America’s Team is back!!! asked:
I’ll be going fishing on the elk river in MO. I’ve been bass fishing on lakes countless times , but I’m going fishing on a small clear river wich i’ve never fished before, its not that large. I’ll be going after smallmouth mainly, but largemouth too. The water temprature will be 60-65 degress and the air tem will be up to 90 and as far as rain it has been raining all week and there is a slight chance it will rain this weekend so the water level will be up. I will be buying some new lures today and want some advice on what to buy. I’m looking on advice on wich lures will work for me during this weekend. I’m not sure if the fish are still spawning, I think they are done but not sure.
Sphere: Related ContentI’ll be going fishing on the elk river in MO. I’ve been bass fishing on lakes countless times , but I’m going fishing on a small clear river wich i’ve never fished before, its not that large. I’ll be going after smallmouth mainly, but largemouth too. The water temprature will be 60-65 degress and the air tem will be up to 90 and as far as rain it has been raining all week and there is a slight chance it will rain this weekend so the water level will be up. I will be buying some new lures today and want some advice on what to buy. I’m looking on advice on wich lures will work for me during this weekend. I’m not sure if the fish are still spawning, I think they are done but not sure.
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I would try 3 baits , A crawfish colored crankbait, get the right running depth for where your fishing,
Some soft plastics perferrably in maybe a motor oil color or natural color crawfish, even soemthing like a black lizard bounced slowly in holes will work.
And a spinnerbait a medium size bait with a gold willowleaf blade should work
Those baits should work pre spawn , whlie spawning, and post spawn.
Ijust had the best fishing day of my life .Bsically the same water in Oklahoma and i caught one six and a half and about 80 more just pre fishing not trying to catch fish on a shaky head worm from gulp rigged on a shaky head any color will work fine
quit cheering for the cowboys!!!!!!
If you have dirty water, you’ll want something that makes noise or is a good attractor
Spinnerbaits are an excellent lure fished with the water flow, NOT AGAINST IT! I see so many anglers throw a spinnerbait as if they were on a lake, they seem to forget that smaller fish cannot fight a tide or current and will “go with the flow”. Bass are waiting for food in locations where they are facing upstream, so cast upstream and retrieve slowly, allowing the water to “work the lure” while keeping a tight line. Do not be afraid to cast your spinnerbaits into laydowns and overhangs as you perhaps would for a jig and pork combination, as this is the perfect hideout for aggressive bass hiding in cover. Remember that cover slows down the flow of water over their bodies and allows them to position for passing food. They do not want to try a fight the current and will gravitate to these locations. Cover makes their life easier and will give them more strength to attack passing bait and quickly return to their hideout to digest. Bites can be very powerful, so keep a firm grip on the rod or you might see it disappear!
Crankbaits, both lipped and lipless are excellent choices for moving water. The jig and pork combination will also work well when cast onto the shoreline and slowly pulled into the moving water, the illusion of a crawfish being “swept away” by current is often too much for a bass to resist.
Worm, gitzit or lizard fishing requires a heavier than usual yet still weightless finesse technique that I would normally use for lake fishing. I will use a spinning outfit with ten-pound test line and change a four-inch offering for one that is eight inches long. Upgrade your hook from a 1/0 to perhaps a 3/0 or 4/0 but remember add no weight.
Flipping this lure into partially submerged trees, weedlines, laydowns, piers and docks will attract attention very quickly. Allow the bait to fall naturally, watching the line at all times. With the gitzit, I like to add small pieces of Alka Seltzer® or similar product to add a bubbletrail to the bait. Small twitches of the rod tip will give the appearance of something struggling to get out of the flowing water; A deadly technique that has won many tournaments in the Northeast.
Finally, I have saved the best till last. My favorite way to fish a flowing river or stream is with a topwater lure! Now some of you might think I have lost my mind, but this technique is awesome when you have cloud cover and the water is stained. Casting upstream and twitching the bait occasionally as it returns towards you will get some vicious strikes. Allowing the bait to drift over a likely bass hideout and then twitching the bait just as it gets over the location gives the impression of a baitfish struggling against the flow and that it senses danger from below. I cannot begin to tell you how exciting that strike is! You just have to try it for yourself.
Catching bass on rivers differs greatly from taking bass on reservoirs. Anglers may use the same boats, rods, and lures to catch the same species on the two waters, but river fishing presents a much more difficult, and different, challenge. For starters, river bass are different from their calm-water cousins in attitude. Accustomed to fighting current, wily river bass strike fast and fight with great fury. While their size doesn’t generally measure up to their potbellied lake brethren, they grow strong by constantly battling currents.
Picking The Right Area: Picking the “right” area means first locating it. Although lake levels fluctuate gradually in a year’s time, rivers can rise and fall suddenly. A shallow, gentle stream today can become a raging, muddy torrent tomorrow as releases upstream flood old channels. Bass anglers might fish a productive grassy flat in 3 to 4 feet of water one spring and find a sandbar there the next spring. Rivers change course, isolating oxbows or slashing new swaths through dry ground. But although they take on different appearances, rivers still contain the same fish; anglers must adapt and change as rivers change. Fish don’t have the capability to change their conditions in order to survive. Learn what those conditions are and you can home in on where bass are and why fish are where they are. The fighting qualities of river fish and the unpredictable nature of their environment challenge even the best anglers. With their currents, floating debris, submerged stumps, ever-changing bottom contours and unpredictable variations, swift rivers may intimidate novice anglers. But if an angler can successfully interpret the river, he can enjoy some outstanding fishing opportunities.
