Crappie in river's

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?

I sold a boat to a fella a few weeks back that fished the Duck river in West Tn for crappie. Said he does really well in the winter. He uses Slider crappie jigs and cast them to brush tops out of the main current. He said to reel as slow as possible, then go slower lol. All over our rivers are getting taken over by Asian carp now.


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I've fished crappies successfully below bridge abutments and in the spring in the tops of flooded brush, especially just off the current. Lots of crappies is lots of rivers all over the eastern 2/3rds of the country. They prefer shade and slack water eddies and backwaters. You just gotta find em, and pattern their feeding patterns.

I see your in Minnesota. I'll get to Minneapolis about 5pm on the 16th. Rent a car and go to St Cloud and spend the night. Morning of the 17th I pick up my new Red Setter pup at Ironfire kennel. Back to the airport and gone about 8 pm and back in Portland 9:30 pm Might spend the night over there but betting I'll come home, another Red Setter, an English Setter and an adopted Border Collie waiting at home! Put down my deposit late last summer, been a long wait! Love my dog's!

I too would like to know more about catching them in rivers, I fish the red river a good bit and have caught a few at times in brush piles and around old pilings but it was just luck that I caught them, I have never been able to really figure out where they are at different times of the year and different water levels

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Time to think like a fish. Your environment is constantly in a state of flux. Your a slave to the current. Do you want to spend all your time fighting the current or do you want to stay behind something and let the food come to you. Any object that breaks the flow of the current is a prime holding spot. Any spot that deflects the current will provide a dead spot where the fish are comfortable not fighting the current. Use a long rod and cast up stream of the obstruction and let the current carry your bait to the fish. I prefer the dead spots behind large rocks. Get up stream and glide your bait to the fish with your rod. Wing dams are ideal and down falls that are near bends in the river where there is slack current will produce fish.

Larger fish will take the prime spots. Spring time we get a run up the rivers.

The hot spot is where the current meets the slack water. Fish will flash out grab a bait and swim back to the non current area.

That info right there works for any species of fish. Great info too. Thank you.

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Originally Posted by sparkie51

Time to think like a fish. Your environment is constantly in a state of flux. Your a slave to the current. Do you want to spend all your time fighting the current or do you want to stay behind something and let the food come to you. Any object that breaks the flow of the current is a prime holding spot. Any spot that deflects the current will provide a dead spot where the fish are comfortable not fighting the current. Use a long rod and cast up stream of the obstruction and let the current carry your bait to the fish. I prefer the dead spots behind large rocks. Get up stream and glide your bait to the fish with your rod. Wing dams are ideal and down falls that are near bends in the river where there is slack current will produce fish.

Larger fish will take the prime spots. Spring time we get a run up the rivers.

The hot spot is where the current meets the slack water. Fish will flash out grab a bait and swim back to the non current area.

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What's the deal with a long rod? hear lot of people talk about them but I like max about 7' rods.

The Red has been tough since it has been high almost a year. The current should concentrate the fish in the places that they can survive in. Unfortunately, these are mostly impossible to get to right now. Tributaries and ditches that connect to the main river should be good, as well as flooded lakes and ponds that connect to the main river. On the other hand there are many other nearby places to fish that would be a lot easier to access. Maybe Toledo Bend weekend after next? Cypress-BB, Grand Bayou.

If your fishing in a current and fishing from a boat it is easier to direct the lure or bait around obstacles. Say you have a large Boulder in the river. Your up stream from the rock. A longer pole will let you move the lure side to side. The least amount of line that is contact with the water is more desired. Makes for better hook sets. If you let out to much slack chances are your going to snag up. River fishing is all about angles. The more veritical your line is the better off you'll be.

Plus you can slow down your presentation when the current is stronger. The old saying that the shortest distant between 2 points is a straight line. Plays a big part in river fishing. You want constant contact with your bait.