river mentor

[RiverSlabber]

Boy I need someone to mentor me on how to catch crappie in the river. I think all year Ive only gotten one dink crappie. Fairly good at finding largemouth and smallmouth bass though.

Anyone around the St Charles/Geneva/Batavia in Illinois that knows the river and would be willing to show me a few tricks.

[RiverSlabber]

I think I almost had my first river crappie this afternoon. Was fishing a 1/32 oz white tube jig, float 'n fly style along the bank. Something hit about 8ft from me on the retrieve. Thrashing around a lot, wasnt huge, but it looked almost all black with white speckles from what I saw. Might have been a black crappie. (The little LMB I was catching the rest of the time look almost white).

So close! White seems to ne the hot coor on the river this year for me.

[CrappiePappy]

RS ... whenever I've fished a river for Crappie, I've always looked for current breaks, eddy pools, or bridge pillars. The greater the current, the bigger the current break needs to be ... whether it's a large tree trunk or stump, or wing dam. And I always fish on the down current side (the side opposite the direction the water is coming from).

I haven't done a whole lot of "river fishing" for Crappie, but when I did I caught most of them on the down current side of bridge pillars ... especially if the pillar has trapped some "wood" cover. Even those times it was during low flow (mild current).

One particular method that's worked well for me around bridge pillars has been what I call Vertical Casting. My article explains it : Crappie Pappy Article

Hope some of this helps !!

... cp

[filletfetish]

I don't fish the big Miss, but I do fish the Ohio river a good bit. CP said it correct, crappies don't care for much current. I look to the creeks and tributaries that feed into the river first. This is a great place to find good numbers. I haven't fished the main river a whole lot, but when I do, I'm looking for anything that offers a current break. Fish move in and out, but they will hold behind a variety of different structures.

[RiverSlabber]

Thanks guys, great info. The areas ive been trying are back channel areas and around small islands that dont have much, if any, current. Usually try to find some type of structure as well, rocks, docks, downed timber, etc.

CP, your vertical casting sounds like dabbling a jig almost, just deeper and with a consistant retireve. Theres a small lake ive fished before that has a fishing pier that sits in 10-12 ft of water and its very close to some cribs and a dropoff. Sounds like a great place to try vertical casting.

[chrispy]

Thanks guys, great info. The areas ive been trying are back channel areas and around small islands that dont have much, if any, current. Usually try to find some type of structure as well, rocks, docks, downed timber, etc.

CP, your vertical casting sounds like dabbling a jig almost, just deeper and with a consistant retireve. Theres a small lake ive fished before that has a fishing pier that sits in 10-12 ft of water and its very close to some cribs and a dropoff. Sounds like a great place to try vertical casting.

Hey slabber,
I too am trying to learn that stretch of the fox and from what I understand but have not confirmed is that they get much bigger below the Montgomery dam. Still looking for my first slab on the islands in Batavia