Reading The River: Reading rivers means reading currents. Fish that spend all their lives in current may never see lures because anglers rarely throw them in heavy current. Fish raised in a river know little else. Trout anglers discovered long ago that there’s rest (and thus energy conservation) behind something that breaks the current. This is where the bass are.
Presentation: The most important thing about rivers is knowing how to fish in a current. The biggest mistake anybody makes when fishing rivers is not presenting the lure in the right fashion. Most people float downstream and bring their baits upstream. When they do that, their lure is in position to catch a fish only about one foot of every cast. Use the boat against the current and bring the bait parallel to the current or with the current. Fish lie behind jetties, rocks, or logs to break the current, waiting for batfish to come by. They look upstream and jump out in ambush. When a lure comes behind them against the current, it usually spooks them or they don’t see it.
Finding The Right Spot: On any river, 90 percent of the fish congregate in 10 percent of the water. Find these “sweet spots” and you’ll fill livewells. Some spots may only measure a few feet across. If the bait hits the hole, bass will strike. If not, an angler may conclude that no fish live along that shoreline. Generally, bass will return to those spots again and again. What attracted one bass to an area usually attracts others. Structure in currents forms sweet spots on both upstream and downstream sides. When current flows against a log or rock, it not only makes a slack spot behind the obstruction but also in front of it. Water collides with the object and stops momentarily. It then bounces back upstream briefly and swiftly flows around the obstruction. Sometimes, anglers can see where current creates slack spots. Sometimes, these slack spots might form beneath structure. Good river bassers probe around rocks, fallen trees and other current-breaking structures for those sweet spots.
What Lures To Use: In heavy current, fish a jig tipped with a plastic craw around all sides of an obstruction. Fish every cranny. Use as light a jig as possible. (Strong currents may dictate using more lead to keep the bait in the strike zone.) Bass won’t chase lures far in strong currents. Many rivers contain both largemouth and smallmouth bass. Also, since river bass don’t normally reach the size of their lake cousins, smaller lures make more effective baits. Probably one of the best lures for fishing rivers is a 4 inch plastic worm fished on a 1/8 oz. sinker. Other good choices are small crankbaits, 1/4 oz. jigs, 1/4 oz. buzzbaits, and other small lures. A small fire tiger crankbait fished along jetties and rock along the main channel works well. The best smallmouth baits are small shad-pattern crankbaits fished around the rocks along the main river. Smallmouth bass lurk around rocky banks, jetties, sandbar shoals or near islands. Around islands use crankbaits or Carolina-rigged plastic craws or lizards. If an island occurs near a natural bend, it can create pockets and eddies where the current has washed out steep drops. Bass hide in those eddies, If an island sits in the middle of a straight section of river, fish on the downstream side, out of strong current. Anglers not wanting to tangle directly with swift current might opt for casting on the backside of islands, sandbars, manmade jetties. These also break current and produce slack water. On inside bends, sandbars slope more slowly and break up current. Anglers can throw topwaters in the shallows, especially where eddies allow weeds to sprout. In rivers it is possible to catch 90 percent of the fish in 5 feet of water or less. In the hot summer and in the fall, when the water is clear, fishing around sandbars is a good bet. Usually a point of the sandbar sticks out on the upstream side. Depending upon how strong the current is, there might be a point on the downstream side. Another good choice is to fish points, creek channels, dropoffs, riprap, pilings, around barges, weeds or wood cover. Many tributaries and backwaters feed rivers. These may flow through standing timber or brushy blowdowns. Slow-rolled or buzzed spinnerbaits bounced off structure will entice bass. Around wood, use Indiana or Colorado blades. In grass, use willow-leaf blades. In dingy, weed-free waters, use double Colorado blades, since they push more water and make more commotion. During high-water periods, river bass will scatter into these backwaters. They can hide in places where large boats cannot reach. When the water falls, creeks and tributaries drain into the main channels, pulling bass, baitfish, crawfish and other morsels from heavy cover. Bass lurk outside the mouths of these channels waiting to devour easy meals. Throw chartreuse and white spinnerbaits or shad-colored crankbaits as far up these runouts as possible, then bounce them slowly along the bottom with the current. When a crankbait hits an obstruction, pause and let it float back up. Bass will oftentimes nail it as it floats semi-suspended in the water. At the edges of these runout mouths, where water drops into the main channel, let spinnerbaits “helicopter” to the bottom and then slow-roll them out. If that doesn’t work, cast crawfish-colored shallow-diving crankbaits or black worms into the creek mouth and holes.
While anglers on reservoirs generally throw the same baits into the same areas, river anglers might experience 20 different water conditions in a stretch measuring just a few miles. Such variance could call for 20 different lures fished 20 different ways. But with a little practice and experimentation, most anglers eventually learn to love river fishing.