Well with a week off from school, me and my friends are looking to fish any open water we see. As of right now the only open water we can find is a river, which I have only fished once but know it has fish. Its about 50 feet across, stained water, water temp is just above 35, outside temp is around 40. The depth of the area I will be fishing is between 5-8 feet. I will be fishing from the shore so what types of things should I look to cast too and what do you think I should use. There is some isolated brush along the shore. I was thinking retrieving jerkbaits really slow and crawling a jig slowly across the bottom. Any tips?

I'm from western MA myself. Is this river in the east? Regardless, be careful of any ice on the edges....can be very dangerous if you are fishing from shore!

I'd target any deep pools or large eddys, just above the dams, if there are any dams? Fish slow and deep this time of the year. If you have a boat, so much the better. I'd be using the drop shot or blade baits slowly jigged off the bottom. If all else fails, try a 4" Senko drifted into any eddy or Fat Ika rigged in reverse with a 4/0 EWG worm hook and presented in similar fashion. Good Luck!

yes this river is in the east. the majority of it has ice along the shore but there are parts that has no ice all the way to the shore, thats where i will be casting.  no damns, the only man made thing along the river is just on concrete bridge.

Remember what I told you earlier tritz18.  Throw those pointers near schools of shad bluegill and crappie.  look for water between 2-4 feet deep.  

Be VERY careful near running water when it's this cold.  Pay attention and use your head.

wat time do you guys think would be the best to go? I was thinking of going when its supposed to be the warmest.

Ive not did much river fishing, but in lakes when the water is that cold I tend to go when its the warmest out.  Normally its not going to matter to the fish much because at the depths they hold in lakes, the temperature isnt going to change much throughout the day, its more of a comfort factor for the fisherman    Morning and evening (lowlight) can still trigger better feeding activity though and in some cases with clear water the level of light will still effect the fish's depth somewhat even in the winter.  If there is any industry with hot water discharge I would focus around that at the times of discharge.  Definately finding any kind of forage would be nice.  I would probably look for the deeper pools with slack water if it were me and go from there.