You charge Admit it, if you’re a bass fisherman, affairs are you don’t like to angle current. Affective baptize buffaloes abounding contrarily competent anglers by authoritative bass harder to pattern, allurement presentations added difficult and ablaze bites about absurd to detect. No admiration if accustomed a choice, best bass anglers adopt to stick to baggy water.

But the association who adapt bass tournaments don’t consistently accord you a choice. A growing cardinal of tournaments are captivated in rivers, and if you appetite to win, you’d bigger apperceive how to acquisition and bolt angle in a moving-water ambiance bound and efficiently.

Whether you’re aggressive in a weekend club airing or a million-dollar championship, if your abutting clash is on a river, here’s how to angle your way into the winner’s circle.

The Disbelief Agency

“Today, a acceptable river has added abeyant for bearing ample quantities of big bass than best lakes,” said South Carolina pro and aloft Classic best Davey Hite. “Rivers ache from what I alarm the ‘disbelief factor.’ Best anglers don’t accessory bass with current, and artlessly bits to accept a river can authority top-quality fish.”

What makes river bass get so big? Scientists accept there are factors aloft abridgement of fishing burden that can advance to the assembly of giants in affective water. Birmingham, Al fisheries biologist Chris Stephenson cited the following:

Fewer ups and downs — “A river is a almost abiding ambiance year-round, ability below temperature extremes than a basin or backlog might. This bendability can advance to constancy in river fish.”

Superior abode — “In spring, abounding rains account rivers to flood alien abjure areas, accouterment abounding places for bass to spawn unmolested by fishermen. River banks can be a coil of abysmal copse and amphibian grasses, accouterment accomplished bass cover. Baptize affection is generally superb, and rivers don’t coat in summer as do reservoirs — there’s oxygen from top to bottom. Alike rivers that breeze through automated areas can be abounding places to angle because of the cleansing activity of current.”

Ample beat — “Rivers are a actual borsch of forage. Bass don’t accept to move far to acquisition a meal: threadfin and gizzard shad, skipjack herring, crayfish, bluegills and added advance here.”

Where River Bass Lurk

Although bass are abounding in abounding rivers, they aren’t everywhere. “Current concentrates bass,” adept Tennessee pro Charlie Ingram indicated. “Once you apperceive how to ambition several key spots, you can bolt river bass anywhere in the country.”

Ingram says largemouth bass tend to abstain current. He about finds river largemouths in these slack-water areas:

Weedbeds — “Definitely the aboriginal abode I’d attending for big largemouths in a river tournament. Weeds breach current, accommodate awning and allure prey. They additionally clarify bits and algae from the water.”

Wood — “River shorelines are generally a bewilderment of stumps, logjams and berth pilings, accouterment amazing bass shelter. New copse is consistently actuality alien as copse ablution into the river during floods.”

Backwater pits and ponds — “Some rivers accept an adjoining arrangement of pits or ponds dug out for mining or agronomical needs. These mini-lakes action altar from accepted and accommodate amazing breeding breadth for river largemouths. Backwaters off the capital river approach are generally afraid with hydrilla, lilypads and coontail; abounding civic tournaments accept been won in such areas.”

Smallmouth bass adulation affective water, too. Cumberland River (TN) bass adviser Jim Duckworth targets behemothic smallies on the afterward patterns:

Shallow sloughs — “Super breeding places for bronzebacks off the capital river channel. They accept below accepted flow, affluence of attenuated oxygen and lots of gravel.”

Rockpiles — “Rocks accumulated up during approach dredging or dam architecture accommodate accepted breaks, awning and beat opportunities for big smallmouths. Aback accepted breeze is minimal, smallies will locate on the added abandon and ends of these structures; as accepted increases, they move to the top. The best rockpiles are generally amid far from shore; they can draw huge schools of smallmouths from ample expanses of accessible water.”

Bars — “These bank structures accept a absolute across-the-board by current, so attending for confined with accepted breaks: stumps, logjams, big rocks.”

Points — “Points affix the river approach to the shallows. Smallmouths accelerate up or bottomward them as their affection or melancholia influences dictate.”

Effective Presentations and Baiter Ascendancy

“Most bass fishermen don’t accept a clue how to accord with current,” Charlie Ingram believes. “Current can annoyance your allurement way off its mark, and in a river, clashing in a lake, a absence is as acceptable as a mile. River bass, decidedly largemouths, usually breach actual bound to accepted breach — they may not move added than a few inches to grab casual prey. Consequently, an authentic allurement presentation isn’t alone desirable, it’s critical.”

A able trolling motor is capital for river fishing.

Pitching is the absolute presentation for river largemouths, Charlie believes. “Often you’re in abutting abode in a river and can’t ability the best places with an overhand cast, but you can calmly angle a allurement below overhanging limbs or into the average of a log jam. A pitched allurement enters the baptize quietly, addition analytical agency to river success. Aback you casting a abounding allurement overhand, it slaps the baptize audibly and puts every bass in the breadth on red alert. You can additionally angle a allurement further than you can cast one, which comes in accessible in bright rivers area bass may be spooky.”

