Inflow
Where water enters a pond or lake, from a pipe, a stream or a fountain. It carries food and oxygen, so it concentrates fish.
Moving water does three useful things at once. It brings dissolved oxygen, it washes in food, and in summer it is usually cooler than the standing water it enters. Any one of those pulls fish; all three together make an inflow the most reliable spot on a small water.
It matters most exactly when the rest of the pond is worst: mid-summer heat, when the main body has gone warm and still, and after heavy rain, when a culvert is pushing a plume of stained, food-carrying water out into clearer water.
The current also creates a defined edge where the incoming water meets the still water, and fish sit on that seam facing into the flow, waiting for food to arrive.
Aerators and fountains do the same job in park ponds and golf course water, and they run on a timer, so a pond that was dead at noon can switch on in a very literal sense at two.
On a hot day, start at the inflow. If a pond has a pipe or a stream entering it, that is the first place to make ten casts.
Related terms
Where this comes up
The guides that use inflow and show it on real gear.
Inflow is one of 206 terms in the glossary.
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