Seem's like all I ever read about is catching them in lake's or impoundment's. Over at the Brownlee Res is supposed to be the best crappie fishing in Oregon, Wash and Ida. It's a res made by damning up the Snake river. Second crappie I ever caught was an accident and I got it in the John Day river off the Columbia.Never hear of people fishing the Columbia or John Day for that matter for crappie. Most the back water slews on the Columbia have crappie in them but few people ever fish there for them. I'm gonna try it out this year just to see if that second crappie I caught was an accident. Must be a ton of food in the Columbia for them. I read where the secret to Brownlee is the food rich water. Now even on here when I read about crappie, seem's it's never in a river but always in a lake somewhere. Prineville Res has a really good crappie fishery but they were introduced by well meaning people, illegal but well meaning! Who fish's in a river? Come to think of it as a high schooler I was with a friend hunting squirrel's along the Willamette River here in Oregon. Was on a slew and ran into a guy in a boat that had just took a bunch of crappie out of that slew. We never ever hear about river fishing for crappie, whats the deal? Well kept secret?