With deeper water and more tidal flow, fish and bait flow from marshy lagoons into canals like water running downhill. Shrimp and baitfish leave the grassy edges and drift with the tides into canals. Speckled trout stack up on the down current sides of points formed by the intersection of bays and canals to watch for morsels flowing from shallow marshes during falling tides. Water moves out of a pipeline faster than it does out of a wide lake or major river. Fish get in ponds, and shallow marshes, but sooner or later, they have to come out into deeper water.
Pipelines offers deeper water and quick migration routes between large lakes or bays.
In winter, fish congregate in deeper holes in canals to avoid frigid temperatures. While marshes and lagoons might only hold two or three feet of water, canals hold eight to 12 feet of water. During cold weather, anglers typically find trout in the middle of the canals where they hover just off the bottom. In the winter, we fish 10 to 12 feet of water in the canals. As canals flush with strong tides, they create even deeper holes.