Another term I’ve heard people use interchangeably and I don’t think I fully understand the difference or if they are basically the same - in terms of reservoir fishing….

 

The difference between a “Ditch” and a “Creek Channel.”

they are more or less the same concept.  A creek channel is a little more defined vs a ditch is a general lower path across the bottom.  Both are useful funnels for bass to travel along.

Pretty much on the same page as @casts_by_fly. I tend to think of ditches as smaller, shorter and less well defined (not as steep or defined breaklines), often being formed by intermittent flows from runoff as opposed to a previously permanently flowing creek.

These terms are specific and not interchangeable in our local fishing environments.
Most reservoirs are flooded farm land and a “ditch” is just that, a shallow depression that is commonly straight(ish) or even a former road bed.
A creek channel is exactly that, a varying degree of depth that twist and turns, formed by water erosion. Both being roadways for fish travel.
Visualize an aerial view of a large section of farm and forrest land with a small river running through it, then add water over it.

5 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Another term I’ve heard people use interchangeably and I don’t think I fully understand the difference or if they are basically the same - in terms of reservoir fishing….

 

The difference between a “Ditch” and a “Creek Channel.”

 

 

I was bored, so i jumped on navionics and made a few snapshots from one of your waters.  Zoomed out first, and then zoomed in once and then again for the next two.  Pink marks the clear creek channel coming up the lake (river channel maybe even). This cove has a nice creek that runs for a few miles above the lake (and isn’t the main creek channel).  It’s a pretty clear slope to the bottom on both sides, pretty well defined for most of it (aside from the little bit by the second and third docks where it flattens a little).

 

 

 

 

The green line on the right in that last one could be called a drain or a creek channel.  There isn’t a creek that feeds it, but it was clearly water erosion before the lake was filled.  It’s decently defined, but relatively short.  With the proximity to where the defined bit starts to round out and the double docks right there, I’d be looking hard at that in the prespawn as a scoping spot.

 

A little further up the lake here is more classic drain.  Not well defined, no creek feeding it, but for sure a gradual push of the deeper water up closer to the bank relative to the topography around it.  

 

You call??

Secondary points always confuse me.

 

I get what a point is.

 

But a second one? LOL

37 minutes ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Secondary points always confuse me.

 

I get what a point is.

 

But a second one? LOL

What's your point? 

10 minutes ago, FryDog62 said:

What's your point? 

his first point? or his second point?

48 minutes ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Secondary points always confuse me.

 

I get what a point is.

 

But a second one? LOL

It’s just a smaller point of land within a larger point jutting into the main lake 

 

 

 

 

Mike

27 minutes ago, Functional said:

his first point? or his second point?

 

Hell I didn't even know I made a point!!!

But he pointed you in the right direction…….

8 minutes ago, Motoboss said:

But he pointed you in the right direction…….

Duh, even I got that despite my pointy little head..

I don’t see the point anymore

It's not pointless.

Who’s on first?

 

a ditch is a ditch that got flooded when they built the dam. A creek channel proper will typically have a name on a map and a meander before it reaches the reservoir 

On 6/4/2025 at 12:47 PM, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Secondary points always confuse me.

 

I get what a point is.

 

But a second one? LOL

At least around here a main lake point would be your basic outcropping into the main lake or the points formed by the entrance to a creek or cove. 

Secondary's would be the points by the entrance to the feeder creeks running into the main creek.

Also don't forget drains which is nothing more than a creek channel that runs from where the water runs into the back of a pocket to the mouth of the pocket. That one threw me for a bit because i thought they were specifically talking about just the spot where the water "drains" into the lake in the back of the pocket then someone explained to me that they were talking about the whole length of the channel running the pocket.