I've heard a couple times now that folks fish in drainage ditches. Some even say they are the most productive spots. Having never done it myself, how can one tell if a drainage ditch has fish in it without spending hours walking the perimeter with a pole in hand?

 

As a hunter, I can tell within a couple minutes of walking a couple hundred yards through a piece of woods whether deer or turkey are present or not. There is either sign to be witnessed or there's not. So my question is... are there tell-tale signs for fish presence in a given body of water as well?

Just stop and fish a culvert. The drainage ditches I have fished have them and bass hang there. Big ones.

There's a pond close to my home that looks perfect for lmb, but I've never fished it because I must have driven past it a hundred times, but have never seen a bass dapple the surface. If there were bass there, I'd have seen them feeding.

How do you define a drainage ditch vs a canal?

Florida has hundreds of drainage ditches with good bass populations.

California has a few year around water flowing around the Delta area.

SoCal has a canal running for NoCal to SoCal and another running from the Colorado River to SoCal that has bass populations.

Drainage ditches running into our reservoirs are seasonal and dry half the year.

 If the ditch has flowing water connected to a lake or river it could have have bass if a food source is available.

Tom

Yeah, in the south, at least in my neck, drainage ditches are for water runoff basically. It’s always too hot and dry for them to hold water year round. Now they will get crawdads up out of the ground though…

Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology. What I visualize when I think of drainage ditch is probably actually more of a run-off pond. You know, the kinds you see by colleges and major shopping centers.

 

Could there fish be in there? 

We used to fish them all the time in Florida. Drainage ditch,canal,retention pond. Look for any kind of vegetation cover. And signs of life when ya walk it. Just try fishing it. Don’t stay hours the first time 

In Northwest Indiana, runs the Kankakee River. Back in the 17-1800’s, the Indiana portion of the river was the center of the Grand Kankakee Marsh. A huge wetland, people came from all over the world to hunt and fish. Developers bought up the land and dug ditches to drain the marsh into the river which was dredged and channeled. These days, in the spring when the river is high, smallmouth and northern pike swim up the ditches to spawn and often get stuck there when the rivers levels drop. As a teenager, we used to fish these roadside ditches and would catch 5-10lb pike in water you could almost jump across. Even today, I have neighbors who have caught 20” smallmouth from these  roadside ditches. There are miles and miles of these ditches that run through cornfields. The biggest problems trying to fish them are the steep banks and are almost always 10’ or less wide making it difficult to cast. 

If the place is full of frogs and tadpoles, chances are there are no bass in it. Also, the absence of minnows around the edge is a clue.

If it’s a stormwater retention pond definitely walk it first to look for signs.  For commercial projects (industrial parks, schools, big box stores, retail spaces, etc) these are built to collect and store the additional runoff created by parking lots, building roof drainage, etc. You can imagine the chemicals from parking lots that find there way into it.  Additionally, if near residential neighborhoods, there could be ongoing mosquito treatment occurring, and some of the treatments used can be toxic to fish.

I think some pros refer to the original stream bed in small creek arms as drains.   
is that what you’re referring to?

2 minutes ago, jbrew73 said:

I think some pros refer to the original stream bed in small creek arms as drains.   
is that what you’re referring to?

The OP clarified what he is looking for!

Tom

1 hour ago, the reel ess said:

If the place is full of frogs and tadpoles, chances are there are no bass in it. Also, the absence of minnows around the edge is a clue.

This is perfect. Thank you. Any other practices yall employ to gain intel on whether fish could be present in a body of water?

You can chum the surface with meal worms or night crawlers and watch for ant fish to show up.

Tom

25 minutes ago, WRB-2.0 said:

You can chum the surface with meal worms or night crawlers and watch for ant fish to show up.

Tom

Another great idea. Thank you. 

3 hours ago, Red Beard said:

This is perfect. Thank you. Any other practices yall employ to gain intel on whether fish could be present in a body of water?

Not hard evidence but paths to the water, forked sticks left stuck in ground at water’s edge, and empty worm boxes might be a tell.

I got ya…I call them retention ponds. 

I've absolutely spent time fishin in puddles

 

But I've also caught fish in them

 

Exercise is a good thing, just go for a walk and cast while you're doing it

8 hours ago, OldManLure said:

Not hard evidence but paths to the water, forked sticks left stuck in ground at water’s edge, and empty worm boxes might be a tell.

Love it. Keep em coming.

16 hours ago, Red Beard said:

Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology. What I visualize when I think of drainage ditch is probably actually more of a run-off pond. You know, the kinds you see by colleges and major shopping centers.

 

Could there fish be in there? 

Stormwater ponds can be gold. In the Hilton Head SC region there are THOUSANDS of these stormwater lagoons in all shapes and sizes, and many within each residential community are interconnected. This allows the water to be distributed to prevent flooding when there are heavy rains.

 

I bank fished those places all of the time when I lived there and caught a lot of 4-6 pound bass. But I know people that caught double digit bass from the banks as well. Boats and kayaks were prohibited in most of them.

11 minutes ago, Kayak Koz said:

Stormwater ponds can be gold. In the Hilton Head SC region there are THOUSANDS of these stormwater lagoons in all shapes and sizes, and many within each residential community are interconnected. This allows the water to be distributed to prevent flooding when there are heavy rains.

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/urban-bass-fishing.html

Ditto: much like Houston, TX.

Good Fishing

 

Fish find a way.  Here around the Houston area just about every neighborhood, strip center has a "drainage ditch" and they all have Bass.  

A worm under a bobber is the best way to quickly determine if a water body has fish in it, then you can focus on using lures once you determined.  But I understand some fisherman have a reputation to uphold and live worms are a no-go.