River Fishing for Bass/Night Fishing

[Rich0775]

Sup everybody,

 

Went out to Momence a few evenings ago to do some bass fishing as the sun set and while there was activity everywhere around me for a solid hour I just couldn't get anything to bite. Momence has offshoots from the Kankakee river.

 

I read that topwaters and spinnerbaits are the best at night/evening so I was going with white spinnerbaits and buzzbaits but nothing was working. I think the river was also like 2 feet deep at it's maximum depth where I was at if that has anything to do with it but, yeah, I just couldn't get anything to become interested.

 

Anybody have tips for river fishing for bass or night fishing?

[Catt]

River means tide movement or current, where do you fish during the day?

[WRB]

Tried looking up Momence River and find Kanaknee River near Momence in IL.

The Kanaknee River has a wide variety of fish that include both Smallmouth and largemouth bass, musky, walleye, trout and various catfish etc. faster shallower moving water isn't where you find LMB, they will be in the deeper hole and slower moving water areas. Smallmouth will also be hearer to deeper water but like current more the LMB.

Choice of lures sound OK, maybe down size them to 1/4 oz and add an inline spinner as a choice on the faster moving current areas.soft jerk baits like a Fluke can be good in current areas near cover.

I don't have any knowledge of the area you are fishing so someone who fishes nearer to you can better advise you.

Tom

[Troy85]

Anything that blocks the current can hold a fish.  The rivers I fish its all about pitching just up current of w/e object is blocking the current, then letting your bait follow the current around the object(down here its logs and cypress knees).  Tx Rigged plastics and jigs seem to work the best.  

[Rich0775]

Yeah, sounds like I'll have to find the deeper areas of the river next time I head out that way. I live in Cook County so I'm gonna be checking out a lot of the local places over the next few months to get some insight.

 

Really, I originally went out just to mess around with my baitcaster since this is the first one I've ever bought but I figured it out pretty fast and could cast pretty far. Once I got the casting down I started to cast upriver and let the current take my lure down past the objects (in this case, I could see some fallen logs in the water) but nothing was biting.

 

Thanks for the feedback so far, guys!

 

 

[WRB]

Both buzz baits and spinner baits are not a lure to let drift in the current, they need to be retreived. You can let a spinner bait sink to a deeper depth before starting the retreive, a buzz bait is a surface lure.

Tom

[Hurricane]

Definitely a War Eagle Spinnerbait...

[soflabasser]

Some good lures to use in rivers at night time are paddletail swimbaits, spinnerbaits,poppers, and buzzbaits.

[Rich0775]

5 hours ago, WRB said:

Both buzz baits and spinner baits are not a lure to let drift in the current, they need to be retreived. You can let a spinner bait sink to a deeper depth before starting the retreive, a buzz bait is a surface lure.

Tom

I guess I miscommunicated!

 

Haha, I threw upstream so the lure could be retrieved with the current. When I casted straight in front of me, about 1/3 of the way through I would end up fighting the current in my retrieve.

 

So, I was casting and immediately retrieving but casted so the current would push the lure to a straight retrieve at the end. Fighting the current, I figured, would seem really unnatural to fish so I tried to avoid that!

 

:)

 

[IgotWood]

On ‎7‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 3:11 PM, Troy1985s said:

Anything that blocks the current can hold a fish.  The rivers I fish its all about pitching just up current of w/e object is blocking the current, then letting your bait follow the current around the object(down here its logs and cypress knees).  Tx Rigged plastics and jigs seem to work the best.  

^^^This^^^

 

Also, I'd be throwing something on the surface here too. I tend to prefer quiet baits in the dark. Like a mouse, maybe a wake bait, or a weightless t-rigged fluke or sluggo, etc. You've got to read the water. If it's only 2' deep, the fish can be anywhere. Scout it out during the day. Look for current seams, eddies, and any object that creates turbulence in the water. 

 

Night fishing can be a ton of fun. It just takes some getting used to. Don't be surprised to catch fish in some unexpected places. Most fish species behave completely different under the cover of darkness.