Never forget that fish can live virtually anywhere.

Specifically, within a lake or river environment, you can find a fish in almost any place. There are some stereotypical spots that most fly fishers concentrate on: the big plunge pools, undercut banks, deep riffles. Those are all incredibly productive areas that deserve your attention.

However, in pressured fisheries or during a period of high/low flows a lot can be gained from probing some varied sections of a stream. Here are four types of water that might deserve a few casts the next time you head out:

Skinny Riffles

By nature, moving water creates sort of an optical illusion. We almost always think it is shallower than it really is. Shallow riffles, in particular, can look like nothing more than inches of water rushing over rocks. In reality, inches are all that a fish needs to hold and feed. Think of the size of trout that can sit in six inches of water and stay completely submerged! Furthermore, just because a wide swath of the riffle is four or five-inches deep doesn’t mean that there aren’t some deeper depressions that make perfect lies for fish.

“Dead” Water

Sometimes “dead water” is dead because of thermal or oxygenation issues. Other times, water might have that same slow, stagnant appearance but just be generally featureless. It won’t hold a lot of fish, but a couple of good ones might be cruising. Scum lines and foam piles aren’t the most attractive targets. However, baitfish will be found in water like this. Predators might be lurking at the edge. Dragging a big streamer through “dead water” could prove quite lively. One day I caught a brown trout and a pickerel in consecutive casts under a filthy foam pile in water like this.

Secondary Pools

We all can picture that prototypical plunge pool from a mountain stream. Getting in position is easy: just crouch on the bank or in the trickle between the bank and your pool. Well, if you do the latter, you might very well be ruining a chance at a fish. I can specifically remember when I realized that trout will hold in any and every spot in a high-gradient mountain stream. I was casting to a tiny puddle next to a big pool in order to gauge my cast. As soon as that stimulator hit the water, a fat little rainbow inhaled it. The big pool didn’t yield a single fish. Chances are, if there even was a fish in the main pool, it was used to being fished over (and I spooked it).

Ugly Spots

Culverts. Crumbling bridge abutments. An old bike. Fish, fish, and more fish. But it isn’t just those not-obvious obvious structures in the water. How about the muddy, eroded spot where anglers walk in? Or the boat launch? Have you ever drifted a fly through a drainage outflow? After a big storm, a fish might find solace in slack water or some different temperatures. Once people start coming back, they will move. If you’re the first one there, then you might have a shot at a fish. Just a cast or two before you walk in is all it takes.

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The bottom line is that thinking outside of the box can yield some good results. Fish, even the noble trout, are resourceful and focused on survival. If there is enough room for a fish, provided that fish can eat and escape when needed, there may very well be a fish. Which means that there very well may be a reason for you to spend a minute to make an efforted presentation.