River Bass Fishing Tips

River Bass Fishing Tips

Most bass anglers are very comfortable fishing lakes and ponds with their relatively still waters. But many of these anglers have problems fishing in current. Ask them to fish for bass on a river and you can watch their bottom jaw drop to the ground and their face take on a confused, slightly scared look.

There is a solution to this "Bass Anglers' Nightmare". Learn where the lunker bass hang out in the fast moving water of rivers, streams a creeks. Here are a few places to try if you dare to take on the river bass challenge, and go fishing for some lunker bass in the current of moving water.

There are places where chunk rocks have been placed to prevent erosion from the current and differing water levels. Look for them around bridges and damns. The current will push large river bass against these places. You can often find a largemouth or smallmouth bass as well as white bass and strippers being pushed close into the chunk rocks. Fish these rip-raps on days that the water levels are high and the current is strong. Try fishing rip-raps with a spinnerbait, a jig-n-pig, or a crankbait. Cast upstream into any pockets you see along the bank, and retrieve with the current.

Switchbacks are a good place to try for large river bass. The water's current hits a bank and splits, causing the water to reverse direction. Monster bass can often be found in switchbacks. Baitfish will hang in switchbacks, which naturally attracts hungry lunker river bass. Target the seam along the edge of the divided currents, where they split direction. The current is drastically reduced in these spots, providing an excellent rest spot for baitfish, which of course brings in the bass, largemouth and smallmouth alike.

Largemouth bass love to hang around shallow wood structures in ponds and lakes. But in rivers, creeks and streams, fallen trees won't hold large numbers of bass. But the bigger largemouth and smallmouth bass will hang around these wood structures. A few bass will hang around fallen trees and other wood structures close to the shoreline of the river. However, the bigger fish from all of the bass species tend to gravitate to the sunken logs and fallen trees that have been deposited by floods or storms in the deeper areas near the middle of the river, creek, or stream. It is quite possible for you to catch a lunker bass fishing these structures with a jig, crankbait, spinnerbait or even a suspended jerkbait. Also try a topwater propbait.

The rock bluffs of reservoirs usually lack a good current, making bass fishing a bit of a let down. Many bass anglers find that the lack of current make the bass suspend in deeper water around these rock bluffs, and are normally slow to strike at any lure you might toss at them. But rock bluffs in rivers are a different story. You can often get an aggressive from a lunker river bass in bluffs found in rivers. Large smallmouth love these swift water rock bluffs in fall and winter. Baitfish are pushed against the rock wall and attract smallmouth and largemouth bass, as well as the other species of bass, including white bass and striped bass. Bass will hang behind outcroppings and shoot out into the current for a meal.