure and cover than you see sticking up. A sandbar offers fish a lot of opportunity to sit there and ambush bait.”

Good Times

Growing up on the Arkansas River, Cifuentes spent a lot of time fishing bars and found this habitat feature particularly productive in the fall, as bass can push baitfish up from deeper water to pummel them in shallow ambush zones. Also, when winter wilts much of the shallow vegetation, a sandbar can fill in some of the gaps by providing a defined area to which the fish can relate.

Notably, spring typically finds us eyeballing our fishery’s backwater covers, pockets, side channels and creek arms, but Bassmaster Elite pro Russ Lane says “not so fast.”

“I usually do well with a Carolina rig or a Big Bite Baits BB Kicker swimbait on the Alabama River in April,” he said. “The fish will bed on the sandbars when the water clears.”

Despite the broad appeal, Cifuentes knows that not even his best bars are immune to inconsistency. Current is the consummate sculptor of soft objects, so high-water events that overtop shallower bars and crank up the flow can scrape and shape a sandbar to the point of drastically altering where fish position.

When in doubt, he’ll scan the bar to see how the main features are holding up and if new ones now beg exploration. Consider that while a bar’s features may shift, bass preference remains constant. They like current breaks, ambush points and anything that gathers baitfish.

Cifuentes offers this example: “Sometimes, a bar that’s just straight sand can be good, but you’ll often get shell bars along the edges and that creates hard bottom. You may have a shell bar that’s 10 feet in diameter where the fish like to hang out.”

Sweet Spots

When scoping out a bar’s complexion, Cifuentes knows he may have to work up one side and down the other, but eventually he’ll encounter something different. Any wood cover merits close inspection, but one of his favorite sandbar details is so subtle, it’s often missed by anglers looking for prominent, stand-out features.

“On the bar’s down-current side, there often will be a little break or saddle and then it comes back up,” Cifuentes said. “There could be a foot on top of the bar and the saddle drops down three feet. Those fish love to sit in things like this.”

More obvious features include laydowns — trees ultimately doomed by a volatile habitat — and various river-born logs and trees that wash onto the bar. Same as bank wood, bass will utilize such cover for shade, shelter and feeding opportunities.

Any wash-up is worth a look, but those sitting near the mouth of a creek or secondary channel can be especially productive, as they host fish coming and going from seasonal movements.

Coverage Plan

Cifuentes said he’ll first look for the active, aggressive fish by probing a bar with reaction baits like vibrating jigs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits and topwaters — especially in the mornings for the latter.

“I always go to the downcurrent point just because I feel the fish will sit on that point to get out of the current, but sometimes you have to work up and down the bar to find fish,” Cifuentes said. “I’ll throw a crankbait or a spinnerbait just to get a bite. Once I get a bite, I’ll start dragging something on the bottom.”

For that targeted presentation, Cifuentes likes a Big Bite Baits Kriet Kreature on a Carolina rig or a Texas-rigged worm. He’ll also tickle the area with a 3-inch Big Bite Baits Suicide Shad on a ball-head jig, especially when shad schools are thick.

Noting his preference for down-current dynamics, FLW Tour Pro Andrew Upshaw adds this: “I'm a big fan of fishing sandbars on rivers. It seems you can find little eddies around them. I usually crank them with a Bill Lewis Echo 1.75 or throw a shaky head with a Gene Larew TattleTail worm in the eddy itself.

“For wintertime fishing, I use a 1/2-ounce Nichols DB Finesse Jig in black and blue with a green pumpkin/blue Gene Larew Punch Out Craw for fishing slow, or a 7/16-ounce HardHead with a Gene Larew Biffle Bug if I need to cover water faster. In the winter, the fish feed up on crawfish and nothing beats fishing sand eddies with a jig and craw combo.”

Water Dynamics

Similar to the saddles Cifuentes favors, but on a larger scale, pay attention to more significant gaps between distinct bars. Such spots create passageways for bait and bass, so give these food funnels a good peppering with topwaters, shallow crankbaits or your favorite dragging rig.

You’ll also want to keep watch for barges, commercial ships and large pleasure boats, as their wakes can stimulate feeding along sandbars. During a recent photo trip, Elite pro Mike Iaconelli was having a ball with the smallmouth as they ravaged a voluminous school of tiny minnows they had cornered against a secondary channel bar just off the Mississippi’s main flow.

The action came in waves, but when a barge exiting the side channel rolled past, the surging water must have shaken a load of baitfish from their grassy refuges, because the surface erupted with bronze-back carnage and aggressive fish were enticed with every cast.

Granted, the “bar scene” isn’t always so explosive, but even plucking a couple of keepers from the sandy scenario can be a day-maker. Best part is, you don’t pay a cover charge and you won’t need a designated driver.