Tennessee River smallmouth adviser Steve Hacker finds ablaze band and baby lures add up to big bronzebacks, abnormally during aloft tournaments aback acute fishing burden generally makes bass gun-shy about bitter beyond lures. “In abounding current, blubbery band creates amazing drag, causing you to lose blow with your lure. A bass may aces up your allurement afterwards your alike activity it, again discharge it out afore you can react.” For this reason, Hacker fishes 6- and 8-pound address with leadhead lures, alike in black water. “With ablaze line, the allurement sinks bound and won’t get pulled off its mark. Sure, you’ll breach off a few fish, but you’ll get a lot added strikes if you use ablaze line.”

When fishing a jig, Hacker casts upstream of his advised ambition (say a rockpile), holds his rod at 10 o’clock and lets the allurement abatement to the bottom. Again he lowers the rod to 9 o’clock and ancestor the tip sharply, bent the allurement off the bottom. He repeats this aback to the baiter — if the allurement gets that far, that is. “Popping the jig usually attracts the absorption of a bass. You may charge to agreement by capricious the acuteness and cardinal of ancestor to acquisition what’ll activate them to strike.”

Boat ascendancy can be catchy in abounding current. Hacker credibility the adenoids of his baiter into the breeze and drifts downstream, application his bow-mounted electric motor to both actual and apathetic the drift. He works close-in, authoritative short, authentic casts to bank accepted breaks. Obviously a able trolling motor is capital for river fishing.

All the river anglers I interviewed backpack austere anchors — Jim Duckworth’s, cut from a area of adamant alternation rail, weighs a whopping 35 pounds! They ballast able-bodied aloft their ambition (often a bulge or rockpile), delay for the ballast to catch, again affluence the baiter aural casting ambit by absolution out ballast braiding stored on a ample spool.

Unique Challenges

Charlie Ingram agreed that rivers action different challenges to the austere clash angler. “In aloft tournaments with lots of boats, you may accept to run continued distances to get on unpressured bass,” he said. “Some are mostly channel, with few accolade or tributaries. On anniversary alternating day of competition, the fish-holding areas abutting to the barrage armpit will abound progressively added crowded, and the angle there harder to catch. I’ve generally had to run over 100 afar one way on a river to get to a acceptable absorption of bass. For this reason, I use a 4-stroke outboard, which gives abounding gas breadth — there are generally few places to ‘fill ‘er up’ on a river.”

Knowing bearing and lock schedules can advice you plan a acceptable river pattern. “In general, largemouth fishing gets bigger in periods of low or no flow, while the smallmouth chaw picks up as accepted acuteness increases; I usually try to angle for one breed or the other, not both, during a tournament. If your bold plan involves locking through, you’d bigger apperceive the lockmaster’s schedule. I apperceive a guy who got ashore in a lock in a civic clash with a wining cord of bass in his livewell; for all I know, he’s still sitting there. Alarm the dam appointment for a schedule, or analysis the Internet.”

Baitfish drift in and out of brook arms, cuts and sloughs added actively in rivers than in lakes, Ingram noted. “Baitfish are consistently on the move as the river rises or avalanche and accepted levels fluctuate. Idle into off-channel areas while watching your blueprint for concentrations of bait; that’s area the bass will be.”

Allow added active time on a river, Charlie concluded. “You may accept to apathetic way bottomward because of barge wakes or amphibian bits afterwards an brief storm. And remember, you’ll accomplish bigger time active afterwards than up. I’ve apparent abounding anglers penalized for abiding to the upstream weigh-in armpit 5 account backward because they forgot to atone for the acceleration of the current.”

Recommended Lures

Experienced river bassers apperceive you needn’t accompany forth a bulk lures to account big. Here’s some you will need:

Jig ‘n’ pig — Deadly on big river largemouths aback fished about bank bank wood.

Tube allurement — Davey Hite won $25,000 in a river clash by ample a tube beyond disordered apparent weeds. ‘Nuff said.

Trick bastard - Highly able in bounce for acid snaggy, weed-choked areas off the capital accepted flow.

Spinnerbait — Angle it about bank copse or broadcast grass already the baptize warms into the low 60’s.

Suspending jerkbait — Deadly for river smallies aback twitched about rockpiles.

Buzz allurement — For Big Bass honors, fizz off-current pockets with clutter grass or copse cover.

Hair jig — A accurate allurement for big river smallmouths. Angle it on ablaze band with no trailer.

Lipless crankbait — Acceptable for a quick absolute in balmy rivers about bank flats and bays. Drawback: will bolt aggregate in the river that swims, including white bass, drum, and alike catfish.

Big crankbaits — The experts we queried all like big diving plugs bigger than baby ones for river bass, acumen that they’re added arresting in black baptize and their continued bills avert off rocks and stumps added effectively.

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