Weekly Catch #2 River Fishing

This weeks awesome catch is River Fishing

Key Points

• Current and how to analyze it

• Structure and slack

• Food and availability

• Water clarity

First off river fishing itself just feels different altogether. The constant motion of the water to the tree and brush piles that have been caused by floods. Also at any moment it could all wash down river and make new habitats all over again. This is what makes river fishing what it is. Fish have to fight all the time in the river just to survive. This brings out aggressive bass that are just trying to be the first to get the bite.

Back to current, rivers typically have all sorts of speeds depending on where you are on the river. This influences the fish differently in different areas. The areas could be 50 yards apart and the bite could be 2 different baits. Current helps bass in a lot of situations because baitfish and other food to be forced down stream. This causes bass to hide in the slack and ambush the current popping in and out. The faster the current, the heavier lure may have to throw and the slower, the more finesse you can go.

Staying on the topic of slack lets add structure too. In a good clean river, slack water is often a spot bass will sit in. They usually stay closer to where thee slack and current meet so they can attack bait coming downstream. Where rivers tend to go small and funnel to a lower part even just a little creates the perfect ambush spot for a bass sitting at the bottom where the water calms. Structure comes in to play here to because some of the structure affects this. The bluffs and rock bottoms don't as much but are still great spot for bass especially smallmouth. However, logs, leaves or any other thing that can be washed down river causes habitats. As said above bass tend to sit at the bottom of these funnels but if structure is sitting at the top of the funnel maybe even causing part of the funneling it can be a good payoff to fish it. The river structure is changing. Floods and storms cause things to always be changing. This is a big reason I think river fishing is so fun. You never fish the same river twice.

River food systems matter substantially and the water cleanliness matters too. If a river is too slow or very stagnant and can't get the replenish it needs I would say the smallmouth population will be scarce if any and the largemouth will unhealthy. Now if its okay and good then the food will be there and bass can be abundant. Some rivers tend to have more baitfish than finesse style bait so you may want to throw more moving baits. And some rivers need super finesse style baits to get those bites. Obviously many rivers you can throw both and many it's a time of year thing. Lastly depending on water clarity is how keen you need to match the representation of the bait. In clear water they can really see your lure and analyze it. Dirtier water they may not get to get a good look at the bait but they have to just bite because they do not want the "meal" to get away.

Leading off of that, water clarity is crucial to deciding what you are going to fish. Color wise I will be going dark if water is murky and clear I would be going as natural as possible. Another thing to pay attention too is how filtered the water is. Many rockier bottom parts of the river tend to stay clearer. The sandier parts and mucky parts tend to dirty up the water. Look for certain species of bait or fish to maybe see how clean it is. I know up North here if we have rock bass in a river I know some smallmouth will be in there too. They need good clean water to live and that tells me it's good water. Weather plays into the water clarity and water levels. When it rains the water in river systems tend to dirty up because of muddy water from the hills and rain and then the increase in current to mix things up more.

At the end of the day my main tip is pick everything apart and fish slow. Not slow as in lures but as in spots. Work every spot well on the river. Maybe even overwork it. Throw that spinnerbait by a bluff 6 times. Work a tube down a log in the current 4 times to get that fishes attention. Crank bait a rocky bottom telling the smallmouth come get me over and over and over.

As always, thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed a like would be appreciated and enjoy your fishing. Always going to try and improve and bring the people what they want.

Tight lines.

   -OneMoreCast