Tried a creek today which the downstream portion was roughly 3-4' deep, slow moving, and 1' visibility.  Clay bottom with several laydowns.  This section looked like traditional small creek largemouth fishing.  Biggest red flag besides not getting a hit was that I din't see a single baitfish or other sign of life in this area.

 

The upstream portion consisted of shoals that were 1-2' deep.  The water seemed much cleaner in this portion and the location just looked more appealing than the downstream section.  Freestone bottom with a couple of larger boulders mixed in.  If I were 75 miles north I'd assume that section would be trout water, not bass. 

 

I've never caught a largemouth in current moving that fast so I would think spots would be the only potential bass to catch.  Will spots live around fast-moving shoals?  If so how would you recommend fishing it?  I was switching between dragging and swimming a jig, trying to get it to pass on the downstream side of anything blocking the current or through the runs.

 

Water temp is 65 and rising if that helps.

Spots can certainly live in fast water but so can largemouth. I catch spots on all the same tackle as LM and SM, in the rivers I fish there are portions you can go year after year and catch almost all spotted bass. It seems when they get a population going in a small area, they become firmly entrenched. In creeks like you described, I love fishing a 1/16 oz Texas rig 4 inch zoom lizard

Spider jigs 

yup that’s it.

In my personal experience spotted bass can live anywhere. And generally where there's 1 there's a solid population. Anytime I'm fishing a small river or creek I'm gonna start with a rebel wee craw. That'll pretty much catch anything that swims.