I hear you guys on here and some local guys say "I let the fish tell me what they want", please elaborate. I am a frusterated beginner river bass fisherman. I only have a few Bomber crankbaits and some culprit worms. I usually rotate about  two throws of the crankbait for every 20 casts of the t-rigged worm. I know I am missing lots from my arsenal. Need some advice on finding these rascals, and would greatly appreciate a detailed explanation of "I let them tell me what they want" please. In the meantime I will keep after them, thanks for any advice, Rob

River fishing is pretty easy to figure out. Current is the key. The fish will relate to the current looking for ambush areas that provide them with any relief from the current.

Keep moving and fish any obstruction in the water that they can hide behind. This can be logs, rock, stumps, wing dams, dock pilings.

Fish any cut that allows the fish to move out into. They will set up on either point that the cut makes as well as moving back into the quiter waters away from the river. when you get back in a pool fish it as you would any other body of water. Look for the cover and any cuts or depressions that lead into and out of the backwater area.

Don't forget the ledges out on the main river channel. If the current will allow you, fish them with cranks, plastics, and jigs. When I lived in Alabama one of my favortie areas on Logan Martin was up above the I-20 bridge. We would run up several miles and use the current to move us along the river ledges and when it was right you could load the boat.

Great advice!

I would just add that the fish are either looking up for baitfish or

down for crawdads, worms and bugs. So, fish hardbaits on one

rig and soft baits on another. The fish generally have a preference

on any given day.

8-)