Ok guys, my cousin and myself are gonna head up to a local river in a few minutes to try some fishing. This will be both of our first time fishing a river. Can you catch bass in rivers?

If so, what kinds of lures work well in a river? Any advice or insight is appreciated!!

Tidal river?

 

Go to this web site and read, read and read the fishing articles:

 

http://woodaves.com/

 

Yes, rivers have both small and largemouth bass.

 

Please start to do your homework and learn all you can about your adversary, techniques and baits.

 

It is a lot better than English homework!!!

Heck yes. What type of river is it? Some people call 10' wide creeks "rivers". Around here you are not wading a river unless you have a death wish. High current, deep holes, 100yds+ wide, and lots of muck bottoms.

 

I have driven over "rivers" and thought, man we have trout streams bigger than that. 

 

A good lure that will work in any current situation, be it a big river like the mississippi or a small stream you can jump across is a lipless crank. You can fish them deep, shallow, fast, slow, however you please. 

Kevin, Im not really sure what kind of river it is. Like I said this is my first time, and Iv never been to this river before.

Ill read up on Sams link a little bit before we head out. It was sortof a spur of the moment decision.

Featured article currently on the Home Page: http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/river_bass_fishing.html

Big Block, be ready for anything.

 

Have your Senko and shaky head ready to roll.

 

Have your crankbait rod set up for cranks and spinnerbaits.

 

Try to find the river on Google Earth and note what you can see regarding its width, length and any structure and creeks.

 

Just go out and have some fun.

Thanks Sam. I appreciate that last reply. Like I said, it was a split decision, so I didnt do any homework before deciding to go out. Imma see what I can do. Ill probably take 4 rods. Ill keep ya posted!!

Biggest small mouth i've caught was out of the Grand River up here. Real nice fishing, you just have to know where to go. There's a spot I hit off the shore by a boat dock, there's a huge drop off 10 feet from the bank where all the fish sit. Real nice spot. There's a little creek that leaks right into the river nearby as well, which cools the water down and what not.

fish the eddies!

fish the eddies!

x2

 

I also think it's worthwhile to explore fishing with vs. against the current with different baits.  I definitely catch more fish pulling a spinnerbait slowly against the current than trying to fish the same bait with the current.

Tidal river?

 

Go to this web site and read, read and read the fishing articles:

 

http://woodaves.com/

 

Yes, rivers have both small and largemouth bass.

 

Please start to do your homework and learn all you can about your adversary, techniques and baits.

 

It is a lot better than English homework!!!

Being that i am always wanting to learn a few tricks i also decided to check out the site you listed.  I have to say that reading those articles was pretty painful...i have never seen so many sponsor mentions in an article in my life to the point that i could barely follow what the point was he was trying to get across.

 

Anyways sorry to derail...

 

I use almost he same baits in the river as i do on a lake with the exception of using more crayfish type baits because the majority of the time i am river fishing I am going after smallies which love crayfish  

I use the rebel BIG CLAW crawfish crankbait in rivers the smaller ones work better in the pools in the shallows but it's the larger big claw in the deeper water. In the backslashes be hind the Rocks I use the panther Martin spinflies and the smaller mepps spinners. The river bass are much stronger because there fighting the current all the time.

But at the sametime there very aggressive too they let nothing go by that maybe a meal.

Jerkbait work good for me, I like the smithwick rogue...

 

Jerkbait work good for me, I like the smithwick rogue...

 

Nice!

Ok guys, my cousin and myself are gonna head up to a local river in a few minutes to try some fishing. This will be both of our first time fishing a river. Can you catch bass in rivers?

If so, what kinds of lures work well in a river? Any advice or insight is appreciated!!

 

 

so, what did yall catch?

Brian, the whole time we were out there I only had one strike. I had something blow up on my frog, but I got excited and tried to rip the hookset too fast. I threw a senko, frog, jig, and anaconda. Just experimenting. Ill probably go back out next weekend.

We fish the Chattahoochee alot for hybrid. My two buddies have caught huge bass on chartreuse jig heads paired with chartreuse swim baits. Its a salt water setup but the river largemouth seem to like it as much as the hybrid.

Biggest small mouth i've caught was out of the Grand River up here. Real nice fishing, you just have to know where to go. There's a spot I hit off the shore by a boat dock, there's a huge drop off 10 feet from the bank where all the fish sit. Real nice spot. There's a little creek that leaks right into the river nearby as well, which cools the water down and what not.

 

I think you and I should go fishing!

well im trying to learn how to bass fish the chickahominy river. its the summer and im looking for fish down deep, i can never find any structure down deep. I see the bait fish and big fish on my hummingbird but i cant get them to bite. iv also tried to fish the banks but the river banks are just to shallow to fish. any help would be great

Brian, the whole time we were out there I only had one strike. I had something blow up on my frog, but I got excited and tried to rip the hookset too fast. I threw a senko, frog, jig, and anaconda. Just experimenting. Ill probably go back out next weekend.

Might want to downsize your offerings. Most 5+lb. smallies that I've caught were on 3" or smaller baits. That's not to say that they won't hit the larger baits, but you'll probably catch more fish with a smaller offering. 

Being that i am always wanting to learn a few tricks i also decided to check out the site you listed.  I have to say that reading those articles was pretty painful...i have never seen so many sponsor mentions in an article in my life to the point that i could barely follow what the point was he was trying to get across.

 

Anyways sorry to derail...

 

I use almost he same baits in the river as i do on a lake with the exception of using more crayfish type baits because the majority of the time i am river fishing I am going after smallies which love crayfish

I had the same problem. I kept losing focus on the subject matter because of the rampant product placement.

Mepps spinners are good in rivers.

So is topwater baits and weightless soft plastics.

if you want the big females use buzzbaits

I do alot of river fishing here in michigan. Baits that worked great for me are tubes, weightless 3'' senkos, flukes, t-rigged worms, jigs(sometimes), jig-headed/t-rigged grubs, and some topwater baits. If your river isn't very wide and you can make the cast across to the other side of the river to see what is in there. Recently, i've caught 2 nice cats on the river raisin using tubes. Most of the bass you might find in rivers are smallies but there's occasions where there are some nice largemouth hiding in deep holes, ledges, and brush or fallen timber. See what the depths are by the bait your using and make your change when needed.  

I do alot of river fishing here in michigan. Baits that worked great for me are tubes, weightless 3'' senkos, flukes, t-rigged worms, jigs(sometimes), jig-headed/t-rigged grubs, and some topwater baits. If your river isn't very wide and you can make the cast across to the other side of the river to see what is in there. Recently, i've caught 2 nice cats on the river raisin using tubes. Most of the bass you might find in rivers are smallies but there's occasions where there are some nice largemouth hiding in deep holes, ledges, and brush or fallen timber. See what the depths are by the bait your using and make your change when needed.  

 

I wonder is there any set requirements for what is a river and what is a creek or stream? 

 

Around here that would be a creek (crick) and there are hundreds of them.