Top ambush spots for creek bass

• Shoals: Many shallow water streams, creeks and rivers are filled with rocky bottoms and many of these have rocky shoals or small rapid areas that are perfect ambush spots for bass.

Anglers should work the pool just upstream of the shoals where bass will lie in ambush points behind rocks and stumps and attack unsuspecting baitfish being swept by in the current.

The downstream side of shoals is the best bet on any creek or stream that has rocky shoals, such as Okatibbee Creek, Chunky River, or the Chickasawhay River. Typically the bass will stack up in slack water areas just below the shoals and attack with a vengeance when baitfish and other food comes by. Many times you catch multiple bass in these areas as they use them as feeding troughs. Sometimes the bass attack as the bait or lures come through the rapids or spill over into the deeper water.

More often than not, bass will be positioned a few yards below the shoals waiting in slightly calmer water. Smart anglers position their boats to one side of the shoals and pitch their lures across the creek near the spillover and let it drift on a tight line downstream until they get a bite.

Areas such as this are good bets for the curly tail Roadrunners, Reality shads, and Tiny T jigs with Paca Craw trailers. These lures stay in the strike zone through the shoals and run straight and true through the turbulence before spilling out into the slack water below.

• Eddies: Perhaps the most significant places in every creek are eddies —areas where the water swirls back around upstream. They give fish a break in the strong current, allowing them to rest below and to the side of swift water. There, they can attack prey as it comes by or are swept around the circular current.

Eddies are usually found below shoals, creek mouths, and islands, or behind stumps, treetops or current breaks.

Spinnerbaits, Roadrunners and jigs are usually the ticket in these areas. Simply cast your lure upstream and let it swim along with the current until it comes back into the eddy. Bass, panfish, and even catfish are prone to attack from eddies.