When drifting and swinging your spoon/spinner in a river, do you cast your lure around 45 degree upstream or directly cross stream? What are the differences between them? Does casting upstream bring your lure deeper?
Good question-remember or my experience is stream fish smallies, trout etc are facing upstream so if throw upstream you have to really retrieve quickly in faster moving water to get a good presentation. Therefore my luck has been no more that 45 degree up and often it would drift down to closer to cross stream before good retrieve. For spinner/spoon it is all about have it move like food so even a 45 down stream on slower water has worked well because you have better control of the speed of retrieve. I have had trout visually come after a spinner that came from behind them as it was swimming ups stream on my retrieve.
When drifting and swinging your spoon/spinner in a river, do you cast your lure around 45 degree upstream or directly cross stream? What are the differences between them? Does casting upstream bring your lure deeper?
-- by ngochinwah
Very few bait fish swim up stream against the current, usually it’s down stream. I cast up and or across stream, and if I’m using a floating lure I’ll let the line get a belly in it so when I start reeling I can get the lure to swim directly down stream.
There's no good answer to your question. It depends on such things as the flow of the water, the species of fish you are after and the depth you want the lure presented, etc..
There's no good answer to your question. It depends on such things as the flow of the water, the species of fish you are after and the depth you want the lure presented, etc..