[alsworms]

Just curious if any of you guys are avid river fisherman like myself :
I am fortunate enough to have a dynamite Bassin' river just a few miles from my place. Although I like to fish an occasional tournament like most guys, I'd rather be on the river any day of the week. The last couple weekends have produced some great numbers of Spotted and Largemouth bass. The fish are pre-spawn right now and very aggressive. Most are being caught on spinnerbaits in faster running water, and worms/jigs/craws in ponds and inlets. I'm wondering if anyone has a "method" of fishing their favorite river, and would maybe care to share their thoughts : River fishing is completely different from lake pressure fishing, and I'd love to hear some input
Chris

[Celticav]

I love to fish rivers and streams, have done it all my life. My favorite thing in the summer is to walk them for miles fishing the little isolated deeper pockets and sporatic cover. A 1/4 spinnerbait with a single blade is my favorite with a small finesse jig tipped with a Zoom lil' crittercraw or Guidobug a close second.

[The Drop Shot Store]

I absolutely love fishing Lake Havasu and the Colorado River. It's great fun to get off of Southern California's lakes and fish by yourself. The most fun I have is pitching tubes to the cuts in the tules that create a slight current break. That'll get you a largemouth. If you want more action and fight, pitch upstream of the current break and usually you'll grab a smallmouth. Want bigger fish, go flippin a tube or jig back into the holes in the tules. River fishing leaves you with all kinds of ways to catch fish. It really is a great time.

[Celticav]

I forgot to mention grubs, there are certain times of the year when these little guys will make the difference!! I like pumpkin seed in all its variations for anytime.

[Mercury]

Same here, But the only thing is the bass are a bit sparse on the illinois river. Great catfishing though. THe Saugeye are biting though.

[alsworms]

I fish the San Joaquin River here in Central California, and one thing I can tell you for certain is......Nothing's for certain :!: Those fish are constantly on the move. I fished a quarter mile wall two days ago and caught at least a dozen nice fish. I couldn't buy a bite on that same wall today. Then I moved downstream a mile or so and caught a few good ones. Presentation makes a HUGE difference from day to day also. I caught fish on spinnerbaits Saturday, and today they wouldn't touch anything but small reddish crawdads. I threw several varieties of craws, but they HAD to have some red in it. I figure these bass must be feeding on craws, but I haven't seen a craw in the river in years. Go Figure :!: Well I'll be back out there in a couple days and who knows what to expect
Bruce.....great to see the Drop Shot Store aboard. I look forward to picking your brains on some of this plastic stuff. WELCOME

[Haebar]

Chris,

I am an avid river fisherman and I have tried lots of different lures for the smallmouth that I seek. It seems I always come back to a 4" plastic salamander in June Bug or some variation of Watermelonseed. I use June Bug for very slightly cloudy water as it seems to show up better. Actually, probably any darker color would work then. This summer I spent a week canoeing on the Buffalo River in Arkansas. I told myself I was going to try something different for at least the first two days so I tried all manner of crankbaits, including the hard plastic craw ones like Rebel's. I also used 4" worms, craws, jigs, etc. I finally switched back to the old standby, the 4" salamander (Texas rig) and started catching fish. I caught the biggest smallmouth (15") for the trip on a 4" salamander in Watermelon/red flake. Hooked another one that was a little bigger than that within 30 minutes but lost him when I had to paddle to avoid being swept into a big fallen tree in the river. He took the opportunity to wrap the line around several of the branches and roots and broke the line. I caught lots of 9-10" smallmouth on these 4" salamanders. The only one I kept was the 15" because he was hooked in the gullet and it killed him when I removed it. Luckily he was legal, but I wonder what you're supposed to do when you catch one too small and he dies? Seems such a waste to toss him in the woods, but it's better than getting a fine...

Sometimes I fish for trout on other rivers and use nymphs, streamers, and wet flies. I still like to cast spinners for trout, my favorite being the Mepps Aglia plain in brass or copper finish, with no dressing on the hook. Have also had luck with brown or dark green Rooster Tails, but they don't "spin" as well at low speeds. Talking about spinners, I had some luck with BIG chartreuse rooster tails when fishing for smallmouth one year on the Upper Clinch River. I'd cast them into eddies after a rapid and had lots of fun.

[jm]

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I wonder what you're supposed to do when you catch one too small and he dies? Seems such a waste to toss him in the woods, but it's better than getting a fine...
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Minnesota fisheries experts have done some research on this problem. They say that if you gut hook a fish that is not legal size, just cut the line close to the fish and release it with the hook in it. Most of the time the fish will digest the hook in a week or so and get back to being fishy.

jm

[Senkosam]

Chris
poppers and 3" Rapalas over shallow rock flats, early in the am!
2.5" tubes in a ballhead jig
3" fat tubes t-rigged on a wide gap with a 1/16 oz bullet wt.
4" Senko copy - wacky or t-rigged with 1/16 split shot 1' up
white and chart. spinnerbait with #4 willow/ #3 colorado silver/gold respectively

the work in the n.e.

Frank

[Elken]

Try throwing unweighted super flukes into current breaks and eddies...