Need Tips For Fishing River

[BassinNCstyle]

I'm fishing a kayak bass river tourney this Saturday but don't have much experience with river fishing. I'm thinking square bill cranks, jigs, and spinnerbaits. What else?

The river has various current speeds. Kind of clueless how to fish fast current areas, so any help there really appreciated.

Thanks!

[HoosierHawgs]

Look for deeper holes/slack water. Fish will also concentrate around eddies. Jiggin a fluke in the deeper holes can be killer. But definitely look for those fish holding areas.

[ThatFishin'Guy]

Tubes have always been a great fish producer for me in the rivers here up north. Also a craw coloured Manns 1-minus can be killer in the faster water.

[BassinNCstyle]

Look for deeper holes/slack water. Fish will also concentrate around eddies. Jiggin a fluke in the deeper holes can be killer. But definitely look for those fish holding areas.

What is an Eddie?

[HoosierHawgs]

What is an Eddie?

Where one current meets another and creates a current break.

[HoosierHawgs]

Tubes have always been a great fish producer for me in the rivers here up north. Also a craw coloured Manns 1-minus can be killer in the faster water.

Do you have a preference tube? Brand/size/color?

[ThatFishin'Guy]

Do you have a preference tube? Brand/size/color?

I usually try to keep them between 3.5" and 4.5" and go with whatever company is on sale at the time. Currently I am using the Trigger X tubes and I really like them. As for colours I always use a green pumpkin type and a black with red fleck has never let me down.

[Hogsticker]

Smallmouth, largemouth, both? If the bites are few and far between, better bring a few packs of Jackall flick shake worms. Wacky rig it on wacky jig head, weight dependant on depth. Let it drift in the current over those Eddies. My experience as of now in the rivers is they won't work real hard to come get something.

[MIbassyaker]

In current, bass often try to position themselves near current to ambush anything coming by, but they avoid spending time directly in high current areas when if possible. Look for anything that breaks up the current, and fish the edge of the current break. Eddies, as mentioned,where current breaks around some obstruction, and flows backward behind it. Also look for deep holes and undercut banks. Tubes, grubs on jigheads, flukes, and crankbaits, worked along current breaks with the current (rather than against); Topwaters like poppers and torpedos will work fished around logjams and laydowns. Don't overlook a 4 inch worm on a slider head hopped into a hole or along a current breaks. Bring anchor system so you can work likely spots longer.

[riverbasser13]

4" stick worms skipped into shade or pitched into the eddies behind rocks and boulders or anyplace where current pushes into a combination of wood, rocks and shade. If you find these things in a bend in the river, even better.

A rebel crawdad in the 2 3/4" size is one of the best river cranks out there. Those two baits are my go to baits for the rivers around here. Also there is great article on here about river fishing, search "River Rats" in the advanced search engine and it should take you right there. Good luck!

[buzzed bait]

4" stick worms skipped into shade or pitched into the eddies behind rocks and boulders or anyplace where current pushes into a combination of wood, rocks and shade. If you find these things in a bend in the river, even better.

A rebel crawdad in the 2 3/4" size is one of the best river cranks out there. Those two baits are my go to baits for the rivers around here. Also there is great article on here about river fishing, search "River Rats" in the advanced search engine and it should take you right there. Good luck!

 

this is good info.  i have always had luck with the 3 or 4" stick baits in the river.  if you can skip up under the overhangs and such you'll pull some fish out.  a small crank or floating rapala (gold/black work well for me) would be my #2 bait.  also a small popper thrown around the same eddy's would be my third bait.

and to answer the question about what is an eddy, it's pretty simple.  the backside of any obstacle that creates a break/slows the flow of water is an eddy.  Eddys hold fish.  

good luck man, i want to try the riverbassin when it comes down to ATL in a few weeks.

[HoosierHawgs]

Smallmouth, largemouth, both? If the bites are few and far between, better bring a few packs of Jackall flick shake worms. Wacky rig it on wacky jig head, weight dependant on depth. Let it drift in the current over those Eddies. My experience as of now in the rivers is they won't work real hard to come get something.

That is something I have seen in my observation of well. Usually fish stay pretty tucked into some type of cover/ambush point where bait and such will come to them.

[Scott F]

During the summer, I avoid slack water areas. I'm always looking for the fastest current I can find. Warm water means low oxygen. Moving water, especially riffles or rapids, will have more oxygen and fish will stay near. If deeper water is nearby, it's even better. Keep your bait on the edges where the fast water runs by slow water. I don't like crank baits near current unless you are casting them straight downstream and slowly retrieving them back. Senkos, spinners, top waters, plastics will all work if you put them in the right places.

[buzzed bait]

During the summer, I avoid slack water areas. I'm always looking for the fastest current I can find. Warm water means low oxygen. Moving water, especially riffles or rapids, will have more oxygen and fish will stay near. If deeper water is nearby, it's even better. Keep your bait on the edges where the fast water runs by slow water. I don't like crank baits near current unless you are casting them straight downstream and slowly retrieving them back. Senkos, spinners, top waters, plastics will all work if you put them in the right places.

 

Curious are you mostly targeting smallies in that faster current?  I ask because he likely will not encounter any smallmouth where he will be fishing, will be all largemouth and spots.  That said, I typically find them more in the slack water than the faster current.  Now the river smallmouth on the other hand, yes i'd target the shoals and faster current.

[Hogsticker]

It's all about location under these conditions. If you can find the above referenced conditions where they have immediate access to deeper water, you should be in like Flynn. I've been using a Keitech crazy flapper 2.8 on a 1/8 Oz darter head in my local river. The action on the fall with these baits is amazing. I'll let it hit bottom and pop it up hard, letting it fall again. This, the flick shake worms, and small Keitech easy shiners on a 3/16 Oz swarming hornet are the only thing I can get fish interested in right now. I've caught a few on lipless cranks with an erratic retrieve, but not many.

[Scott F]

Curious are you mostly targeting smallies in that faster current?  I ask because he likely will not encounter any smallmouth where he will be fishing, will be all largemouth and spots.  That said, I typically find them more in the slack water than the faster current.  Now the river smallmouth on the other hand, yes i'd target the shoals and faster current.

Since he did not say where he was going to fish, and I seldom see largemouth in any river I fish, I automatically assumed he was targeting smallmouth. They just had a kayak bass tournament near me last weekend. All smallmouth. I do now see from his alias that he's probably from North Carolina so you are probably correct. 

[BassinNCstyle]

Wow thanks for all the tips!

[BassinNCstyle]

I will have to try some of this stuff. I will come back to let you guys know if I did well or bombed it.

[Thornback]

When I used to fish plastic worms in a river I would throw a heavy chain out the stern to drag along the river bottom to slow me down in the current. I would use my trolling motor only to keep me in the center of the river. I had a 15' rope tied to a 10' heavy galvanized chain. The rope end was looped around my motor. It was nice moving along very slowly in a fast current. And as already pointed out the bass will be in the nooks and crannies, or anywhere out of the current.

[buzzed bait]

drag chain can be a really nice thing to have like thornback says....

[BassinNCstyle]

Yep. Put one on the back of my yak today.

[microotter]

Be careful with drag chains and anchors in moving water. I was at a kayak tournament this year where a kid sunk his kayak in about 8 feet of fast moving water and they couldnt retrieve the kayak. He had a kayak without scupper holes so it instantly sank. Luckily he wasnt injured.