While most fishermen agree that canoes and kayaks are the best ways to enjoy a day of smallmouth fishing on the Broad River, that doesn’t mean they stay cramped on their duffs all day. Wading is a big part of fishing from these craft, and it is more than a way to allow anglers to stretch their legs.
Wading is sometimes necessary when the water becomes too shallow for even a canoe or kayak, and anglers can easily pull their craft to deeper water once on foot. Anglers gain the ability to feel the current, find deep holes, narrow pockets and changes in the makeup of the riverbottom. Knowing where rock gives way to sand or submerged weeds improves an angler’s knowledge of the river and ability to fish it.
Some fishermen choose to do all their fishing on foot, and one place that many of them gather is in the heart of downtown Columbia at Riverfront Park. An asphalt walking path along the bank of the Broad gives anglers an easy way to get upriver or downriver, and an easy walk right into the water where many shoals are present. Most anglers choose to take the walking path upriver, then wade back down to the parking area.
“The best lure changes from one day to the next, but buzzbaits work well in the evenings during the summer, and weighted soft plastics fished in current are good too, no matter how fast you fish them,” said Chapin’s John Wessinger, a veteran Broad River angler.
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